Inside Knapheide’s automation strategy

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Utility fleet demand is steadying despite industry swings, as companies adjust from pandemic-era overbuying to more normalized procurement levels – despite tariffs.  

Demand, which has fluctuated slightly in recent years, is now largely stable, avoiding the sharp swings seen in other commercial sectors, Chris Rolsen, vice president of fleet sales at truck body and bed manufacturer Knapheide, told Equipment Finance News during the 2025 Utility Expo here. 

“Coming out of COVID, everybody was trying to get everything they could with chassis shortages,” he said. “The last year and a half, it’s probably right-sized to more of a pre-pandemic standard.”  

The company’s focus is now on reducing lead times through automation and plant investment, rather than launching new products, Rolsen said. 

“Lead times are probably the most critical thing we run into,” he said. “Anything we can do to reduce lead times and put some workers toward some higher customer hour stuff, that’s our big push. But automation is the biggest push of them all for us.” 

While tariffs have had a limited direct impact due to domestic materials sourcing, some imported components continue to create bottlenecks, Rolsen said. 

“We haven’t been hugely impacted, but you do see longer lead times on certain product lines,” he said. “Our goal is to marry the chassis and the body all at once, to not have one or the other sitting too long.” 

Rental driving expectations 

Meanwhile, rental fleets remain a major area of growth, with consistent demand for open service bodies and standard configurations, Rolsen said. 

“Rental goes to the 80/20 model — if it satisfies 80% of their people, that’ll be fine,” he said. “They could order 100 more [open service bodies] today and still put them all on rent.”  

The company maintains close communication with large rental customers to anticipate needs and keep pricing competitive as utilization remains high, Rolsen said.  He expects 2026 to bring continued but measured expansion.

“It’s sustained growth, but not the astronomical, ‘I’ll take anything on the lot,’ growth,” he said. “It’s more focused and custom in terms of what people are getting.” 

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