Trailer Flooring Market Sees Few Changes, R&D Spending Grows
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Although trailer flooring has not changed significantly during the past decade, suppliers continue to invest in capacity expansion and research and development aimed at increasing durability and longevity.
Some products have been tweaked over the years, but the basics of trailer flooring have remained constant, said Mark Glasgow, chief of sales at trailer manufacturer .
“[The flooring] is a mature product and it’s done the job very well,” he said.
Benoit Risi, general manager at , noted that although some limits have been reached, there are still opportunities for improvement.
“In the last 10 years, everything has been done as far as weight saving for composite floors and then for moisture protection,” he said. “But that does not mean we are not doing a lot of research and development.”
Risi contended that further improvements are especially needed on weight-saving features due to rising fuel costs and the trend toward heavier trucks.
Like Prolam, other major suppliers such as and offer fiber-reinforced composite floors for dry vans that save about 250 to 350 pounds compared with conventional floors, depending on the application.
The market is looking for even more weight savings along with increased durability at lower costs, Risi said.
Chris Wolford, chief sales officer at Rockland, said R&D has yielded major advancements in composite materials and coatings. He pointed to innovation in composites, in particular, where the automotive, aerospace and national defense industries have made huge technological strides, which in turn benefits the trailer flooring market.
Wolford explained that having access to these companies and their designs enables suppliers to accelerate their product development process.
“Much of the testing and formulation work has already been completed,” he said. “By the time it gets to us, we can quickly evaluate how a product will perform and whether we can get the cost to where the market needs it to be.”
Customers, Wolford said, are clearly looking for durability and longevity. To that end, most of Rockland’s R&D efforts are centered on the 24,000-pound floor rating and protecting wood and glue lines from water and other contaminants such as sodium and calcium chloride. He added that the company is also looking at new materials and various concepts that may enhance its floors or result in an entirely different floor of the future.
Manufacturing Expansion
Both Prolam and Rockland have expanded production in recent years.
Quebec, Canada-based Prolam established a U.S. foothold in 2021 and increased capacity via a $12.8 million investment to build a hardwood floor manufacturing facility in Stuart, Va. The move increased Prolam’s manufacturing capacity by 50%, Risi said.
Rockland grew its overall production capacity by more than 20% in the fall of 2023 with the opening of a manufacturing plant in Monon, Ind., Wolford said. It also made large investments in dust collection/fire suppression technology and in expanding composite flooring production capabilities, he said, adding that more capital deployments are underway.
Flooring is one of the most abused items on a trailer due to the traffic and weight it takes on daily. (Wabash)
In the last five years, the trailer manufacturing sector has experienced a number of mergers and acquisitions with some firms expanding production as well.
acquired cargo security and technology firm earlier this year and expanded capacity at its Lafayette, Ind., manufacturing facility in 2023 to produce an additional 10,000 dry van trailers.
James Song, senior manager of product development engineering at Wabash, said the floor is one of the most abused items on a trailer due to the traffic and weight it takes on daily.
While customers typically have questions about durability and longevity, they must account for several variables such as the weight and type of forklift and running cycles, he said.
Well-Informed Buyers
The typical fleet management customer is sophisticated when choosing the types of flooring available for a given application, OEMs and suppliers noted.
“Most have great data on their equipment, downtime and maintenance costs,” Wolford said. “Having this information available really helps us understand the fleet and its objectives, so we can suggest the right flooring solution.”
Jon Karel, senior vice president of sales and marketing at , said the first customer questions are usually about pricing, followed by the benefits.
“While that may seem backwards, operating costs continue to rise [and so] the benefit needs to be greater than the expense of the option,” Karel said, adding that in some cases, the third question involves improving trade value. “All these questions reflect the fleet’s operating strategy and long-term fleet goals.”
For , which manufactures aluminum trailers and flatbeds, customers are most concerned about whether the aluminum can handle their loads without deforming the floor or the floor panel, said Mark Sabol, senior director of retail sales and service at East, which was acquired by Fruehauf’s parent company in 2023.
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The Randolph, Ohio-based manufacturer also wants to ensure that the floor is not going to be punctured or damaged by the loading process, Sabol said. Last year, East introduced a newly designed flatbed floor that increases floor strength by 10% under a distributed load and 30% under a concentrated load.
Utility Trailer’s Glasgow noted that with many considerations, customers should speak with their OEM sales teams to identify the best options for their particular needs. Understanding which type of lift equipment will be used and the load constraints on the trailer is crucial, he said.
Today’s loading equipment has higher front live axle loads and longer vehicle life, which has resulted in higher flooring standards, he said. The standard floor rating at Utility is currently at 20,000 pounds, compared with the 16,000-pound loading environment 10 years ago, Glasgow said. Forklifts, like trailers, have become heavier because they are packed with an array of advanced technologies, said Scott Buckley, senior sales director of national accounts at Stoughton Trailers.
“The new technology has added weight to not only the fork truck but to the product itself as it gets loaded onto the trailer, so overall the loading is getting heavier,” Buckley said, adding that it’s important to understand what the customer plans on transporting.
Damage Control
For flatbeds, it is the load itself that can do the most damage to flooring, East’s Sabol said.
“Typically it’s some type of mishap or misstep that would cause damage — loading something improperly, not securing the load properly, having something dropped on the deck — that’s typically what damages flooring in a flatbed,” he said.
For dry vans, damage commonly occurs at the rear of a trailer from forklift loading, Wabash’s Song said.
Dock plates can be especially harsh on wood floors, he said, adding that Wabash offers various threshold options for improved durability at the rear.
“Many fleets leave their rear doors open to indicate that the trailer is empty, which leaves the wood floor near the door exposed to the elements,” Song said.
Suppliers say research and development is needed on weight-saving features due to rising fuel costs and the trend toward heavier trucks. (Prolam)
If this is common practice for a fleet, he recommended applying a topcoat to the rear 10 feet of the trailer.
Besides moisture, other damage can occur from an accumulation of rust and oil over time.
This also involves cargo moving around a floor, as well as using loading equipment on a floor that was not designed to hold it up, suppliers and OEMs said.
These kinds of issues may be a problem, Buckley said, for smaller fleets with older equipment that aren’t making frequent maintenance checks and are new to advanced technologies such as telematics and camera equipment.
Most of the major fleets, however, keep a close watch on potential problems before they happen, he said.
“I think if you were to ask fleets today how many floors they must replace in a year, most of them would say, ‘I haven’t seen a number in years. Maybe one or two floor boards here and there,’” Buckley said. “That’s because they take good care of their trailers.”
