The idea to start a new dump body manufacturer in Allen, Kentucky in 1968 and name it R & S Truck Body Company, Inc. was initiated by Marcum Reynolds and Bill Smith. Marcum had previously started and sold another manufacturer of dump bodies called Reynolds Body Company which was also located in Allen, KY. The building for R & S was started and completed in 1968 next door to the older Reynolds facility.
R & S began as a small local job shop catering to the coal industry with a marketing range of only a couple hundred miles. Manufacturing was in a new building of 24,000 square feet on five acres of property. Building bodies for the coal industry could be very good business as long as the coal industry was growing.
In 1974, R & S purchased its closest competitor (Reynolds Body Company), which happened to be next door to their facility. The two were combined into one manufacturing complex that together would provide 40,000 square feet on nine acres of property.
In 1977, R & S decided to diversify into other dump body markets and products. Aluminum dump bodies and trailers were added to the existing line of steel construction bodies and steel trailers.
It was in 1986 when R & S purchased Page Manufacturing from Dura Corporation and started manufacturing some models of the suspensions they were producing. Over time, all but two of the original Page suspensions were replaced with R & S's own design which are currently built today.
Plans for a new facility began in 1992. The actual construction started in November 1997 and the process of moving into the new facility began September 1, 1998.
After moving into the new 140,000 square feet facility, R & S exceeded its own expectations by setting new sales records each month through the early part of 2000.
Since moving to this facility, R & S has developed several new products such as steel and aluminum crossmemberless dump bodies, steel and aluminum elliptical dump bodies, a light weight steerable suspension, and a quarter frame trailer that is built in both aluminum and steel. These additional products coupled with the additional outside sales people help ensure a strong future for R & S even with the current market conditions.
Now, after becoming part of the Godwin Manufacturing Company, Inc. team from North Carolina in 2002, R & S is moving into the future with confidence, still offering the same quality and superior customer service that R & S has always been well known for.
