THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF TRAILER MANUFACTURERS continued to grow in 2004 while playing a key role in proactively responding to various groundbreaking industry issues.
That was the message delivered by outgoing NATM president Brad Henning during his State of the Association presentation at the 17th annual convention and trade show at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Florida.
The NATM had 715 members at the time of his presentation — an increase of 25 over the number reported at the 2004 convention. The NATM will focus on strategic planning so that it even better serves its members, with a goal of reaching 1,000 members in the next few years.
Some of the growth is being driven by the compliance decal program. Henning said over 180,000 compliance decals had been issued, as opposed to 80,000 at the time of the 2004 convention. Executive director Pam O'Toole added that many newly established businesses want to learn how to build trailers properly from the outset.
“Our association continues to offer more for its members,” Henning said. “I think the way we are perceived in the industry has changed. This year, we continued to work on our alliance with other trade associations. I think the NATM continues to be on top of current events.
“Right now, we have a wheel-separation issue, and I think the NATM has done a great job of staying on top of this issue. It's a very serious safety issue, and I think we have responded properly. We were instrumental in getting one of the first meetings going (that led to the formation of the Trailer Safety Industry Coalition). We got the committee together and worked on developing a best practices document. There's still a lot of work to be done.
“We also issued a benchmarking program with the accounting firm of RSM McGladrey. There is some good information out there. We're an organization going in the right direction. We're doing a lot of the right things.”
He announced that the new board members are: Greg Snyder of CARMATE Trailers; Mike Terry of Cimarron Trailers; new associate Rick Coffey of Carlisle Tire and Wheel; and Jack Klepinger of Wells Cargo.
Newly elected officers are: president Carl Maxey; vice president Andy Gehman; and secretary-treasurer Matt Arnold.