Picture: SANDRA MORELLO
AN international truck trailer company will headquarter its Australian operations in Mount Gambier with the aim of significantly expanding the business.
Global innovation leader Titan Trailers has taken over the assets of Thinwall Trailers Australia’s factory in Commercial Street West and has signalled plans to expand it into a multi-million-dollar and progressive business.
Titan Trailers founder company Mike Kloepfer recently travelled to Mount Gambier from Canada to oversee the transition.
The international renowned global trailer supplier has stepped into revive the operation after it was placed into administration.
Already, under the new ownership, the factory has reopened, former employees have been reinstated and there are big plans in the pipeline.
Speaking with The Border Watch during his visit, Mr Kloepfer said the opportunity arose to take over the assets of the business and expand the company’s Australian customer base.
Explaining Titan transported trailer kits to Thinwall previously, he said he decided to keep a foothold in Mount Gambier and therefore Australia.
“People were saying you build great trailers, why walk away,” Mr Kloepfer said.
“We have decided to stay in Mount Gambier as a wholly owned subsidiary of Titan Trailers Canada because there are some good people who work here.”
While there were just three Mount Gambier employees working at the factory, he envisaged this number could slowly grow to up to 40 people.
“We are just starting to hire more people from Mount Gambier,” Mr Kloepfer said.
Furthermore, he said the Blue Lake city was positioned strategically between Adelaide and Melbourne.
“While we could have went to different locations in Australia, we decided Mount Gambier was for us because of its central location – it is like being in the middle of Australia,” Mr Kloepfer said.
“We can go to the east coast for the garbage and the west coast for grain trailers. There would be a few places better such as Adelaide because it has a deep water port for containers, but we like it better in Mount Gambier.”
Across the world, Titan Trailers builds around 1200 units a year and has land/building assets in the United Kingdom, Europe and United States.
“We ship trailer kits to England where we put them together,” the company chief said.
Similarly, he said these kits were shipped to Mount Gambier where they were assembled for the nation’s agricultural, forestry and garbage sector.
“Our customers in Australia range from waste and woodchip to grain companies – we do a lot of different things.”
He said they recently returned from Western Australia to explore the opportunities with its grain harvest.
“There is big potential over there for gain hoppers, which we build,” he said.
Mr Kloepfer established Titan Trailers in his home town of Harley, Ontario, in 1973.
The business will trade as Thinwall Trailers.
