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Official Site: GreatDane.com
Wikipedia: Great Dane Trailers Page Sections History Documents Article Index |
History
The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Great Dane Trailers page on 30 September 2019, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Great Dane, formerly known as Great Dane Trailers, is a Chicago, Illinois based manufacturer of truck dry van, refrigerated van and flatbed semi-trailers. Established in 1900 by J.P. Wheless and T.H. McMillan as the Savannah Blowpipe Company in Savannah, Georgia, it has gone on to become the world's largest manufacturer of commercial truck trailers.
1900s to 1930s
Great Dane was founded as the Savannah Blow Pipe Co. in Savannah, Georgia, in 1900, fabricating sheet metal systems to move sawdust and woodchips in saw mills and woodwork plants. By 1916, Great Dane manufactured diverse steel plate and structural steel products and systems. Changing its name to reflect that, it became the Steel Products Co. In 1920, the company moved to a 10,000 sq. ft. building on Lathrop Ave. It remained here for almost a century where its employees worked alongside a 10-ton traveling crane and power tools for cutting and punching to operate the steelwork and blacksmith facilities. During the Great Depression, which started in 1929 and continued into the 1930s, Roosevelt’s New Deal called for highways to be modified and rebuilt, giving jobs to thousands of struggling Americans. This was an opportunity for the Steel Products Co. to grow by designing and manufacturing trailers for over-the-road freight hauling. To improve their road trailer, the company hired a team of experienced trailer builders. The trailers designed by the team were called Great Danes, after the dogs. The first trailers to be created were flatbeds but by 1934, both tank trailers and enclosed vans were added to the roster. At this point in history, every state had some form of regulation for the size and weight of trucks traveling on highways. Great Dane's solution was to use thin, strong high-tensile steel to make the trailers lighter.
1940s to 1960s
During WWII, Great Dane was called upon to produce heavy-duty trailers. Throughout the war, America had been growing its own fruits and vegetables at home to be able to conserve and send more food to the soldiers overseas. After the war, demand for fresh fruits and vegetables was high. This led to the year 1947, which saw the first of many refrigerated trailers, more commonly known as reefers. Originally created as a cooled produce van, the trailer used a wet ice bunker and a gas engine blower system. It was quickly followed by Great Dane’s official line of Sno-Zone Reefers. The 1950s saw change for the company. When Eisenhower signed the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act in 1956, the federal government began regulating truck size and weight. Once the Interstate Highway System was established, Great Dane was challenged to build longer and bigger trailers, while continuously making them lighter. The company responded with the aluminum van trailer and tandem axle, which was utilized across the nation. By the mid-50s, the company had sales outlets throughout the Eastern United States, located in 31 cities in 18 states. In 1958, the company officially changed its title from the Steel Products Co. to Great Dane Trailers, Inc. The original signature dog oval was black, but officially rebranded to red to commemorate the changing of the name. The 1960s were full of alternate transportation opportunities. By 1961, Great Dane joined the railroad industry, manufacturing its first piggyback trailer for easier transportation of goods. It also completed its first order of maritime containers in 1963 for the American shipping industry.
1970s to 1990s
In 1972, Great Dane purchased an all-platform trailer manufacturing location in Memphis, Tennessee, from Arrow Trailer. In 1974, Great Dane grew even further by building a manufacturing plant in Brazil, Indiana, that originally focused solely on vans and the western/mid-western business spheres. In the present day, the plant is focused on specialty work as well as reefers and dry freight vans. Brazil is still Great Dane's largest manufacturing facility. That year also marked the completion of the 10,000 square foot Savannah Engineering Research Lab built for testing of design and construction, which allowed the facility to double production. The idea of expansion and improvement became the new motto to inspire the company to make changes. In 1982, Great Dane installed computer-controlled road simulation equipment that the Research and Development Lab in Savannah, Georgia, still uses today. It is the only one of its kind still in operation. In 1988, Great Dane acquired the SuperSeal reefer production line and plant in Wayne, Nebraska. This addition created the broadest line for reefers in the entire industry. Great Dane officially expanded internationally during the 1980s. In 1996, Great Dane opened a dry van plant in Terre Haute, Indiana, as well as an adjacent parts distribution center. The merger the next year of Great Dane and Pines Trailer created the Great Dane Limited Partnership, making it the world’s largest trailer company. By 1999, Great Dane completely updated its branch locations with the expansion of the Little Rock, Arkansas, sales office to a full-service branch.
2000s to Present
In 2002, Great Dane purchased Stick’s Eastern Van manufacturing facilities in Danville, Pennsylvania, and the Trailmobile manufacturing facilities in Jonesboro, Arkansas. By 2004, Great Dane had acquired a production facility in Huntsville, Tennessee, from Wabash National Corporation and went into production one year later. The Memphis, Tennessee, plant closed in 2005. In 2006, Great Dane reached a major milestone. Over the course of the year, Great Dane was able to produce 60,000 trailers across nine different plants. In January 2009, Great Dane closed its original manufacturing plant in Savannah, Georgia, that had been open since 1919 due to the economic hit the company took during the recession. In 2010, Great Dane made changes to its complete product line and century-old brand. A new reefer plant was opened in Statesboro, Georgia, to expand manufacturing. Great Dane also acquired Johnson Refrigerated Truck Bodies. A change in leadership was made in 2011 as President and COO Phil Pines retired from the company after more than 50 years of service in the trailer industry. He was replaced by current president Dean Engelage. In 2011, the name of the company was officially changed from “Great Dane Trailers” to simply “Great Dane” to encompass the full line of transportation solutions Great Dane offers beyond simply trailers. By 2016, Great Dane had introduced two new truck body designs: The Alpine and The Sahara. Great Dane grew even further in 2016 with the opening of a new plant in Elysburg, Pennsylvania, for dry van manufacturing.
| Date | Document Name & Details | Documents |
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| report date 21 March 2011 | NHTSA Recall 11V216000 2011 Great Dane SERVICE BRAKES, AIR:SLACK ADJUSTERS:AUTOMATIC National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | Recall Page - 1 page |
| Date | Article | Author/Source |
|---|---|---|
| 10 March 2016 | Women In Trucking Association, Announces Great Dane’s Continued Support as a Gold Level Partner | Women In Trucking Association |
| 7 November 2019 | Great Dane, LLC, Receipt of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance | Federal Register: NHTSA (Otto G. Matheke III) |
| 3 January 2020 | Great Dane Trailers, LLC, Receipt of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance | Federal Register: NHTSA (Otto G. Matheke III) |
| 18 April 2022 | Great Dane, LLC, Denial of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance Great Dane has determined that certain model year (MY) 2019 Great Dane Freedom Platform trailers do not comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards No. 223, Rear Impact Guards, and FMVSS No. 224, Rear Impact Protection. | Federal Register Notice  (text)Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Anne L. Collins Topic: Great Dane |