Trailer maker marks 125 years

DAVID CITY, Neb. — The largest maker of bulk commodity trailers in North America is holding a big party today at its headquarters and factory here to celebrate 125 years of operation that began in the horse-and-buggy days.

The celebration is how Timpte Inc., planned to thank employees, dealers, customers and the community. More than 1,500 people from Nebraska and surrounding states were expected to attend, said Perry Rittenbach, vice president of sales and branch operations. State and local officials also were invited.

“Agriculture and making of agricultural products is vital to the economy,” Rittenbach said. “It's vital to Nebraska.”

Mayor Dana Trowbridge said Timpte, which has about 250 workers, is the largest employer in this town of 2,500 people.

“They are a substantial employer. They pay a living wage, which is a wonderful thing to have,” Trowbridge said.

Timpte is privately owned by two Denver-based families, and Rittenbach declined to release specific revenue or other financial information.

As a whole, the industry did record business in 2008, helped by a good harvest, strong commodity prices and high export demand, Rittenbach said. But the recession has affected the company this year, he said, prompting Timpte to lay off some workers. The company has rehired about a third of them as business picked up, Rittenbach said.

“Nothing was going to be like 2008,” Rittenbach said. “We're holding up. It's not like gangbusters, but it's OK.”

The plant was built in 1980 and became Timpte's headquarters eight years later after the company sold its refrigerated-trailer plant and headquarters in Wayne, Neb., ending that line of its production.

Brothers William and August Timpte founded the company in 1884 in Denver.

“We built buggies and fixed wagons,” Rittenbach said.

Company officials moved the headquarters to Wayne in 1986 to be closer to agricultural markets.

In its early years, Timpte also made carriages and wagons for hauling goods like mining equipment and beer. As cars and trucks replaced horses and wagons, Timpte began building bodies and putting them on Model T and other chassis for delivery vans, ambulances, hearses, milk wagons, even school buses.

In 1931, Timpte built its first semitrailers, which became the backbone of the company.

The Timpte family owned the company until 1960, when family members sold it to Ohio Brass of Mansfield, Ohio. A group of employees purchased Timpte from Ohio Brass in 1966.

Timpte has narrowed its production to bulk commodity trailers that carry grain, rock, ethanol byproducts and fertilizer. It sells trailers through retail branches and independent dealers across the country, primarily in agriculture-producing states, Rittenbach said.

Competitors include Wilson Trailer Co. of Sioux City, Iowa, Rittenbach said.

Wilson Trailer, founded in 1890 in South Dakota by Frank Wilson and then moved to Sioux City, still is owned by the Wilson family's fourth generation. Wilson Trailer makes livestock, grain, flatbed and gooseneck trailers for the agriculture industry.

Rittenbach said Wilson Trailer has a larger revenue base and makes a wider variety of products than Timpte, but Timpte leads the industry in commodity bulk trailer production.

Bill Persinger, co-CEO of Wilson Trailer, declined to release specific financial information about his company. However, Persinger said Wilson is a close No. 2 to Timpte in making commodity bulk trailers.

“They're a good company,” Persinger said of Timpte. “They've been around a long time.”

Contact the writer:

444-1117, joe.ruff@owh.com

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