112: Reinventing the Trailer Industry – Steve Brenneman of the Aluminum Trailer Company

Background on Steve Brenneman of ATC:

Steve Brenneman is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of the Aluminum Trailer Company Inc. At ATC, they pride themselves on manufacturing World Class, Precision-Built trailers. Each and every trailer they manufacture is hand-crafted to the exact specifications of their customers. Regardless of whether their customers are looking for a standard car hauler or a highly customized trailer, ATC and Motiv put the same attention to detail in every trailer they build.

Aluminum Trailer Company features unique manufacturing process that combines Amish craftsmanship and State-of-the-Art technology. They can provide trailers that are fully customized to fit their customers’ needs. Each trailer they build is a custom design for a specific end use. They have combined innovative design, quality materials, unequaled craftsmanship and a “can-do”attitude in their approach to trailer manufacturing.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[4:10] Steve Brenneman is the owner of the Aluminum Trailer Company or also known as ATC Trailers. They build a variety of all-aluminum trailers.
[6:14] Today, Steve has over 300 employees but he did not expect his company to grow to this size.
[7:19] Steve is a Mennonite. He gave a more detailed explanation of Mennonite and its difference from Amish.
[12:07] Steve was working for a friend’s family business as a purchasing agent when certain people approached him to start a business.
[13:25] Steve talked about how his trailer business actually started. He didn’t know a lot about constructing trailers.
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[19:00] Even though his business is constructing trailers, Steve was never a car guy and motor sports person. He admits he doesn’t have much in common with some of his customers. However, he loves manufacturing and doing business.
[21:28] Steve gave an example of how they overcame a difficult obstacle during the early days of their business.
[27:01] In the early years of their business, Steve decided to make their own website. This was when most trailer business does not have websites.
[28:26] Steve took an SBA loan or Small Business Administration loan to buy a building for half-a-million dollars.
[32:39] Steve decided that they don’t want to sell their trailers directly to the consumers. They just wanted to focus on manufacturing and let others do the selling for them.
[41:00] Steve gave valuable insights on how to make a company profitable even under difficult circumstances and downturns.
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[46:12] Steve defines what a good CFO (Chief Financial Officer) should be and its importance to the growth of the company.
[55:11] Steve discovered a book called Lean Thinking, which gave him lots of ideas on Lean Manufacturing and how to get his business going once again.
[1:01:35] Steve hired a COO to help him implement his Lean Manufacturing to his company.
[1:03:05] Steve emphasizes the importance of figuring out what you are good at and what the business needs from you as an entrepreneur.

Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖📚 Favorite Book(s)? Outliers by Malcom Gladwell
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Don't really do Amazon.
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Getting Things Done system by David Allen
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Not Profitable Enough to Take Bigger Risks.

Key Point from the Interview:

“There’s a lot of business books out there on resilience, and I would say that’s a characteristic that is really one that entrepreneurs have to have.”

Resources Mentioned:

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