Midwest Roots Allow Innovation to Bloom at Timpte
At Timpte Inc., the motto is “Built for Life.” But that doesn’t mean they are stuck in their ways. This past year especially, the company has been the face of innovation.
April 2025 marked the opening of the Timpte Lincoln Manufacturing Center. This facility allows the company to ship out parts within 48 hours whether it be to end users or dealerships. It also is home to the company’s Thunderstone Manufacturing division, which makes trailer tarps and other trailer accessories, and the Lincoln Marine division, which focuses on aluminum dock accessories and automatic boat tarping systems. The equipment trailer division was moved down to this location from David City, Nebraska, as well.
This may sound like a lot – because it is. The new Lincoln Manufacturing Center is 190,000 square feet. It houses a state-of-the-art automated tarp assembly machine and a full paint powder coat system.
“It can do the sandblasting and the painting and the drying, and all that. So full powder coat paint system,” said Timpte Marketing Manager Samantha King. “At some point, there's going to be 30 to 60 additional potential employees. On the equipment trailers, we're going to be able to go from only producing 4 or 5 a day based on the configuration to 11 to 12 a day – so basically doubling. We put additional laser systems in, so all of our throughputs going to be able to increase on everything.”
The facility opened in the afterglow of another milestone. Timpte Inc. was named the 2024 Nebraska Manufacturer of the Year by the Nebraska Chamber. The award recognizes a Nebraska manufacturer that implements innovative ways to conduct business using products, processes, technologies and other strategies.
“The Nebraska Chamber’s Manufacturer of the Year award celebrates a company that continuously betters its community and Nebraska’s overall economy, which is exactly what Timpte does,” Nebraska Chamber COO and EVP of Manufacturing Mike Johnson said in a press release. “Timpte embodies what it means to be a Manufacturer in Nebraska, from its state-of-the-art facility to being a competitive and desired place to work. We’re thrilled to honor Timpte as this year’s Manufacturer of the Year.”
Executive leaders and managers attended the annual NE Chamber Manufacturing Summit, where Timpte was presented with the award by Senator Pete Ricketts.
“It's a huge recognition for the dedication that our team puts in to build our products. We have over 600 employees in total with about half of those being factory employees. Our team is very dedicated to the work that they do,” King said. “They love hearing back from the customers. They take pride in what they do, seeing the product at work, knowing that it fits the customers’ needs and it is going to work for them. We’re all proud to be a part of a company that has been around for 140 years, so it's truly a recognition of what people put in day in and day out in a small rural town of Nebraska.”
While the company begun in Denver, Colorado, in 1884, they have been based out of David City since 1980. In 1988, it switched to solely focusing on manufacturing its Super Hopper aluminum agricultural trailer. In 2019, Timpte created a semi-trailer specific for the frac sand industry, mainly in the Permian basin. It's a single hopper, heavy duty, aluminum trailer for the fracking industry or for other heavy-duty commodities like silica sand and aggregates.
“We now have the number one selling bottom drop trailer for that specific industry,” King said. “Before, it was a lot of pneumatic trailers. It's really transitioning, and that's been a big use for safety down there - especially with the harsh conditions that they have.”
Then, in 2020, Timpte launched its equipment trailer division with one main model type. Now the company boasts seven different models with the hopes to double that in the new facility. Even with all these new product innovations, they remain the number one selling dry bolt commodity trailer in North America. King says they hope their future looks like their present. By staying true to themselves, the only way is up.
"We're a company founded on innovating transportation to help people move materials more efficiently and more effectively," President and CEO Tim Carpenter said in a press release. "Headquartered in David City, we take our Midwestern roots seriously, applying solid manufacturing principles and state-of-the-art technology to produce the industry's best dry bulk commodity and equipment trailers."
“We are just going to continue reinvesting in our people, in our processes to make sure that customer needs are satisfied,” King said.
Timpte Inc. has been a member of the National Association of Trailer Manufacturers since 2020. To learn more about them, visit www.Timpte.com.