Iron Maintenance truck shop chain poised for growth

October 17, 2022

Chuck Robinson

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Iron Maintenance, a 2-year-old truck maintenance chain, has been on a tear opening locations and planning expansions.

Iron Maintenance opened its first location in July 2020. Salt Lake City was the first and four others opened that month, in Charlotte, N.C.; Indianapolis; Lakeland, Fla.; and Phoenix.

Since then, it has opened 30 locations, seven more are in the works, 10 more are in the pipeline, and the goal is to have 50 locations by 2025. That’s the word from Mike Pressley, a regional manager who has been tasked with forming this service chain with Senior Vice President Justin Taylor.

Iron Maintenance, based in West Valley City, Utah, near Salt Lake City, is part of Phoenix-based Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings. Pressley said he has been with Knight-Swift for 28 years.

Iron Maintenance was formed as an outgrowth of the Knight-Swift logistics operation, Pressley said. From that operation grew businesses to serve the independent and owner-operators that are not employees of Knight-Swift.

Nearly all of the Iron Maintenance locations so far have co-located with other Swift-Knight operations, Pressley said, but now the company is starting to have stand-alone locations. The Jolliet, Ill., location is stand-alone. A second Las Vegas location, coming soon, will be a stand-alone operation. Other new locations lined up to open soon are Atlanta; Houston; Memphis, Tenn.; and St. Louis. A location in Lodi, Calif., also has been acquired, he said.

These truck shops are for trucks not owned by Knight-Swift, which are maintained through another program, Pressley said.

Iron Maintenance has a customer base of 20,000 so far, he said, ranging in size from carriers with one or two trucks to operations with thousands. The shops all have separate entrances and waiting rooms from other Knight-Swift operations, Pressley said. That is because no one at Knight-Swift wanted to be seen as recruiting drivers from the maintenance customers.

The cost of getting a truck service was one of two key factors that independent and owner-operator drivers needed, Pressley said. The other factor is closely related.

“Most importantly, we looked at speed. We know how logbooks matter. We know how the industry works,” Pressley said.

The company’s standard operating procedure emphasizes fast oil changes, Pressley said. Included with every oil change is a free 12-point, U.S. DOT inspection. The company focuses on offering oil and lube, tire and brakes, and lights and batteries services.

The company also knows that drivers often are not shown respect by shippers, receivers and others, he said.

“Drivers go through a lot of stuff. We know that, we understand that,” he said. “We treat them with the utmost respect because we know they don’t get that everywhere.”

Iron Maintenance shops have clean waiting rooms and also offer amenities such as complimentary weight rooms, showers, snacks and coffee.

Iron Maintenance shop at Sparks, Neb. Photo by Marty Ellis, OOIDA
Iron Maintenance shop in early October. (Photo by Marty Ellis, OOIDA)

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