Titan Trailers is expanding its manufacturing capacity with a new sub-assembly facility dedicated to running gear production. The new facility will be located in Tillsonburg, Ontario.

Titan Trailers, best known as fabricators of lightweight, extruded aluminum, smooth-side trailer bodies for transporting heavy materials, will use the facility to receive and warehouse running gear components such as axles, tires and suspension parts. These will also be assembled to order onsite. The running gear sub-assemblies will then be transferred to the Delhi, Ont. 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.

"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 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.

New Welding School Planned

Along with the added assembly operation, Titan's plans to open its own welding school at the Tillsonburg premises.

"Finding and recruiting enough qualified welders has always been a challenge for us," Kloepfer explains. "So we decided we should start training our own welders."

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.

For more information about Titan Trailers, visit www.titantrailers.com.