Felling Trailers celebrates its 40th anniversary
Felling Trailers, Inc. has become a staple in the Sauk Centre community over the last 40 years and recognizes the significant part its employees, community & vendor partners, authorized dealers, and customers have played in its success. To celebrate its 40th Anniversary, a community open house with lunch is scheduled for Friday, October 24th from 11:30 AM – 2:00 PM at its Sauk Centre location in addition to a separate catered meal for all employees and an open house for employees and their families.
On November 1st, 1974, Kathy & Merle J. Felling purchased a small welding shop in downtown Sauk Centre, MN known as Sauk Centre Welding. Sauk Centre Welding began in 1954 and catered to local farmers and businesses by doing repairs, small custom welding and fabrication jobs. Merle and Kathy changed the business name to Sauk Centre Welding & Machine Works, Inc. and had four people on the payroll. Sauk Centre Welding & Machine Works performed farm & industrial equipment repair, custom fabrication, and manufacturing of comfort stalls, hog crates, Bale Feeders, and Bale Forks.
Merle always had an interest in manufacturing trailers. While growing up on the family farm, he made his first trailer when he was 10 years old to haul rock and hay bales to the barn. The metal came from a hay loader and the wheels came from a horse mower. Noticing a lack of quality in many of the trailers that came into the shop for repair, Merle designed and created the Felling Trailers product line. A few trailers were built for local businesses and contractors, and within a short time, demand grew and Merle continued to add to the product line over the years. After five facility additions, Felling Trailers outgrew its downtown Sauk Centre location and relocated to its current headquarters at the Southeast corner of Highway 71 and Interstate 94 in Sauk Centre to accommodate the expansion of the Felling Trailers line. Throughout the years, Felling Trailers acquired adjacent land, expanded as needed, and officially changed its name to Felling Trailers, Inc.
In 2012, Felling Trailers opened a second production facility in Litchfield, MN bringing its office and production facilities to over 250,000 square feet and employing 250 people.
After working outside of the family business in sales, management, and marketing roles, Brenda & Patrick Jennissen and Bonnie & Paul Radjenovich, Merle and Kathy’s daughters and sons-in-law joined the family business over the last 10 years and now own and operate the business with them.
Felling Trailers currently manufactures over 3,500 trailers a year ranging from a 3,000 lb utility trailer to a 120,000 lb hydraulic gooseneck trailer, and its standard trailer line includes over 220 models. Felling’s pride and differentiation is its customized trailer division. Its engineers utilize the latest industry leading design techniques along with its experienced metal craftsmen and cutting edge technology to turn its customers’ conceptual trailer needs into a tangible product. Felling continually researches and implements new technologies to reduce lead-time and increase production in the manufacturing plant. Felling Trailers provides a high quality product that is distributed across North America and internationally.
