Blaine Brothers is no stranger to Trucks, Parts, Service’s award programs, and neither is North American Trailer, it’s trailer arm. This is the second year the company has been nominated for the Trailblazer Award, powered by Successful Dealer (2025).
Talking to leadership, it’s easy to see why.
“It’s basically a one-stop shop,” says Ty Kline, sales manager at North American Trailer, which offers sales, parts and service. “We can basically do anything for a customer.”
The North American team works hard to make sure the customer feels supported every step of the way. It starts with the employees.
“Our culture is really based around customer service,” Kline says. “Happy employees make happy customers.”
Tim Grabow, president of Blaine Brothers, can speak to that. He started out on the shop floor.
“We love to keep our people here, keep them happy and give them an opportunity to succeed,” he says. At North American alone, they have 21 people that have been with the company more than 10 years and three that have been on board more than 30.
North American recruits heavily from WyoTech and other community colleges and high schools around the area. The company has a program where they bring in a high school class for a full year. Some of those students are hired as interns and others end up full-time employees.
“We need more people in this industry, so we try to go after younger kids trying to start their careers,” Grabow says.
Once on board, if the employee shows leadership potential, they can join the company’s leadership training. There’s two levels, an introduction and a second-level class that picks up real problems and asks for real solutions. At the executive level, Grabow says the company has succession training and planning sessions with a quarterly, off-site retreat.
All of that training pays off in front of the customer.
“We try to put value on us in ways that are not expected,” Grabow says. “Our biggest focus is loving on our customers and they know how much we appreciate them. Without them, we’re nothing.”
That might include grilling hamburgers for a hundred people on a hot summer day or sponsoring trucking industry functions and community projects. Blaine Brothers, which acquired North American Trailer in 2008, sponsors racing teams, athletic and after-school programs and more, adding up to about 150 events per year across all four companies.
Kline says he was at a Minnesota Trucking Association event when a customer came up with good news — he’d just bought three new locations, and he wanted North American’s help. It was 10:30 p.m. and there was a drink in his hand, but Kline got the job done.
“It’s those type of opportunities that feeds back and links to this is the right thing to be doing,” Kline says. “It’s nice to be the expert that these customers go to.”
The support for employees, customers and communities has spelled growth for North American. It moved into North Dakota in 2013 from its Minnesota base to support a customer’s fleet. In 2016, it added a 30-bay new facility. Three years later, it was building again and eventually expanded to the St. Cloud/Clearwater area and to Wisconsin.
“These guys really worked their tails off to do what North American has done,” Grabow says.
Those multiple locations have positioned North American to take advantage of the eventual upturn in the trailer market.
“This business can be an extreme grind and the last four years have been brutal,” Kline says, adding consolidation and private equity have changed the field of play. But North American is ready, with plenty of investment, inventory and talent.
Winning the Trailblazer Award would mean a lot to the company, he says.
“I think (it would be) a big thing for our unsung heroes,” he says. “The technician on the side of the road in the summer or the winter, the parts delivery man or lady that’s out there working hard. … It would be a big celebration of our team if we win.”
The Trailblazer Award was created in 2023 recognize and honor North America’s trailer dealer community for their essential support of the transportation industry. The Trailblazer Award is graciously sponsored by Hendrickson and Procede Software. To learn more about the program, go the award page.
