Inland, Brass Leasing build new facilities

Brass Leasing Inc. left its rented facility at 2551 E. Livingston and moved Dec. 31 into a new company-owned building at 6691 W. Farm Road 140, near Interstate 44 exit 70. In October, Inland Truck Parts moved from 2230 N. Packer Road to a new facility at 2910 N. Martin Ave.

Brass Leasing Inc.

“We hoped this move would enable us to grow some and make us more visible from 44,” said co-owner Joyce Smith, who founded Brass Leasing Inc. in 1984 with Carl Metzelthin. “We felt it was time to give ourselves a permanent home.”

That new home has about 4,000 square feet, with half of it set up as an office and the remainder as dock areas. Charmberlain Architects PC was the architect. The Greene County building permit on file estimated the building’s value at $422,500.

The company, which hauls general dry freight across the United States, has seven clerical employees and nine company drivers. Forty owner-operators transport the goods. “It’s their tractors, our trailers and our loads,” Smith said. Brass Leasing owns five tractor-trailers.

Metzelthin said that he and Smith had owned the 8.5-acre property for three years before making the decision to build, with groundbreaking last July.

Metzelthin said that company revenues are on pace for 27 percent growth in 2004. “Through November, we’re at $6.1 million and we were $4.8 million the same time last year,” he said.

The company’s success, he said, can be attributed to sticking with it when many other trucking companies filed bankruptcy during the last decade.

“When the economy came back there wasn’t enough trucks and enough drivers to do the job,” he said. “The few companies that are left have had more than we can handle dumped on us. I think most companies have had similar growth. In the early 1990s they were bailing out of this business.”

Smith said that from 2003 to 2004, the company experienced a 10 percent increase in owner-operator drivers. Smith said that she is looking to hire more.

Inland Truck Parts

A brand new building was not part of the original plans for Inland Truck Parts, an Overland Park, Kan.-based truck parts and service provider.

“They were looking to move here in Springfield. They identified an existing building, but it needed some remodeling. We worked on that, and that deal fell through with the existing owner, and then I approached them about if we found a piece of ground would they be interested in a build-to-suit,” said Ron Bell, owner of Bell Building Systems.

The new building was constructed on 3.9 acres in northeast Springfield to Inland’s specifications, and Inland leases the facility from Bell for an undisclosed amount. A building permit filed with the city of Springfield estimates the building’s value at $1 million.

The move increased square footage from 15,000 to 20,000, and upped the number of service bays from four to 12, changes that were needed with Inland’s growth, said Dave Morgan, Springfield plant manager. Morgan said that Inland is extending its hours in May and will add about five employees to accommodate customers who need repairs done quickly – especially for overnight repairs.

Craig Schmidt, regional operations manager at the company’s Overland Park, Kan. office, said the company was founded in Minneapolis in 1944 as Industrial and Truck Parts Inc. There are now 25 locations in 10 states. There are about 475 employees companywide, with 18 employed in Springfield.

“Our locations rebuild manual transmissions, differentials and drive shafts among other things,” Schmidt said.

Morgan and Schmidt declined to share company revenues, but Morgan said, “Our sales have been up consistently the last three years, at 28 (percent) to 30 percent growth for the last three years.”

Inland purchased 19-year-old Springfield Drivetrain Specialists in 1999, acquiring its 10 employees in the deal. Morgan said that about five of those employees remain.

“Whenever we bought the company out they became 100 percent vested” in Inland’s employee stock ownership plan, Morgan said. “It makes a 100 percent different attitude (in the workers). We give them 15 percent of their annual salary in shares and they don’t have to pitch in one dime.”