Great Dane Trailers announced Wednesday that it will spend $5 million to re-tool the refrigerated and dry freight trailer production lines at its manufacturing facility in Brazil, Ind.
Great Dane Trailers is the largest employer in Clay County with 1,200-plus employees.
The re-tooling will add specialty foam presses to build trailer wall and roof assemblies. These units will be part of a new modular trailer design assembly, which allows for reduced manufacturing cost while lowering the weight of the trailer and improving design integrity.
All Great Dane Classic dry freight vans will now come from the Brazil plant. The plant will also continue to produce Classic refrigerated trailers, as will Great Dane’s Savannah, Ga., manufacturing facility.
“We have strong order backlogs, and economic indicators are good for 2005. We are implementing these improvements to upgrade and modernize as well as meet customer needs,” said John Flathman, vice president of Manufacturing Operations, Indiana.
