LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Heil Trailer International announced plans to re-enter the market for stainless steel tank trailers as part of an effort to expand and diversify the market for the company’s products.
CEO Randall Swift said the company will make the new trailers in Juarez, Mexico, and will use an advanced laser welding process that is superior to existing production designs and represents a major investment by American Industrial Partners, a private equity firm that acquired Heil in 2012.
“It’s the beginning of a new chapter,” Swift said. The company currently produces between 3,000 and 5,000 trailers a year. The potential market for stainless steel trailers is about 3,000 trailers a year, he said.
Zack Coley, vice president of North America sales and marketing, said Heil stopped making stainless steel tank trailers in 2001 in response to competition from low-cost producers. “It seemed like a good time to start back up,” Coley said, noting there is increased demand now for premium trailers.
He said the company is looking at further expanding its product line to include cryogenic trailers and adding a new manufacturing plant overseas. Besides Mexico, the Cleveland, Tenn.-based company builds trailers at three plants in the United States, along with plants in Argentina and Thailand.
