Dedicated to engineering Australian made trailers Midland Pty Ltd maintains an exclusive partnership with axle and suspension specialist Fuwa K-Hitch.
Fast becoming recognised as a key player in the trailer scene, Midland, operating out of Parkes in Central NSW, has been building its brand as a producer of high-end trailers for transporting plant and equipment machinery. The family run business services the road infrastructure industries.
Midland produces between 70-100 trailers a year. Plant and Equipment trailers comprise 91 per cent of Midland’s business model according to Managing Director, Martin Larsen, who runs the company with his brother Ben.
“That would be the bulk of our business,” he says. “We cater for heavy equipment transportation such as earth movers and asphalt companies and government bodies.”
As industry demands have necessitated larger trailers, Midland has diversified their range from tag trailers, dog trailers, drop decks and machinery float trailers. Over the journey, midland has constantly released many models, one being Hydraulic Deck Wideners, trailers designed for carrying larger excavators, rollers, road profilers and asphalt paving machines.
“It’s become very popular in the marketplace for us,” Larsen says. “The customer response has been very pleasing.”
Long-time partner Fuwa K-Hitch supplies Midland with a majority of its axles. The 19.5 inch axle coupled to the heavy duty Weweler suspension is a commonly used kit by Midland, especially for its low loaders.
“We’ve gone to that suspension purely because we’ve had an excellent run with it,” Larsen says. “It’s rugged and excellent in the harsh environments that these trailers are often going into it. We have tried other suspensions in the past and they haven’t been as successful as the Weweler.”
Larsen estimates that 90 per cent of the axles of his Australian owned business originate with Fuwa K-Hitch. The increased attendance of imported products in the transport marketplace has not curtailed the demand among his customers for Australian manufacturing.
“We’ve continued to use Fuwa K-Hitch because of their product support and the background help and should there be an issue they are there to assist,” he says. “They’re always willing to talk to our customers directly and help them out.”
He adds, “Their flexibility as an axle supplier has helped our flexibility and allowed us to pass that flexibility onto our customers in regard to making a variety of axle sizes and suspension kits available.”
Since expanding the Deck Widener range in the market, Midland has received numerous requests from its clients to offer customised trailers within the specific range. It’s been a significant factor driving growth.
“We feel the Deck Widener has become well accepted in the market,” he says. “Listening to our customers has been a game changer for us enlarging our presence in the growing trailer market.”
With its home base located in close proximity to Parkes National Logistics Hub, a multi-modal transport facility that Larsen’s company uses for dispatching its trailers, Midland supplies trailers nationwide. A Midland trailer has been delivered to every state and territory.
It currently allocates its products between a customer base comprised of individual contractors and major players like the three major national asphalt-spray seal companies. The drive to provide trailer models to fulfil the growing demand for extra carrying capacity has contributed to their expansion according to Larsen.
“Although Midland first entered the market to design and build Tag and Dog trailers we always had the vision of getting into larger float trailers,” he says. “Making larger trailers for the plant equipment transportation was a key part of our evolution. Everyone needs to have their equipment moved as soon as possible to avoid the pitfalls of down time and the machines are getting bigger. It’s the underlying reason why more private operators are buying their own transport equipment now instead of using contractors.”
Chris Barrett, National Sales Manager, Fuwa K-Hitch, adds that Midland is an important continuing partnership.
“From my perspective,” he says, “Midland build a quality product with quality people and we are proud to align with them.”
Fast Fact: Fuwa K-Hitch commenced its relationship with Midland in 2009. Aside from air suspension and axle packages, Fuwa K-Hitch has also supplied landing kegs, king pins and mechanical suspensions.