The Merritt Equipment Company
In March of 1951, the Merritt family purchased a small welding shop in Portland, Oregon that also repaired and built trailers. Merritt Automotive soon became known more for their new high quality wooden stake bodies and trailers than for their welding and repairs.
By 1959, Merritt had begun working almost entirely with aluminum. The operation moved into a new headquarters on North Union Ave. where a series of design innovations and assembly techniques were implemented that would revolutionize the livestock and grain trailer industry.
The first all-aluminum livestock trailers were built using aluminum front frames and rear undercarriages. The Merritt punched-side design provided more strength to the aluminum sheets and created an air vortex that increased airflow throughout the trailer. These techniques also made possible a “monocoque” design, or what is commonly known as “frameless uni-body” construction, which leaves the interior almost smooth contributing to bruise-free livestock transport.
Merritt’s unique punch-panel construction called for a higher level of quality control and in 1965 a 12,500 square foot addition was made to the Portland assembly plant. In 1967, a new facility was added in Bakersfield, CA and in 1970 a sales office and repair shop was opened in Denver, CO. An addition to the Denver facility in 1977 fostered the assembly of semis and doubles for grain.
In 1980, at the new factory in Denver, Merritt began building the new Cattle Drive trailer featuring a tapered 1″ side post that provided the largest interior width in the trailer industry.
The main Denver factory assumed all semi-trailer and truck accessory manufacturing in 1984 and became the corporate headquarters for the company. Since relocating to Denver, four expansions to the factory and service building have been completed and Merritt now enjoys more than 170,000 square feet of manufacturing, design and service space to meet your needs.
Over the last 45 years, the Merritt punch-side method of trailer construction has stood the test of time and earned the company a reputation for quality. This design has proven to be so superior to slat and post designs that all livestock trailer manufacturers have copied, but not duplicated, Merritt’s punch-side construction. While many in the livestock trailer industry continue to experiment with plastics, glues, and other approaches to improve their designs, Merritt’s method is evolving in ways that further refine our proven construction technique.
Merritt’s goals are to help make you, our customer, more profitable and to develop a lasting partnership. To do this we must provide you with an affordable trailer with a maximum payload capacity and a low operating cost for the transportation of healthy, bruise-free livestock.
We believe the real value of a trailer is determined over it’s work life. When the day comes for you to sell or trade your Merritt trailer, consider your total life cycle cost. You will realize that your Merritt trailer, cab guard or tool box was built with an uncompromising dedication to quality for lasting durability and it held it’s value.
Building innovative products that provide longevity, quality and value have been and will continue to be our goal. The Goldline livestock trailer is a working testimony to this goal and continues to be the standard against which others are measured. Merritt Equipment is proud to play a part in Agribusiness on the move.