Titan Trailers, a North American manufacturer of smoothside aluminum trailers used in scrap, waste, recycling, forestry and aggregate applications, has announced plans to expand its manufacturing capacity with a new sub-assembly in nearby Tillsonburg, Ontario.
The manufacturer’s head office location in Delhi, Ontario, was previously expanded in 2007 with the addition of a 32,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art “green” facility to house its trailer finishing and engineering operations.
Titan had planned to construct a new sub-assembly and parts building when an existing property in Tillsonburg became available for purchase. The Tillsonburg site, formerly owned by an agricultural equipment company, offered 60,000 sq ft of multi‑purpose manufacturing space well suited to Titan’s requirements.
“This property gives us a ready-made solution to Titan’s needs for added capacity and efficiency,” says Mike Kloepfer, founder and president of Titan Trailers. “It has everything we need for secure, enclosed storage and custom assembly work, plus space for us to develop other opportunities we’ve been exploring.”
The new facility will be used primarily to receive warehouse running gear components such as axles, tires and suspension parts, which will be assembled to order onsite. The running gear sub-assemblies will then be transferred to the Delhi location to be paired with their trailer bodies.
The Tillsonburg site will also complete the installation of the moving floors for Titan’s self-unloading trailers, receiving and assembling components from Keith Walking Floor. Kloepfer estimates that, when the facility is fully operational, it will create 10 new positions, as well as a number of employees will be relocating from the Delhi location.
Since Titan introduced its patented THINWALL body construction in 1996, demand for its smoothside trailers has grown consistently throughout North America. In 2009, Titan also began to ship trailer bodies to assemble at Teesside in the UK, where the firm is establishing a strong foothold in the European market.
“This Tillsonburg site will help to streamline our entire production process,” Kloepfer explains. ”Our existing facilities will be better focused on their key functions, while our storage and sub-assembly activities will finally have a dedicated space of their own. We’ll have a better process for building better trailers.”
Located at the junction of Highway #3 and Jackson Side Road, the Tillsonburg property is just 6 km (3.5 miles) down the road from the Titan head office. It is a bright, modern, multi-use building finished with two levels of office and reception area, an open production area, four shipping/receiving docks plus accessible production bays. Another enclosed storage facility is located to the rear of the property. Titan will now have ample secure space under one roof to replace its outdoor storage in Delhi.
Improvements to the site will include security fencing and a communications tower to support Titan’s high-speed wireless telephone and data network.
Along with the added assembly operation, Kloepfer announced Titan’s plans to open its own welding school in the Tillsonburg premises. “Finding and recruiting enough qualified welders has always been a challenge for us,” he explains. “So we decided we should start training our own.” Although Titan manufacturing features robotic equipment and a patented automation process, the firm also relies on advanced welding skills to hand-fit its custom fabrications. Working almost exclusively on aluminum instead of steel is also unfamiliar territory for many welders. As a result, Kloepfer finds that new welders are often unprepared for his specialized welder-fitter requirements when they complete standard Ontario trade training.
The welding program envisioned for the new Titan school will focus on fabricating with aluminum, with extra attention to reading and interpreting blueprints. Courses will be offered to students as a competitive trade school. Successful graduates will then have the opportunity to earn back their tuitions through employment as Titan welders.
The front offices of the Tillsonburg site will also introduce a retail walk-in counter for local truckers requiring off-the-shelf trailer parts, featuring the premium brands used on Titan equipment. The added office space will give the firm room to reallocate existing departments to the upgraded business offices.