Reliance Trailer Co. LLC, a Spokane-based manufacturer of over-the-road trailers, has bought the assets of one of its competitors, Lynnwood, Wash.-based Sturdy Weld Equipment & Design Inc.


Greg Kreshel, general manager of Reliance Trailer, says the Spokane company completed the acquisition earlier this month. He declines to disclose the terms of the transaction, but says it was a multimillion-dollar deal.


Sturdy Weld made dump-truck bodies and trailers for dump trucks at a plant in Lynnwood. Reliance has retained the 38 people who work there and doesnt plan on making any immediate changes at the plant, which operates as Reliances Sturdy Weld division, Kreshel says.


Reliance has begun fabricating some parts here for the trailers made at the West Side plant, and Kreshel says the company eventually might make Sturdy Weld-brand products here in addition to its Reliance and Alloy trailer lines.


The acquisition is expected to boost Reliances sales by about 50 percent this year, Kreshel says. The Sturdy Weld division should account for about $6 million in sales this year, he says, and the Reliance operation here, which employs about 100 people, is expected to post $13 million in sales.


Kreshel says Sturdy Weld trailer owners in the Spokane area will benefit from Reliances ownership of the Sturdy Weld operation, because they now can obtain parts and service at the Reliance shop here. Likewise, Reliance and Alloy trailer owners on the West Side now can get parts and service at the Lynnwood plant.


Two California businessmen who own Reliance, Brian Ling and Duke Yolo, bought the assets of Alloy Trailers Inc. in a transaction approved by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in late 1998. Reliance operates out of the former Alloy facility, which includes 105,000 square feet of space, on the West Plains.