Wabash begins production at new dry van trailer plant
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(photo provided)
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(photo provided)
Lafayette-based Wabash cut the ribbon Friday on its $80 million advanced dry van trailer manufacturing facility. The company said the project represents the largest investment in a single operation in its 38-year history.
The trailer and truck body manufacturer converted its South Plant from refrigerated trailer capacity to dry van capacity. The new facility will employ about 130 people, though no new jobs are being added.
“We have retained our workforce, and many of them will be in new skilled positions that we didn’t have previously,” a spokesperson for Wabash said in a statement to IIB.
The facility is expected to produce an additional 10,000 dry van trailers annually. Wabash President and CEO Brent Yeagy called the opening of the facility a special moment for the company.
“We had 100 or more Wabash team members touch this expansion project over the last two years,” Yeagy said in written remarks. “I could not be more proud of the way they stuck with the mission to upgrade our dry van manufacturing for both capacity and efficiency, as well as worker safety.”
Wabash said it plans to achieve full production capacity in 2024.
The company employs about 7,000 people across its entire North American footprint.