Schmitz is on the lookout for UK builds
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• Schmitz Trailers is on the verge of setting up a UK subsidiary to manufacture rigid bodies. The German company's UK sales arm is considering two bodybuilders and hopes to announce its partner next month.
Schmitz UK managing director Preston Allen refused to name the companies or say where they are based. The chosen film will change its name to Schmitz and will make Schmitz temperature-controlled bodies, possibly with body shells imported from Germany.
However, the company will be allowed to go on manufacturing its own products, and Allen stresses that the relationship will be a partnership. "I've seen companies fall by the wayside through being dictatorial," he says.
The benefits of having a manufacturing arm in the UK will be quicker deliveries and lower prices, says Allen. He estimates that the cost of putting a body on a UK-built chassis could be cut by £300 because the chassis would not have to be shipped to Germany.
The UK company will not make trailer bodies, though Allen says this is possible in the future. Schmitz currently produces reefers, swap bodies and tilts and has partnerships in Switzerland and Bulgaria.
Allen, a former manager with Boalioy, Crane Fruehauf and Rentco, is solely responsible for choosing the bodybuilder. He set up Schmitz UK two years ago. Schmitz builds its products under the trade name Cargobull.