EMCO Industries announced that its new 30,000-square-foot automated manufacturing facility in Claremore, Oklahoma, is online and in production. The plant is dedicated exclusively to the heavy-duty trailer market. The company also announced the appointment of Wayne Sornberger as director of business development.
The facility represents a multimillion-dollar investment in automation and more than doubles EMCO’s production capacity. Twelve robots work in tandem across the line, taking raw bars of American steel through shearing, tapering, forming, heat treating and quenching. The plant is expected to support approximately 20 new jobs in Claremore and the surrounding area.
“Bringing this plant online and appointing Wayne to lead our HD sales efforts are two key components of our strategy,” said Marcus Hester, president of EMCO Industries. “We built capacity specifically for heavy-duty trailer springs, and we brought in someone who has spent his career in that segment and knows what those buyers need. The plant gives us the room to grow. Wayne gives us the relationships to fill it.”
Sornberger joined EMCO on July 13 after 35 years in the spring industry. He will cover the heavy-duty trailer market across North America and works from Alberta, Canada. Over three decades he has served many of North America’s largest and most demanding trailer manufacturers.
“Customers stay with people who solve their problems, and that starts with getting product on the dock when you say you will,” Sornberger said. “What EMCO gives me to sell is a spring built in Oklahoma from American steel, an eight-week lead time instead of 16 or 20, and a supply line that isn’t exposed to import tariffs. Those are the three things buyers ask me about first.”
EMCO’s domestic manufacturing footprint has become a competitive advantage as trailer manufacturers work to reduce exposure to offshore supply. Because the company produces its springs in Oklahoma using domestic steel, customers avoid the tariff costs and the shipping variability attached to imported components. Lead times average eight weeks from order to delivery.
The company has expanded its share of business with leading OEMs, in a market that moved toward dual sourcing and domestic supply following the pandemic-era shortages that left mid-sized manufacturers waiting behind larger accounts. EMCO’s focus on leaf springs allows the company to commit production capacity and engineering attention to those customers.
“Quality and price are table stakes in this business. If you can’t deliver, none of it matters,” Hester said. “That is what has earned us the business we have won over the last several years, and it is what the new facility protects as volume grows. We are not asking customers to take that on faith. Our record is on their receiving docks.”
Every EMCO heavy-duty spring is manufactured to the company’s proprietary steel specification and heat-treating process, then individually dipped and painted for corrosion resistance. The company is ISO 9001:2015 certified and has received multiple OEM Supplier of the Year awards. Its engineering team brings more than 120 years of combined leaf spring experience.
EMCO is accepting orders for its full heavy-duty trailer spring line.
