Utility Trailer Manufacturing Co. — a City of Industry, Calif.-based manufacturer of dry freight vans, reefers, flatbeds and Tautliner curtainsided trailers — announced the reopening of Southern States Utility Trailer in Richland, Miss. In April 2008, tornadoes and thunderstorms swept through central Mississippi, damaging the entire Southern States Utility Trailer facility. After a year of rebuilding, the Utility dealership is now open.
“We have provided the South with trailers, parts and service for more than 26 years,” says Percy Thornton, Southern States Utility president. “After assessing the structural damages, the contractors and I decided it would be best to demolish the entire facility and rebuild with significant improvements.”
Thornton says the new facility includes office space totaling more than 15,000 square feet, a 5,000-square-foot parts showroom and a 12,000-square-foot parts warehouse that contains more than over 800 pallet positions. “As a tremendous benefit to Southern States Utility and our customers, the new parts warehouse is now large enough to hold the dealership’s entire inventory,” he says.
Southern States Utility’s new 30,000-square-foot shop includes a customer lounge, 10 trailer service bays, a “quick-repair” bay, a service office, six new refrigeration bays and a concrete parking lot accommodating up to 300 trailers. The entire area is enclosed with a high security fence and automated gate for maximum security.
The new state-of-the-art facility, now one of the largest full-service Utility Trailer dealerships in the South, is located at 550 Highway 40 S. in Richland. The phone number is 800-844-9100. To find out more about Southern States Utility Trailer, go to www.ssutility.com. For more information about Utility Trailer Manufacturing’s other dealership locations in North America, go to www.utilitytrailer.com.
