In the 25 years that they have owned Sloanebuilt Trailers, Fred Marano says that he and his family have never set any hard and fast targets for growth of turnover each year. He insists there has been "no ego driven desire to get bigger" or even signifiant advertising - they simply decided to let the engineering and quality of product speak for themselves, and allow the business to gain momentum 'organically'.
The result, over the past few years, has seen that momentum take off just like a runaway B-Double semi. Just four years ago the company employed 25 people; today they employ 53.
Custom engineering is a Sloanebuilt Trailers speciality and one of the more unusual recent jobs was for Arkwood Recycling which already owns around 40 of the company's B-Double units that are used to transport bio-solids. After taking detailed specifications and using CAD engineering, a massive 120 tonne of bio-solids storage hopper was constructed to specifically suit the purpose.
"Road transport regulations mean that weight is an issue but aluminium has other advantages, such as durability and looks. We can build a trailer lighter, with heavier thickness aluminium and it tends to stand up to the harsh conditions better because it doesn't fatigue and crack," says Fred. "Aluminium is also quicker in production because it comes in extruded pieces, whereas steel needs more welding and fabricating. It ages much better too - even after years on the job, a quick wash will generally have an aluminium trailer looking great"
Quality is something Sloanebuilt work hard at, for example, severa; years ago, when issues arose with certain components coming from overseas, the company set up its own machine shop and began making parts internally to ensure their quality. To cap it off, Fred compares the paint finish of Sloanebuilt Trailers to that of a modern car and says PPG plays a large part in that.
"Many of our customers take a lot of pride in their vehicles and they want them to look great. They like a bit of chrome and polished aluminium, and paint is very important too. For the majority of our 25 years we've had PPG on the shelf."
We use PPG basecoats and clearcoats on the side sheets of many of our trailers to really 'trick them up', particularly with aluminium. If you want to be a market leader and grow your business you have to be associated with top shelf people and PPG gives us that. Seven years ago, when we started painting in bigger volumes, PPG set us up with the right products and processes and it's been absolutely faultless. You know you're using the latest technology and newest colours and you have access to PPG training staff. They actually get in the booth and physically work with the painters. And they train old dogs with new tricks! Not in a way that alienates the old dogs - they do it in a way that everyone is interested and wants to learn and improve their skills."
Around seven years ago, as demand for Sloanebuilt Trailers really began expanding, Fred says they put a plan in place which is now paying handsome dividends. It has allowed the company to double its workforce in a market where there's a skill shortage. "There's no future in this industry without a younger generation coming through so we instigated a focused drive to increase our input of apprentices. Whether they are a body-maker, a fitter/machinist or a spray painter, the idea of having apprentices (there are currently 20 on staff) is to develop the Sloanebuilt culture in the workshop and flow that on to the product. Because they don't come with bad attitudes and work practices they can learn to work and think like we do. Today, we have a very strong workforce of good quality tradespeople who are clones of what we want and that's important because it's the Sloanebuilt culture that makes us what we are." Interestingly, the facility has actually attracted extra tradespeople, according to Fred. While he didn't anticipate it, he says seeing all the new features makes people want to work at Sloanebuilt. Fred is well aware that plenty of orders are required to keep the production line ticking over - 40 people on the workshop floor, doing 10 hours per day equals 400 hours per day to keep them busy.
Around seven years ago, as demand for Sloanebuilt Trailers really began expanding, Fred says they put a plan in place which is now paying handsome dividends.
t has allowed the company to double its workforce in a market where there's a skill shortage. "There's no future in this industry without a younger generation coming through so we instigated a focused drive to increase our input of apprentices. Whether they are a body-maker, a fitter/machinist or a spray painter, the idea of having apprentices (there are currently 20 on staff) is to develop the Sloanebuilt culture in the workshop and flow that on to the product. Because they don't come with bad attitudes and work practices they can learn to work and think like we do. Today, we have a very strong workforce of good quality tradespeople who are clones of what we want and that's important because it's the Sloanebuilt culture that makes us what we are." Interestingly, the facility has actually attracted extra tradespeople, according to Fred.
While he didn't anticipate it, he says seeing all the new features makes people want to work at Sloanebuilt. Fred is well aware that plenty of orders are required to keep the production line ticking over - 40 people on the workshop floor, doing 10 hours per day equals 400 hours per day to keep them busy.
Fortunately, customers have been very receptive to the renovated facility, too. "The need for the renovations was driven by market demand but I thought we would just do them and carry on as per normal but since then I've found the better facility has actually attracted more work. We now have drive-through bays, a new spray booth, mixing room, wash bay and grit blasting facility and that's given us a faster reaction time for repairs. It's giving us the ability to value-add. For example, we're getting calls to refurbish truck bodies which we never got before and they'll say 'can you paint it while it's there'? Despite having just spent a significant sum on the major renovations and found the people to staff it, Fred is already planning the next move. With his sons, Tim and Freddy Jnr, filling workshop foreman roles, his wife, Helen. and daughter, Kate, working in the office and youngest son, Daniel, completing his body-builders apprenticeship, the family dynasty at Sloanebuilt Trailers seems set to continue for some time. "Over the last seven years we've really kicked on and the opportunity is there to continue organically growing to the point where we can start looking for the next facility with, say, five acres. This place took three years of planning so a bigger one might take five years but we'll soon be looking to purchase a suitable piece of land. The economy is growing and the market is growing so we're going to grow with it."
