Star Furniture, a division of Berkshire Hathaway, presently distributes to Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and Bryan/College Station, Texas. However, only recently has Star Furniture been able to boast such a vast market. Five years ago Star was almost exclusively confined to the Houston market. Eventually plans to expand were initiated, and Austin became Star’s prime target. Bill Ward, Vice President of Operations for Star, explained, “When we considered expanding outside of the Houston market, we were faced with a challenge of how to deliver into the Austin market 160 miles away.” With its central distribution center located in Houston, Star investigated several methods including the use of pup trailers, cross-docks, and other warehouses in order to accomplish this difficult task. Considering all other possibilities, Star decided to implement the demountable truck body system offered by Demountable Concepts, Inc. Ward concluded by saying, “We have not regretted the decision.”

Demountable Concepts, pioneer of the TruckTainer demountable truck body system, equipped Star Furniture with its “Warehouse on Wheel’s” delivery system. Demountable Concepts outfits standard delivery trucks with an easy-to-operate hydraulic lift system, enabling truck bodies to be detached or demounted from the truck chassis. Bodies, which are interchangeable, are equipped with retractable legs making them freestanding and self-contained once demounted from the chassis. The “Warehouse on Wheel’s” concept takes the basic premise of this demountable system and expands it in order to maximize delivery. Star Furniture was supplied with specially designed bodies possessing both front and rear roll-up doors, permitting the front body to be loaded through the rear body. These bodies are mounted onto a specially designed 53’ demountable semi-trailer. On any given day, two 26’ truck bodies are loaded at Star’s Houston distribution center for delivery in Austin the following day. Once in Austin, bodies are demounted and remounted on straight, non-CDL delivery trucks for home delivery. The empty bodies from the previous day are then remounted onto the trailer and taken back to the distribution center.

The benefits derived from using the Demountable Truck Body System far exceed the basic advantage of loading bodies while trucks are making other deliveries. The system also diminishes the incidence of damage to products due to the fact that inventory does not need to be off-loaded, re-stocked, re-picked or re-loaded. Companies load their product only once at the distribution center and off load it upon delivery to the customer. As a result, less time and fewer employees are needed to assure next-day delivery. Moreover, the demountable system gives companies the ability to service satellite locations exclusively from one central distribution center. Ward stated, “The demountable body system gave us all of the benefits we were looking for. We were able to expand our market while maintaining one central distribution center. In addition, we have been able to use non-CDL delivery trucks without double-handling our product.”

Many Top 100 Furniture Companies, like Star Furniture, have seen the benefits of the demountable truck body system. Bob’s Furniture, Sofa Express, and Levin Furniture have all expanded their markets using the “Warehouse on Wheel’s” concept. Ward remarked, “Our market has not only expanded in Austin, but we have opened in San Antonio as well. Our demountable fleet has enabled us to make this expansion with all product being warehoused, ‘deluxed’, and loaded out of our distribution center in Houston.”