Touring the Aluminum Trailer Company - ATC - factory
What makes the Aluminum Trailer Company, or ATC, different? How are their trailers made and are they really made with no wood? We went on a factory tour to watch them build their trailers to learn more.
Who is the Aluminum Trailer Company?
The Aluminum Trailer Company was founded in 1999 by Steve Brenneman in Nappanee, Indiana. The idea was to create a car hauler trailer that used aluminum in place of steel for the structural elements of the trailer.
As the company has grown they have added more types of trailers including RVs, which is where our interest is, but they also make trailers for industrial uses such as mobile offices, fiber optic splicing, marketing and other purposes. For example, we’ve seen images of a mobile clinic, vending trailers and more.
The company is also big into toy haulers building models that are quite compact to models that can do some serious hauling and ATC builds both bumper pull and fifth wheel models as well.
What did we see at the ATC factory?
Our factory tour took place at the company’s facility in Nappanee, Indiana. This is kind of out in farm country and we weren’t sure we were headed the right direction until we came across the big building with the various trailers out front.
After touring some of the latest models from the company we went in and watched them build the trailers.
One of the company’s core tenets is that they don’t use wood in the trailer builds (other than some interior walls on cargo trailers). So the first stop was set aside for parts.
Here the team cuts the various components that will make-up a trailer into predetermined sections. All the parts for a trailer are placed on a push cart, of sorts, waiting to make their way into the welding facility.
I have to say knowing how much aluminum costs nowadays the company seemed to have a fortune in aluminum extrusions. There were boxed sections of aluminum of all sorts from thin and lightweight sections intended to be used for walls to thick, heavy structural pieces that will make-up the frames of the trailers.
If you assume that aluminum doesn’t have much structure consider that that’s what the frames of things like airplanes are made of. Like any material, it depends on the way it’s built.
Once all the pieces are ready they’re brought into a welding station where a table is set-up for the team to weld them together. The frame is built first with the table featuring pegs that go in to hold the pieces exactly where they’re supposed to be.
Once they’re welded up, the wheels go on and then the frames are flipped. From here the “cage” structure that forms the sidewalls and roof are completed.
There were two lines operating when we saw the factory, one was for cargo and work trailers and the other for RVs. Naturally, we followed the RVs.
When we saw the stacks of holding tanks I asked our tour guide if the tanks are supported so that the trailer can be transported with the tanks full - she said yes! This is not universally true as some RV companies specifically state that you can’t move the RV with the holding tanks full.
Don’t come at me, I didn’t make this decision.
The trailers then get put on the line “sideways” and parts get put on in stations. Something that I liked - after a trailer is finished at a station it gets pushed to the next station but that station is cleaned before the next trailer is pushed into it. Again, not at all typical - I’ve seen some RV factories that were pretty dirty. Not this one.
Since ATC doesn’t use wood at all in their builds the flooring is an interesting product. They use a human-made material that is completely waterproof. This is the same material used in Airstream and Ember Overland trailers but not something you’ll normally find in an RV. It’s tough stuff.
From here the floor is installed and then the flooring materials. Walls are put in on the inside, which are also a human-made composite.
Wiring is pulled from a bunch of rolls on the side of the line and run up along the ceiling of the trailers. Where plugs, switches or other things are needed the wiring is dropped down but wiring isn’t run inside the walls, per se.
Interior pieces are put in place with wall boards going first and then interior wall sections and the various things that will make-up the interior of the trailers such as cabinets, beds and all of that.
Know that, since ATC doesn’t use wood, the cabinets and drawers and all those pieces are also aluminum. If you’re thinking of getting one of their trailers it would be time well spent to see one in person. The all-metal interiors can feel a bit stark but you can also decorate them with things like stick-on wallpaper or other materials so it’s not as industrial feeling.
How the walls are attached
I was fascinated by watching them attach the walls on the outside of the trailer. An adhesive is spread on the aluminum framing.
From there sheets of aluminum are brought over and pressed against the sticky pieces. The sheets of aluminum are protected with a plastic “wrap” of sorts which is peeled back and then the next wall section is applied, overlapping just a bit.
The exterior wall sections also have an adhesive on them and, once the team member is happy with the fit, they peel back the adhesive and the wall section is on for good.
A big roll of aluminum ready to be placed on the roof of an ATC trailer
Installing the roof
Something I really liked was the roof material. Essentially this looked like a giant roll of aluminum foil and, quite honestly, it’s not that different from that except in thickness. Once the trailer gets down to the end of the line the roof is covered in this aluminum surface.
Bring on the rain
Once all the pieces are in place and everything is finished, the last step in the build process is to have the trailer weighed. From there it gets pulled into a rain bay where it gets doused with water for 15 minutes to make sure there are no leaks.
Conclusions about my ATC Factory Tour
Watching the team build the trailers it was clear that they were happy at work and doing a good job. There didn’t seem to be the apathy I’ve seen at other companies and watching all the steps take place, I would say this is one of the better made trailers on the market.
But they revery different in how they’re built and how they feel. Again, I would suggest you look at one of these before making a buying decision but that’s true of all RVs, really.
Some of the advantages of the way these are built is that they’re just well made without some of the structural weaknesses common in the RV space. The fact that they’re predominantly welded also means fewer weak spots to come apart over time.
These trailers also hold their value a bit better than most trailers because of the build quality and methodology.
Overall it was fun to watch these trailers get built and a learning experience for sure.
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