O PE R AT I O NS PRO FI L E | SmithCo
‘Grit and tenacity’ SmithCo marks 30 years of innovation and growth By Alex Keenan
hree decades is a long time to be in business, whether as a donut shop or a trailer manufacturer. SmithCo Inc. would know, as the construction, agriculture, demolition, and mining trailer manufacturer celebrated its 30th anniversary this year. Scott Lovell, president and CEO of SmithCo, has been with the organization for 24 of those 30 years, and has seen it survive thanks to its tenacity and devotion to solving customers’ problems, even during its humble origins and lean times. “We are in business with the person that buys our trailer,” Lovell said. “If they’re not profitable and they’re not
happy, then we’re not satisfied. In the end, their success means we’re successful, and you build upon that, one person at a time, one trailer at a time.”
Starting small Greg Smith started SmithCo in 1994 as a man with an idea: To help the construction industry have a side dump trailer that met the Federal Bridge Formula
The trailer manufacturer prides itself on working with its customers to achieve their goals. SmithCo
while also eliminating the potential for end dump trailer tip-over. So, that’s what he did, leasing his first manufacturing facility with only three other employees. “[Smith] relied on key people that he had identified as trustworthy, honest, and had good ideas,” said Duane Myears, district sales manager with SmithCo. “These were people that thought through problems and came out with a solution.” And while they only made three trailers in their first year, Smith’s chosen people kept solving problems and growing the company, until by 1997, SmithCo was ready for a bigger facility. Luckily, there was a parcel of land just south of where the original building was, Lovell related, and once the company bought it, work started on a larger facility in 1998, and SmithCo moved into its new home in November 1999. Now, production had grown from three trailers in a year to 250, and while SmithCo had kept the dedication and adaptability of a company powered by four people, its organization and structure had to catch up to its growing size and productivity. In 2000, Smith hired both Lovell and Myears, building out the team needed to support the 80 or so workers who ran the lines to produce roughly four to five trailers a week. “There was a core group that had been with Greg for four or five years
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