GARNER, Iowa — Stellar Industries Inc., an employee-owned and -operated manufacturer of service trucks and cranes for the tire service sector, recently opened a service parts warehouse to address increased demand.
Adam Oppermann, Stellar product manager, and Tim Davison, vice president of sales and marketing, discuss some of the trends the company sees in the aftermarket in this Q&A with Tire Business.
Right now, we are seeing an increased focus on training for tire technicians. The Tire Industry Association (TIA) provides online and in-person training throughout the industry. Each year, Stellar has the opportunity to host multiple trainings for TIA classes in Garner, Iowa. The tire technicians come from all over the U.S. and the world to attend these trainings since TIA does an excellent job in training the industry to safely handle a large variety of tires and repairs.
Large tire manipulators equipped with mounted cranes are more popular now than they have been in the past. Today, these large tire cranes feature tire manipulators with parallelogram designs. This allows for the same maximum opening of the tire manipulator, but a narrower width when closing. It allows the tire tech to use the crane on a larger range of tire sizes and eliminates the need for adding pad extensions to the tire manipulator. Additionally, we are now seeing tire manipulators with rotating pads to make tire handling easier.
In terms of industries served, the diversification of jobs that are being handled by tire trucks has expanded. Today, everything from agriculture to commercial trucks and roadside assistance can utilize a manipulator. With such a variety of truck packages available, even a mini-OTR can be utilized.
There is an ongoing evolution of products based on evolving tire technician needs. The truck we see today, and the industries that it serves, is a direct result of answering customer needs. Specifically, many improvements that occur put technician safety and efficiency top of mind.
For example, many trucks rely on radio remote controls to ensure safe operation. Additionally, there are more and better lighting options to promote a safer worksite.
In terms of efficiency, we are seeing battery-operated tools becoming more prevalent. Battery technology has improved over the last several years and is now able to run longer and is lighter.
We are continuing to build on the innovative parallelogram design for our tire manipulator to allow for narrower width when closing.
When it comes to choosing your service truck, it is important to first determine your primary job functionality. Are you doing commercial truck and roadside assistance, agriculture, mid-size OTR or large OTR? When you are able to answer that question, you are able to determine the tire package that matches the work that is being done. This drives the size of air compressor needed, how many tires it can haul, if a crane is needed and if so, what size of crane and if a tire manipulator is needed on the crane. Additionally, you're able to ensure your tire package is matched to the largest tire you need to handle.
Another question that is important to ask yourself is where are you going to get both your chassis and the equipment on your chassis serviced when needed?
Stellar continues to see strong demand, but we are also navigating some lingering supply-chain challenges. For example, finding a chassis is an ongoing issue that we are working closely with manufacturers to resolve.
We continue to see strong demand for our tire products. We anticipate continued momentum in the future as we work to meet demand requirements.
In general, the states with high population bases and construction growth see the most demand. This includes the Northeast, Texas, Southeast and West Coast regions. Large tire manipulator demand is mainly focused on the rock and quarry business around the country and large mines in the west and around the world.
Becoming 100% employee-owned has been a strong advantage for Stellar. An ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) company creates a culture where employee owners are more engaged and always looking at process and quality improvements to make our products better for our customers. Since employee-owners benefit from the company's success, they're more invested in their work and want our customers to be fully satisfied.
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