Roadways are teeming with towables. Boat trailers, stock trailers and travel trailers. Equipment trailers, landscape trailers and cargo haulers hog the highways.
Among those are ball and hitch, gooseneck and fifth-wheel trailers.
All require axles, and axles keep Trevor Briggs happily employed.
In the automotive world, most people are concerned with what’s under the hood. Conversely, in the trailer realm, many are concerned with what’s between the tires.
Briggs, 20, of Mustang, recently completed his second year as a line assembler at Dexter Axle’s El Reno facility. He assembles spring or “sprung” axles as they’re known in industry circles.
Spring axles are constructed of stacked, curved steel spring leaves. They are among the most common axles due to lower installation and maintenance costs, Briggs said.
Briggs completed CV Tech’s Precision Machining Technology program in 2020 and applied at Dexter Axle in part because of the company’s good reputation.
Assemblers with some experience make between $19 and $24 per hour, he said. Dexter’s benefits package includes health, dental, vision, life insurance and a 401(k) plan with company contributions. Extra cash results from periodic overtime as orders stack up, Briggs said.
Dexter was founded in 1960 in Elkhart, Ind. The company retained its branding despite a 2015 merger with European trailer axle manufacturer AL-KO. Today, the parent company is DexKO Global Inc.
Dexter maintains another manufacturing facility in Shawnee, and it owns a trailer parts distribution center in Chickasha under the Redneck Trailer Supply brand. Other plants stretch across the U.S. and Europe.
Briggs said CV Tech’s Machining program provided him a solid foundational knowledge for his career.
“I chose Precision Machining to have good career options, and my training continues to help do my job better,” he said. “It satisfies me greatly knowing I help manufacture quality products for the customers of Dexter Axle.”
El Reno Campus Precision Machining instructor Marc Belew said Briggs exhibited model behavior as a student and exemplified the traits most sought after by employers.
“He showed up regularly and stayed focused,” Belew said. “He really tried to better himself. He worked while he was in school for a year and always had a good attitude.”
Precision Machining is a full-time program offered at CV Tech’s Chickasha and El Reno campuses. Students enrolled in the program learn to make useful parts often for the aerospace and energy industries with manual and computerized equipment. For more information, visit cvtech.edu, or call (405) 262-2629.
DID YOU KNOW?
DexCo Global Inc., sold last year to Toronto-based Brookfield Business Partners L.P., a publicly traded limited partnership (NYSE: BBU) under the parent Brookfield Asset Management. Westinghouse Electric Company is among subsidiaries in the company’s portfolio.
