Tulsa Company Cashing In On Your Trash

Tulsa has a major manufacturing plant that you may never have heard of. But they're hoping that soon their trucks will be driving down your street.

Crane Carrier is already cashing in on the trash business, especially as more cities convert their trucks to compressed natural gas. They're hopeful that Tulsa's next trash hauler will buy their trucks.

Crane Carrier is one of Tulsa's oldest manufacturers - handling the increasingly rare U.S. job of vehicle assembly.

"Made in America right now, all custom. We do what no one else will do," said Plant Manger Dick Havir:

Crane specializes in heavy duty, custom built trucks, that increasingly must meet tough environmental standards. The company has 150 employees, and most work in the 500,000 square foot shop.

The company is in expansion mode, already looking to hire, and expecting to get more business that could double the workforce.

A key part of that could the new trucks for Tulsa's next trash hauler. They build the natural gas fueled trucks the City is going to require.

"You'll see more and more people going in that direction, and I think the public will like to see the absence of that big black cloud coming out of the stack on a CNG machine. It's a very clean, affordable and obviously very available fuel," Havir said.

Crane designs and builds 500 custom chassis from scratch every year. They buy the cabs from a factory in Joplin, and assemble everything here.

It's delivered ready for about any kind of load imaginable, from hay haulers to oil rigs, but the majority of the trucks are used for trash.

Their new model has rear wheels that steer - so it can turn around in cul-de-sacs.

"The main portion of our business is refuse trucks, but we're expanding into new markets with street sweepers and aircraft refuelers," said Crane Carrier employee Dustyn Bell.

Crane can build custom trucks in 30 to 90 days, and the company says it's ready to build Tulsa's next fleet of trash trucks, that will be more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly.

Several of the bidders hoping to get the trash contract have commitments to have them built in Tulsa.

Each one sells for well over $100,000, just for the chassis, so the economic impact of that decision will be significant.

01/06/2012 Related Story: City Trash Emergency Imminent Says Tulsa TARE Board