Happy New Year to you! Yes, I know it is spring where you are at, but here in Thailand April is the hottest month of the year and it is also the time the New Year is celebrated (April 13-15). Songkran, or the water festival, is a time for house cleaning, to forgive past slights or injuries and to renew good relations with those around you. It is also a time to show respect to your elders (see the picture).

Buddha images are bathed and this is where the tradition of blessing your friends, and even strangers, with water started. This has evolved to dousing anyone in range with water pistols, hoses or buckets. A favorite is to have a party, fill the back of a pickup with a couple of drums of water, some water cannons, and a half dozen friends and drive around and soak anyone on the street. It is great fun and many tourists come to Thailand just for Songkran.

I’m writing this in downtown Bangkok, a city of more than 10 million people; and it is a long way from a dairy farm outside a small, central Michigan town.

The trip started with a letter from the government telling me that “Your friends and neighbors have selected you!” Two years later I was living with South Vietnamese Infantry in the Mekong Delta.

That was a year of intense, and sometimes exciting, cross cultural management training. Afterwards I returned to school and obtained a degree in International Business. A company named Heil put me on their interview list and I joined the International Division in Milwaukee in 1975.

Our group sold all the Heil products at that time: hydraulic pumps & cylinders; dump bodies & trailers; refuse truck bodies, petro & chemical tanks; and dehydrators. Checking the dryer (and hospitality room) at the Miller Brewery was a high point during training. Heil also started its first international plant in 1974, for refuse bodies, in Hillend, Scotland. That plant is still thriving today. Our big export markets were England, Holland, Sweden, South Africa, Venezuela, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq.

In 1982, the commodity prices collapsed in a worldwide recession and Heil faced tough times. The old Milwaukee plants were closed and headquarters moved to Chattanooga. Exports declined in our traditional markets for economic and political reasons, but began to grow in the Far East.

The late 80s saw growing trailer sales into Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia and Thailand. These markets were booming and our distributor in Thailand asked Heil to do a JV to produce refuse trucks and trailers for Asia. Dover purchased Heil in 1993 and was enthusiastic about the idea. In March, 1996, Heil and the CP Group officially opened CP-Heil, the company’s 2nd international plant. Unfortunately, after a good start, the Asian currencies collapsed in July of 1997. The next years were difficult and finally CP sold their shares to Heil at the end of 1999, and Heil Environmental also pulled out, leaving Heil Trailer to go it alone and since then sales have grown steadily.

We cover from Cairo to Christchurch and our people have traveled to all of these destinations to put tanks in service, and to repair them. Our staff has trained in the US, and US staff have come to Thailand and our other markets to help us. Sometimes I’m just amazed at the places The Heil Co. has taken all of us. One day I counted, and I have visited 81 different countries in my travels for Heil!

Heil Trailer is the largest manufacturer of aluminum petroleum trailers in the world. That is something we should all be proud of, and work hard to maintain. Not many people can say they are the best in the world at what they do.

COVER STORYBy Bill Brinistool

GUESS WHO?

Last newsletter answer: Albert Bottorff

GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!

Features:

Cover Story

Tradeshows

Around the Globe

New Global Support Center Location

NTTC Austin

NASCAR

Safety Improvements

...And More

HEIL TRAILER INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTERSPRING 2011

2 The Extra Mile Spring 2011

HEIL HITS THE ROAD THIS TRADESHOW SEASON...

Heil displays Petroleum Trailer at WPMA Annual Conference at the Mirage Convention Center in Las Vegas February 22-24. In attendance from Heil were Ron Jurek, Greg Heyer, Marty Vogt & Sean Smith.

Kalyn Siebert displays 13 Axle Trailer at CON EXPO at the Las Vegas Convention Center March 22-26. The Con Expo is the largest construction tradeshow in the world with attendance over 150,000. Representing Kalyn Siebert at the show were Wes Chandler, Greg Heyer, Latner McDonald, Sean Smith & Shawn Blue. Congratulations to the KS sale team for selling the show trailer! The buyer was Lampson International, LLC located in Kennewick, WA. A specialized crane company that purchased the trailer to move one of their crane chassis from the CON EXPO in Las Vegas to Arizona.

Kalyn Siebert displays Sliding Axle & Hydraulic Gooseneck Trailers at Mid America Truck Show in Louisville, KY March 31 - April 2. The 3-sided hanging banner & 2 large pop-updisplays were used to increase foot traffic to booth.

2011 MID AMERICA TRUCK SHOW

2011 CONSTRUCTION EXPO

2011 WESTERN PETROLEUM MARKETERS ASSOC. CONFERENCE

AROUND THE GLOBE...

3 The Extra Mile Spring 2011

Bill Brininstool and John Snodgrass assist Beh Kin Fatt (Director) and his daughter/Attorney Emily “cut the ribbon” for the official opening of their new Sales Office in Malaysia. The office is located in the Subang Jaya area of Kuala Lumpur. Beh was Sales Manager of our former dealer UMW. His company, BSL Equipments Sdn Bhd., will represent Heil products in Malaysia and he already has over $1 million of equipment backlog on order to supply to Malaysian haulers for transporting fuel throughout the country. The opening was also attended by his wife Jennifer, and several customers, suppliers, and government officials. We are very pleased that Beh and his company will continue to represent Heil Asia in Malaysia.

Heil Trailer International’s Global Support Center temporarily moved to Cleveland, TN on February 14th while the permanent offices are being built on the Athens manufacturing facility’s grounds.

John Snodgrass (VP Global Accounts & International Sales at Heil Trailer

International) presented plaque to Kenneth E. Pate (VP of Safety &

Risk Management at A&R Transport, Inc.) for Safety Director of the Year

on April 7th at the Tank Truck Safety & Security Council’s Annual

Awards Banquet in Austin, Texas.

NTTC SAFETY DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR

4 The Extra Mile Spring 2011

ISO UPDATE

By Scott Leslie

Going into 2011 Heil completed ISO 14000 certification of all facilities. Heil is the first Dover company to complete certifica-tion of all their facilities to this standard. This ISO standard is about Environmental responsibility and being pro-active in reducing wasteful practices. In 2010 Heil reduced its energy consumption 5% at all facilities and implemented many differ-ent recycling streams to reduce waste sent to landfills. For 2011 new goals have been set to reduce energy consumption another 3% and reduce water and landfill waste by 5%. These efforts could not have been accomplished without the help of all the employees at each facility.

Safety Improvements

By Scott Swenson

1st Quarter 2011, HTI had a total of 8 recordable incidents, for a YTD incident rate of 3.11. Every location, both domes-tic and international, continues to focus on safety and improving processes. This is exemplified through our commitment in obtaining OHSAS 18001 certification by the end of 2011

CUSTOMER TESTIMONIAL

“I had to replace the S-Cam bushings on a 2000 Heil which we purchased used from HTS in 2006. After contacting Hendrickson for replacement parts, was informed parts were not available. I contacted Greg @ HTS who then contacted Brian Boyd, the District Sales Manager for Hendrickson. Brian personally stopped by our maintenance facility to inspect the suspension. After measurements and phone calls were placed, Hendrickson agreed to replace the entire suspension less the towers.”

“In my opinion, Heil and Hendrickson have displayed phenomenal customer service to remedy our problem. We would like to thank these two companies for the amazing customer service during this recent problem.”

Ricky BrisendineSealy Oil Company

O’QUINN JR. FINISHES 27th IN HEIL TRAILER FORD AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Danny O’Quinn Jr. brought the No. 39 Heil Trailer International Ford Mustang home 27th out of 43 drivers in Friday night’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. It was a good finish for O’ Quinn Jr. who competed hard the entire race. O’ Quinn Jr. is now 40th in the Nationwide Series standings just 201 points behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Carl Edwards won the race and kept Brad Keselowski at bay over the final 11 laps for his first victory of the season and second in a row at Texas Motor Speedway which featured 7 lead changes, several cautions and an average speed of 147 mph.

The primary sponsor for the No. 39 Mustang was Heil Trailer International, the world’s leading aluminum tank trailer manufacturer. This year marks the 110th anniversary for Heil Trailer International. To recognize this milestone, Heil displayed its special anniversary logo on the hood. Heil would like to extend special thanks the associate sponsors: Texas Hydraulics, Civacon & Hendrickson.

Copyright © 2011 by Heil Trailer International, USA, All Rights Reserved

Danny O’ Quinn Jr. with Texas Hydraulics Team