Among the area’s largest employers has gone out with a new product line fueled with a shift in demand within the transportation industry.
Fresh from the display room floor, Wabash National is actually showing off something workers right here have never made before.
Wabash National, made up of 3, 000 workers at its Lafayette area, builds 250 traditional semitrailers everyday - both dried out and refrigerated.
It’s right now adding fixed truck body to the assembly line to meet developing demand driven, they say, through “our online shopping habits. ”
“We’re very conscious of the shift happening in the truck industry fueled by re-urbanization and e-commerce trends, ” said Brent Yeagy, team president of commercial trailer items.
As more people purchase online and get packages, such as even groceries, e-commerce has turned into a $300-billion dollar industry.
It is not the traditionally lengthy semitrailer that’s used to provide to your neighborhood.
“That development in e-commerce is straight affecting home delivery logistics. And as that begins to change, our customers are changing. And as the innovation innovator within our space, we have to adjust to meet the needs of our customers these days and also into the future. ” stated Yeagy.
Executives say the release of the advanced truck entire body also comes in the midst of the “changing regulatory environment. ”
“As the transportation business is faced with increasing rules and rapidly changing shipper needs, we’re focused on assisting customers with breakthrough styles that reduce weight, enhance thermal and fuel effectiveness, reduce material costs, improve corrosion resistance and increase safety, ” Yeagy additional. “These product offerings tend to be another step toward which goal. ”
Wabash Nationwide began making these smaller sized truck bodies in Oct. The company says diversifying help to keep the bottom line strong as well as the workforce.
Wabash National has additionally diversified by building and marketing pods that can be used as unexpected emergency shelters during a natural catastrophe. They’ve also got a modele trailer that would be used to carry much smaller cargo like little race cars or motorcycles.