Page 45 from: March 2014
45March 2014
Clearly, you can make good products, but when
things go wrong from the manufacturing engi-
neering perspective, you have a problem.’
The company suffered from poor productivity
and manufacturing, which duly raised costs
and slowed delivery. Brown managed to make
improvements to the delivery infrastructure,
technology and marketing while major funds
were ploughed into MRP – or Materials
Requirement Planning – and into computers
for drawing and designing.
Lighter-weight trailers
Forty years after its start-up, Benlee is head-
quartered in Romulus just 6 miles or around
10 kilometres outside of Detroit in the heart of
what used to be America’s booming automotive
industry. In a large, modern production hall
close to Detroit’s international airport, the lat-
est in trailer technology is assembled at an aver-
age rate of 200 units per year.
The heavy-duty trailers from the early days have
been replaced by modern lightweight trailers.
‘We developed new lightweight but strong
products capable of carrying heavier loads – so
lighter-weight trailers that can carry more,’ says
Brown. ‘The other thing we did was to develop
a trailer that replaces straight trucks. Basically,
there are two different types of truck: the one
that disconnects – the tractor and the trailer
that it hooks up to; and the other one, much
more common, which is attached and which
does not disconnect. So we made a trailer that
is much more versatile than a truck and does
what a roll-off truck does.’
Market-pleasing products
Over its 40-year history, Benlee has brought out
a long list of market-pleasing products, from
roll-off trailers and roll-off trucks, to crushed
car trailers, dump trailers and open-top trailers.
The company’s line-up of roll-off trailers
includes seven styles and 33 models. It offers
everything from 26- to 53-foot trailers and
trucks, from two to eight axles, and one-box
and two-box roll-off models. And Benlee is not
only in the manufacturing business; it also sells
used trailers and trucks.
Although Benlee has gone as far as to deliver
roll-off trailers to oil drilling companies in
Canada, its main focus both at home and abroad
has always been – and will always be, it says – the
recycling and waste management industries.
In the USA and Canada, ‘we have seen big
growth in trailers versus straight trucks because
of better use of capital: you simply make better
and more flexible use of the engine’, Brown
notes. In Europe, meanwhile, he believes Ben-
lee’s roll-off containers with cable could well
offer a good alternative to hook-lift versions.
‘We think companies may have to switch to
cabled roll-on roll-off containers,’ he ventures.
Built to last
According to Brown, Benlee has 2000 trailer
trucks on the road worldwide, most of which
are on the North American continent. ‘We have
a very few on the South American mainland,
but also in Iceland, Aruba, Grand Cayman and
Mexico – new ones but the heavy-duty models
too,’ he points out.
He reckons that half of the trucks built in the
1970s and 1980s are still being driven around
today. ‘In fact, at one of our scrap yards in
North Carolina (see box), we are still running
a 1979 unit that’s on the road picking up con-
tainers every day.’
www.benlee.com
Benlee’s own scrap yard
experience
Forty years ago, Bill Wolok left the scrap metal
recycling business to start Benlee; 37 years later,
Wolok’s successor Greg Brown decided to go
back into scrap metal recycling. In 2007, he pur-
chased two scrap yards in North Carolina:
Raleigh Metal Recycling, Goldsboro Metal Recy-
cling and took over Wilson Metal Recycling in
2013. ‘It was a good economic opportunity and
we understand the industry,’ Brown explains.
It was also a wise purchase from a marketing
point of view. ‘Being a user of the products our-
selves, we learn what works and what the indus-
try needs, and what can go wrong in every-day
practice,’ Brown observes.
Combined, the three sites in North Carolina pro-
cess an average of 85 000 tonnes of ferrous and
20 million pounds of non-ferrous scrap (9000
tonnes) on a yearly basis, yielding a turnover of
some US$ 43 million. In effect, these scrap
operations generate a total revenue far larger
than the US$ 14 million per annum from Ben-
lee’s trailer manufacturing activities.
A trailer truck firm that
knows all about scrap
The latest in trailer technology is
assembled at an average rate of
200 units per year.
Benlee’s conventional roll off trailer.
Super mini roll off trailer.
Two box roll off trailer.
EDITOR’S TIP:
Women in Recycling highlights an example
of technological innovation – see page 51
!
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