Ironhorse Trailers brings
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Superior Walls is one, and I’m giving myself one for a cushion because I’ve probably forgotten about something.
That said, this is a glorious moment in Business Pulse history! Pretend you are hearing the sound of trumpets.
Ironhorse Trailers has moved its manufacturing plant from LaVergne to Warren County and is currently producing first-rate fiberglass motorcycle trailers at the old Walter A. Wood building on Manchester Highway.
‘What we need to produce our product is space,’ said Ed Heard, who owns Ironhorse Trailers with his wife, Julie. ‘Our trailers are 20 feet long by 8-1/2 feet wide and that takes up a lot of space if you have a few in production. The space we needed to have wasn’t feasible in LaVergne because with trailers we need inside space and outside space.’
Ed said he noticed the building several years ago and thought it was an attractive location. When a deal fell through for him to locate in Morristown, Tenn., he was alerted to the old Walter A. Wood building by a TVA site selector.
‘I was able to look at it without much bureaucracy,’ said Ed, who indicated the 24,500-square-foot building on eight acres was a natural fit.
Although he is leasing the building, he does see it as a place for the future. ‘This is relatively low-cost space. From where we are, it’s close to the four points of the compass without having to backtrack and that’s important for the distribution aspect of it. For a manufacturing and distribution site, I’m quite happy with it.’
As for the trailers themselves, since they carry motorcycles they are obviously marketed toward the motorcycle crowd. That’s why if there’s a renowned motorcycle gathering ‘ whether it’s in Daytona, Fla., or Sturgis, S.D. ‘ Ironhorse Trailers is there.
The trailers are made from the ground up right here in Warren County and that includes everything from the initial chassis work to the final electrical work. From start to finish, it takes about one week to make a trailer.
They are trucked over most of the nation. Looking over the orders currently in production, there are trailers headed to Chattanooga, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The trailers range from $5,000 to $11,000 and are pretty spiffy. They can be painted to match the color of your vehicle if you really want to look cool driving down the road.
Since the trailers are fiberglass, they are lightweight and can be towed by virtually any vehicle. And they are aerodynamic to save on gas mileage.
‘These are trailers that don’t pull like a barn door,’ said Ed. ‘They weigh about half of what a metal trailer would weigh.’
Over the five years Ed and Julie have owned and operated Ironhorse Trailers they have manufactured over 700 trailers. Ed says the goal during the first year in Warren County is to get that number to around 250 and then increase by 50 every year after that. Ed says the ceiling is probably close to 500 trailers a year.
Attending the large motorcycle shows in Panama City, Myrtle Beach, Daytona and Sturgis is one way for Ironhorse Trailers to attract customers. Ads in motorcycle magazines, the company Web site, and stickers on the side of their vehicles are other ways.
Ed says he believes local resident Jimmy Gribble is his only Warren County customer to date, and Jimmy bought his trailer while the company was in LaVergne. Ed says because of the soaring cost of fuel, and therefore the soaring cost of freight, he doesn’t market his trailers on the West Coast or in Canada.
For those of you who may be reading this with great hope of landing a new job, I’m sorry to report that Ironhorse Trailers is NOT hiring. The company has eight production workers and four office workers, including national sales director Nick McClellan. The business can be reached at 668-8860.
On behalf of the Southern Standard and the many fine people of this community, I would like to extend a warm welcome to Ironhorse Trailers. Thanks for making Warren County your new home.