SOUTH SIOUX CITY - Side Dump Industries now makes side-emptying
trailers in more sizes than ever and sells them in more countries
than before, according to Ralph Rogers, company founder.
Side Dump added a Contractors Series to its line nine months
ago, focusing on the needs of the small contractor, roofer,
landscaper or farmer and others who don't need the company's
standard 40-foot-long trailer which is towed behind a semi trailer
tractor or its 70 cubic yards of capacity. Any standard pick-up
truck will haul trailers in the Contractor line.
Bobby Rogers, Rogers' grandson and the plant manager, said when
the series hit the market last June the initial inventory of 10
sold out immediately and orders for more were placed by dealers in
California, Idaho, Texas, Wyoming, Minnesota and South Dakota.
Side Dump Industries, or SDI, also makes the Mini, its smallest
side-emptying trailer. The Mini holds 1.5 to 3 cubic yards of
material and can be pulled by an all-terrain vehicle. It's handy
for hauling mulch, gravel, dirt, feed or small quantities of nearly
any other material.
The largest trailer the company builds is 53 feet long and holds
up to 100 cubic yards of material.
Located at 729 W. 21st St., SDI invested $500,000 in a
state-of-the art robotic welding system to begin producing the
Contractors Series. Rogers said the system boosted production
capabilities about four-fold.
The company employs about 30 people in South Sioux City.
At the same time it expanded its line of trailers, SDI expanded
into the adjacent space previously occupied by Circle R Frame
Aligners, the business Rogers founded in 1972. He sold it last year
to his son, Kevin, who is running it as part of his Side Dump
distributorship, Side Dump Trailer Sales, at 733 W. 21st St. in
South Sioux City.
Travelers would find Side Dump trailers in South America and
Canada, Rogers said. In addition, the firm is bidding for sales in
Europe and Asia, something he attributed to the currently weak U.S.
dollar.
Domestically, Side Dump has good distribution in the Midwest and
West and is in the process of setting up dealers in the East and
Southeast, according to Rogers.
