WHEN Greg Stewart started Northend Truck Equipment, he began producing bodies in his backyard.
Now, after moving in and out of two other shops, the Marysville, Washington, truck equipment distributor appears to have found a home.
The company, which also manufactures its own truck bodies, has been in its 32,000-sq-ft shop north of Seattle for more than five years, and it is the type of facility that can be expanded if necessary.
“We just needed more space,” says Scott Boxman, the company's general manager. “We were next to a residential zone, which was not ideal, especially when we needed to park vehicles in the street.”
That all changed when Northend built the new facility 35 miles north of downtown Seattle. The company's third shop has been serving it well, providing Northend with six drive-through bays and ample land to keep trucks off the street until they are ready to be delivered to the customer.
The building also accommodates enough fabrication equipment for Northend to manufacture much of what it installs.
“If you build a good product, people will come,” Boxman says.
The shop is equipped with a shear capable of cutting half-inch material, a press brake, and iron worker, along with a variety of hand-held plasma and welding machines.
The company's forte is custom dump body and platform manufacturing. With those two body types as starting points, Northend can tailor bodies to meet needs such as lumber bodies that can be used for setting trusses.
Getting good people
To staff its shop, management at Northend Truck Equipment hired technicians in the beginning stages of their careers and then trained them well. Northend has 20 technicians in its shop. They work 10-hour shifts, from 6 am to 4:30 pm.
“Greg hired graduates who know how to weld and then taught them the rest,” Boxman says.
Training them and keeping them are two different things, however.
“Greg is a very generous owner,” Boxman says. “He pays us well, and the company provides a profit-sharing plan in addition to a pension plan.”
What they sell
Northend is a full-line truck equipment shop, representing a variety of manufacturers. Among the company's major truck equipment suppliers are several lines of snow and ice control equipment.
“We sell our share of snowplows, but people back east don't realize how little snow we get in this part of the country,” Boxman says. “They look at how far north we are and think it has to snow here all winter long. But we really don't get a lot of freezing temperatures because of how close we are to the Pacific Ocean.”
Much of Northend's snow and ice control business comes from state and municipalities. To serve that market, Northend has one outside salesman who specializes in selling to state and local governments. The company has a second salesman who calls on dealers and fleets, while a third splits his time between the two sales specialties.
Northend Truck Equipment Suppliers:
- Dump bodies:
Omaha Standard
Rugby - Service bodies and lube trucks:
Maintainer
Omaha Standard
Stahl - Air compressors:
VMAC - Cranes:
Liftmoore
Palfinger - Hoists
Omaha Standard
Rugby - Hook loaders
Palfinger - Snow & ice control:
Boss
Everest Equipment
Henke - Toolboxes:
Delta
Pro-Tech - Liftgates:
Eagle Lift
Interlift
Tommy Gate
Waltco - Tarp systems:
Roll Rite