Tremcar USA builds for the future with service center addition, plant expansion in Strasburg OH

GROWING demand for products and services in the United States prompted Tremcar USA to expand and refine operations at its production facility in Strasburg, Ohio. Tremcar showed off the improvements during an open house in September.

As part of a $1 million facility upgrade, Tremcar USA built an eight-bay maintenance shop. The 10,000-sq-ft code shop can handle a wide range of cargo tank tests, inspections, and repairs.

Moving the service and repair activity out of the manufacturing plant made it possible to reorganize and streamline operations in the 40,000-sq-ft cargo tank production plant. The changes have boosted production capacity by roughly 33%.

“We have invested not only to improve efficiency but also to increase it,” said Annie Tremblay, Tremcar’s executive vice-president. “This will enable us to better serve our customers by repairing and servicing their tank trailers with shorter delays. We this facility expansion, we also plan to add 30 more workers at the Strasburg location.”

Daniel Tremblay, president of the Tremcar Group, said the company truly appreciates the “active and professional” support it receives from leaders in the Strasburg region.

“It is with pleasure we are investing in the region and creating more jobs,” he said. “The economic development community of Tuscarawas County is very supportive and the work culture in Ohio is still very industrial. These factors weigh heavily on the scale when we need to choose in which plant to invest (with plenty of) city services and skilled manpower available.”

In addition to highlighting the new service and repair facility, Tremcar workers showed off their tank fabrication expertise during the open house. On display were examples of the full-frame structure used in Tremcar trailers, as well as a 63,500-liter (16,775-gallon) Canadian petroleum B-train and a 13,400-gallon Michigan fuel tanker.

Tremcar has manufactured, sold, and leased tank trailers for the US market from the Strasburg location since 2004. The facility employs more than 100 people and offers more than 350 tank trailers for short- and long-term rentals and leases.

The Strasburg location originally was opened under the Tremcar USA name as a service center. In the months that followed, the service center was transformed into an aluminum cargo tank manufacturing center and that was focused on building trailers for transportation of crude oil and refined products in the US and Canadian markets.

Today, Tremcar USA operates two US production plants and two US service centers. The company also operates Tremlease Inc. In addition to the Strasburg facility, Tremcar has owned and operated Boston Steel (a manufacturer of truck-mounted cargo tanks) since 2014.

Across its US operations, Tremcar employs 200 workers and exports about 40% of its production output to Canada.

“Americans appreciate the fact that Tremcar has a presence in the United States,” Annie Tremblay said. “We have been here since 1994, and our American workers build products for the US and Canada.

“We export to Canada even though our head office is located in Quebec, Canada. With our Strasburg expansion, we are creating excellent growth potential, and that is very encouraging for the future.”

Enhancements to the Strasburg tank trailer plant include:

• Fronius programmable TIG welding machines with touch-screen controls; and

• A new flanging machine that can finish an aluminum tank head in 15 minutes.