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LH Kiwanis hears update on Truck Lite

By LAURA JAMESON

ljameson@lockhaven.com

LOCK HAVEN -- Truck Lite in McElhattan, a longstanding company in Clinton County, is continuing to look for innovative ways to continue providing its services to the area and nationwide.

Plant Manager Tim Hazelton spoke to members of Lock Haven Kiwanis during a recent meeting, providing a brief overview of the plant and its parent company -- Clarience Technologies.

Hazelton said Clarience served as a rebrand for Truck Lite a few years prior. With its main office in Michigan, the company has branched out beyond just its Truck Lite brand and incorporated 10 other companies.

"Truck Lite is the backbone of this," he said.

Truck Lite produces commercial transportation safety lighting including lights, light mounting, harness, reflectors, mirrors, maintenance, alarms and switches.

Hazelton said some of its bigger contracts are with NAPA along with large trucking companies such as Kentworth, Mack Trucks and Great Liner.

Truck Lite, with its main plant in McElhattan, has a storage facility in Beech Creek and two other plants in Wellsboro and Coudersport.

Hazelton explained the three plants are interconnected, with McElhattan producing portions of products that are sent to Wellsboro and Coudersport. He said the McElhattan plant feeds each facility molds that are then returned for harnessing.

Hazelton said the harness department is one of the more complicated parts of the process. With its employees building up to 50 foot harnesses. "Almost no harnesses are the same," he said.

The McElhattan facility specializes in injection molding -- the creation of the out plastic pieces for lights, harness assembly and distribution.

The 145,000 square foot facility employs roughly 300 with flexible scheduling. Hazelton said the majority of employees are on the first, second and third shift schedule with some part time and about 80 people on 12 hour shifts.

Hazelton said, since he came to the plant in 2020, he's been working on beautifying the facility.

"We're trying to beautify the plan," he said, noting the use of a new system to ensure organization.

The facility is also working on upgrades to its distribution center -- which has existed for roughly 30 years, he said. This includes an update to its software system, which he hopes to see in about two years.

Hazelton said he's also worked on reducing the workload for the facility's employees. When he came to the plant, he said the staff were working 7 days a week.

"We made some changes and backed off on Saturdays. They're still working 10 hour days," he said, noting they're working on shifting to eight hour shifts.

He said new employees are not subjected to overtime and Truck Lite will work to find the best shift for them.