MAC Expands to Maximize Profitable Opportunities

July 1, 2001
In trailer manufacturing, knowing enough information to take decisive control of a situation and exploit the marketing opportunity is a key ingredient

In trailer manufacturing, knowing enough information to take decisive control of a situation and exploit the marketing opportunity is a key ingredient for the successful launch of a new company, product line, or expansion of current operations.

That's a lesson that can be gained from understanding what happened at MAC Trailer.

Michael Anthony Conny, president of MAC Trailer Manufacturing, Alliance, Ohio, can be proud that he made the right moves that allowed his company to capture market share of an industry driven by the demand for dump trailers.

His company, now ranked as one of the top five manufacturers of steel and aluminum dump trailers, according to Conny, is a national player in the trailer industry. The growth of the company has been so phenomenal that it has earned Conny the coveted Ernst & Young's, Ohio's Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Conny was able to take advantage of the market conditions at that time, which led to MAC Trailer rocketing into the national scene as a trailer manufacturer. But creating a company that would have a national ranking in the dump trailer manufacturing industry wasn't Conny's primary desire. Conny's desire wasn't to overtake the trailer manufacturing world. He just wanted to work for himself.

Learning the Trade

In 1985, Conny began learning trailer repair by working for a repair shop.

But the dump body industry took a nosedive between 1986 and 1991. The sales of dump bodies decreased by more than 44% between those years, culminating in one of the worst years (1991) for trailer sales in recent history.

After 1991, demand started to again rise for dump trailers. And that provided an opportunity.

In September 1992, with an initial capitalization of $8,000 provided by his mother and stepfather, Bonnie and Raymond Snider, Conny purchased a used welding machine, some needed hand tools, and obtained a facility that would allow him the necessary room needed to work on trailers.

“All the ingredients were there to really start the company moving in a positive direction,” says Conny. “By mid-1994, Jim Maiorana joined the company as vice-president. I could no longer sell, manage the shop, and do the purchasing by myself. MAC Trailer wasn't a one-man management operation anymore.”

Maiorana ran the shop activities for MAC while Conny looked for sales opportunities for the company. “We started building a frameless aluminum dump by that time. The marketplace welcomed that product. We immediately picked up several orders for the frameless product, and that seemed to worsen our space problem to an even greater degree.

“By the end of 1994, I had realized that we needed to do something about building a facility to handle the company's growth.”

The Recession Ends

Conny diagnosed the economic mood of the country very accurately. By the end of 1994, the market absorbed 48% more dump trailers than the previous year. Dump trailer sales in 1994 were again above the 9,000-unit level, a place where they hadn't been since 1988. Using 1991 as a floor for dump trailer sales, the market had been increasing in excess of 32% each year, since the founding of the company.

“We had worked our way up to 38 technicians in that original shop. That shop was 120' deep by 100' wide. We couldn't add another trailer or another person,” says Conny. “I had heard about a program offered by the Small Business Administration (SBA) that might allow us to expand into a new shop. I was motivated by the fact that the company couldn't grow economically, if we couldn't grow physically.”

Conny was able to obtain a loan from the SBA. A package was put together that would allow Conny to build a larger facility to house MAC Trailer Manufacturing.

Conny also went to the City of Alliance in search for further economic incentives. “Alliance provided a schedule of property tax incentives that, along with the SBA loan, made the reality of building a new manufacturing facility happen for the company.

“June 1995 was a big month for MAC Trailer Manufacturing,” Conny says. “That's when we moved into our new 60' × 200' manufacturing facility here on Commerce Street. We immediately filled that up.”

In 1995 and 1999, Conny also beefed up the management team with a few key players that were needed to free his time. Steve Taylor and Robin Ward became part of the MAC team in 1995, and Ron Dillon assumed the post as general manager in 1999.

Facility Expansion

In 1996, MAC Trailer added 12,000 square feet to the plant that had just been constructed. “We had a manufacturing line, but we still needed more manufacturing space outside of the line area,” Conny says. “We were able to get the additional space built and that helped us to get our assembly stations set at the maximum efficiency.”

But that was far from the end of plant expansions for MAC. In 1997, MAC added another 24,000 square feet to the building. A warehouse was built to accommodate the increased parts inventory that MAC was accumulating by this point.

There have been other interesting developments in the physical characteristics of the MAC manufacturing premises. More substantial additions to the land tract were made in 1999.

“One activity that needed more dedicated space was the front office operation,” says Conny. “In 1999 we added another 24,000 square feet that today serves as our operations office, executive offices, and reception area.”

Separating for Strength

Conny used 1999 as a year of reorganization by separating the repair business from the manufacturing operation, opening a separate manufacturing facility for the steel trailer products, and starting the manufacturing of MAC's platform trailer.

“We pulled the repair business out of the manufacturing operation and made it a separate entity,” says Conny. “From a financial reporting perspective, the best move is to treat the two operations as a separated business. Then, after thinking about it, we decided to really separate the whole thing.

“We were working on repairs from the bays that we had built on the long side of the manufacturing building,” Conny says. “But that wasn't the way I liked it. It was simply a matter of space and during the last series of additions, this system was the most practical. That was finally changed when we built a new facility solely for the repair of trailers.”

The trailer repair facility sits on the original tract of land purchased by MAC Trailer. “The repair facility was built for the specific purpose of repairing damaged and wrecked trailers,” says Conny. “Those pieces of equipment can come into the yard really torn up. It's great not to have the repair jobs waiting for parts or otherwise in a holding pattern, around the outside of the manufacturing facility. Now there is a place to park those trailers while waiting for repair work.”

Conny also wanted a separate facility for the manufacturing of steel products. “We wanted to pull the steel products out of the aluminum manufacturing facility. We now have a second facility located in Alliance that is used for the manufacturing of steel dump and platform trailers.”

Conny says that the platform trailers have been a successful product for the company. “It's still a new product for the market, but our aluminum platforms have done very well for us. Because of our main beam design, we have found several niche markets for the platforms.”

Some of those niche markets originated in the East Coast and upper Michigan areas. “Our platforms have our patented MAC Extreme Beam design that provides a lightweight platform that can carry a concentrated load, such as two coils of steel. They are also popular with the material carriers, such as the sheetrock haulers, because of their lighter weight.”

Conny talks about the new transfer trailer equipped with a Keith Walking Floor. “That trailer is being marketed primarily in the waste hauler's industry,” says Conny. “Although it really is a fairly new product for us to manufacture, we have had great success in the East Coast market.

“Our original products, plus our newer products, have added a great deal of market responsiveness to our company,” says Conny. “We can respond to the segment of the trailer industry that is exhibiting demand, whether it is aluminum/steel dump trailers, waste haulers, or platform trailers.”

Conny feels that the ability to quickly respond to different market demands for different types of trailers lowers the company's risk profile. “We will continue to bring new trailer products to the market, as long as there is a demand threshold that we can profitably manufacture for. Because we are a young company with very efficient equipment and a very well-trained manufacturing organization, we believe we can profitably produce trailers at some levels that other companies might not be able to meet. We want to meet demand for trailers and also survive the lean times.”

Efficiency for Fluctuating Demand

The efficiency of MAC Trailer's manufacturing operation is built around its modern facilities and equipment. “Being a younger company with access to capital affords us the opportunity to have newer manufacturing tools,” says Ron Dillon, general manager of Mac Trailer. “That makes us more efficient. That efficiency can lower our cost per unit of production.”

Inside the aluminum plant facility, bridge cranes move the materials. “Four full-width, five-ton bridge cranes serve this area,” says Jim Keeling, MAC's supervisor of machinery and facilities maintenance. “One of the overhead bridges is fitted with two cranes. That's an efficient way to provide service to an area.”

On the aluminum manufacturing aisle, trolley-mounted ESAB welding machines on booms cover a 180° area. Twenty-eight of the welding stations are dispersed down the main aluminum manufacturing line.

MAC operates two band saws one CNC and one manually operated. Both are Hy-Mech. “The CNC has a 18-inch-width capacity,” Keeling says. “We also have the 16-inch-width capacity, Hy-Mech band saw. A manual saw is good for cutting smaller individual pieces.” MAC has a dedicated operator on the CNC Hy-Mech to ensure that needed saw cut, preassembly material is always available when needed.

MAC has five shears. For aluminum shearing, a 12-foot-wide Piranha and an 18-foot-wide Niagara handle the aluminum plant's needs. Both can cut up to 3/8-inch material, Keeling says. “The aluminum facility also has an Atlantic plate shear for shearing steel. That tool can cut up to a 1/2-inch-thick plate.”

At the steel trailer manufacturing facility, MAC has two plate shears in operation a Wysong and a Pacific that can both cut up to 3/8-inch steel plate for that operation.

MAC has three new press brakes. A 60-ton brake at the steel manufacturing location can handle a 12-foot-wide plate. Two 175-ton models manufactured by Piranha can work with a 10-foot-wide plate. All of the press brakes are CNC-based.

The steel and the aluminum plants each have a roll-former to shape the front bulkheads on both the steel and the aluminum trailers. “The one at MAC's steel facility can handle up to 16-foot-wide plate, and the one at the MAC aluminum facility can handle up to a ten-foot-wide plate.” Keeling says that both are considered one-man operations because they are CNC-based.

General manager Ron Dillon adds, “This is one of those areas that we looked for long-term cost savings. The operation of these roll-forming machines is a one-man job because the machines are CNC-based. Every savings over the long run helps us to improve our cost-per-unit built.”

Another tool that offers manufacturers greater versatility is the ironworker. “Because the tool can perform shearing, notching, punching, and many other tasks required by the assembly technicians, it is becoming indispensable,” says Dillon.

Keeling says that MAC operates two Hyd-Mech ironworkers, one in each manufacturing facility. “Any one of the technicians that are checked-out to operate the machine can use it. These are great general purpose machines that don't tie up a specialized individual for working them.”

MAC has three ESAB plasma cutters, one at the steel manufacturing facility and two at the aluminum plant. For the steel work, MAC uses a fairly straightforward plasma cutting machine. The aluminum facility has two CNC machines that are each capable of having multiple torches added to the crossbar. All of the ESAB cutters can cut 1/4" plate easily, Keeling says.

The Assembly

MAC manufactures the aluminum dump trailer in an assembly line. MAC's line operation is truly suggestive of an automotive line where the product never stops from one operation to another.

“After materials have been cut, formed, or pulled, the pieces are weather-guarded and stored or used immediately to start the manufacturing of our products,” Dillon says. “Our new warehouse addition allows MAC the bonus of storing formed and cut pieces in one shop ready for the manufacturing process.”

Assembly for the aluminum dump trailers is from the floor up, literally. The floor piece is laid on a jig table where an assembly technician sets the 3½-inch crossmembers in place. MAC uses aluminum extrusions for the crossmembers and the sidepost.

The piece is then rotated and prepped for sidewall installation. The aluminum sidewall and the sideposts are made from the same 190-inch 5454 H34 aluminum alloy. Dillon explains the process for constructing the large floor piece and sidesheets.

“We designed an automated welding machine that joins the aluminum alloy bracing to the piece being braced. In the past, the piece being manufactured started on a table, had the crossmembers or sidepost tacked in place, and was then generally leaned against a jig to help the welder make a pass to complete the process. Our desire is to have only one complete pass joining the two pieces.

“The automated welding device, manufactured by Gullco, locks the pieces in place, and makes a complete uninterrupted pass. That provides a very clean look to the trailer, especially for the side view. The pass is actually a much stronger joining of the pieces than making several start and stop passes.”

After these large pieces are finished with the sidewalls attached to the floor, the trailer moves to the next line station where, depending on the style of trailer being manufactured, an axle structure is attached. After that, the framing-out of the trailer begins. This process starts with the addition of extra bracing and also the addition of corner extrusions.

The front bulkhead is added to the trailer, and the housing for the hydraulic lift cylinder is completed. The back of the trailer is outfitted with some form of tailgate, double swing-out doors, or whatever the customer has ordered for his specific application.

As the trailer moves down the manufacturing line, more customer-specified options are added, along with the necessary hardware for running light harnesses, trailer landing gear, and other needed fixtures to the trailer.

Power Bath

After the trailer has completed the assembly process, it is moved to the paint facility that sits near the aluminum manufacturing building. Since MAC manufactures both aluminum and steel products, the finish technicians are experts at several different finishing processes. Dillon explains that the aluminum trailers are bathed in a chemically based power wash to remove welding discoloration, while the steel product is cleaned and prepped for painting.

Aluminum dump trailers are washed with a low grade of phosphoric acid to remove the black carbon smoke from the TIG welding areas. Some welds are treated with a hydrofluoric acid to clean the weld and remove some carbon scoring for appearance.

For the steel product, Dillon says that MAC has installed a new JBI paint booth incorporating the latest in paint finishing technology. “The booth has all of the mandatory environmental apparatus, which is very important. But we're really excited about the two side airlifts that will help the painters apply a more evenly distributed coating to the trailer. There's no more jumping up and down on ladders to get the right angle. They just move the bucket to where they want it and apply the finish.”

Because of the large size of dump trailers, MAC chose to have the booth installed with a bake system. “The trailer is never moved until the finish is completely dry. No one touches it. It's the best system I've seen.”

Final Inspection

Once the finish work is completed on the trailer, an intricate series of final inspections occur. Managers that have experience in all of the many components and subsystems that comprise a dump trailer provide the final inspection.

“This is an important part of the process. We are very proud of the product that we turn out. We want our customers to be proud of running our equipment,” says Conny. “We want to deliver that trailer to the customer in perfect condition. It will see a lot of rough service, but it will be prepared for that. That's why we build them the way we do.”

Undoubtedly, Conny picked some of that logic up because of the massive and continuous expansions that MAC Trailer Manufacturing has gone through. After all, it's a standard procedure for a building contractor to receive a punch-out list from the occupant detailing items that need to be remedied. But even as aggressively expansionary as MAC Trailer is, it's still pretty hard to perform a punch-out list on a trailer that's already been delivered to a customer in upstate New York.

That's why Conny's practice that it has to be right before it leaves the plant is right on target.

About the Author

John Nahas