Daimler Truck achieves production milestone

Daimler Truck Southern Africa (DTSA), the East London-based truck assembly plant, marked a significant achievement recently by officially rolling off the 800 000th Completely Knocked Down (CKD) kit from its parent factory in Woerth, Germany.

The vehicle, a Mercedes-Benz Actros 2645LS/33, emerged from the assembly line in a joint celebration with the Woerth source plant in Germany. Sesfigile Logistics and Safety One Logistics, both owned by Nelen Gounder, purchased the truck to commemorate their respective 20th and 10th anniversaries.

The Woerth plant, founded in 1963, is Mercedes-Benz Trucks’ largest truck assembly facility. Here, the Actros, Arocs, and Atego model series take shape. Additionally, Woerth produces the battery-electric Mercedes-Benz eActros 300/400 for distribution haulage, along with the eEconic electric series-production truck for municipal use. The eActros 600, designed for long-distance haulage, is set to enter series production by the end of 2024.

The East London assembly plant boasts a storied history spanning six decades. From the first Mercedes-Benz Truck in 1962 to thousands of trucks and buses today, the plant remains a cornerstone of the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality.

Employing around 300 people, it ranks among Daimler Truck’s largest CKD-plants outside Europe. In 2019, DTSA assembled its 750 000th CKD unit, a Mercedes-Benz Actros 2652 LS 6×4.

Gladstone Mtyoko, Vice President for Manufacturing, acknowledged the complexity of assembling products from four different source plants on a single production line. Despite this, the team consistently delivers high-quality units. The assembly of the 800 000th CKD truck stands as a proud milestone for both the Woerth and local East London plants.

Sesfigile Logistics commands a fleet of 200 trucks, specializing in beverage and petroleum transportation. Its reach spans local, national and cross-border logistics, while. Safety One Logistics, grounded in precision and efficiency, handles petroleum and specialized products with care.

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Daimler Truck committed to driver wellbeing

Daimler Truck Southern Africa (DTSA) is deeply committed to the wellbeing of truck drivers and has made significant strides in improving their lives through a partnership with Trucking Wellness. Together, they have established multiple access points for primary healthcare including fixed roadside wellness centres, mobile units, and the Fleet Owner Workplace Wellness Programme tailored for DTSA key account customers.

Recently, Pool Transport became the 10th key account customer to successfully implement this wellness program under the aegis of the National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry (NBCRFLI) and its Trucking Wellness Project.

Launched in 2013, the DTSA Fleet Owner Workplace Wellness Programme targets all employees but focuses particularly on drivers, aiming to lessen the repercussions of diseases and health issues on the financial, operational, human resources, and overall ownership costs for fleet owners.

This program has evolved over 11 years, continually adapting to meet the changing needs of its customers. This year, Pool Transport spearheaded several enhancements, including aligning the program with RTMS accreditation, the creation of the first fatigue management policy, and the development of a medical certification process for truck drivers.

Dirkie van Zyl, Managing Director of Pool Transport, expressed his gratitude and commitment following the completion of the program. He emphasized the company's dedication to driver wellness and safety, acknowledging the shared responsibility in contributing to safer roads.

Benefits

Tertius Wessels, Managing Director of the Corridor Empowerment Project which manages Trucking Wellness for the NBCRFLI, highlighted the benefits of their 15-year partnership with DTSA. This collaboration has fostered deeper relationships with transport firms such as Pool Transport, enhancing the effectiveness and reach of wellness programs and services.

Maretha Gerber, President and Group CEO of DTSA, reinforced the company's dedication to advancing healthcare access for truck drivers in South Africa.

“DTSA remains committed to advancing access to primary healthcare for truck drivers in South Africa, because we know a healthy truck driver is a safe truck driver, contributing to safer roads for all South Africans. DTSA’s Fleet Owner Workplace Wellness Programme is one of the vehicles to achieve this goal and I am thankful for partners such as Trucking Wellness and Pool Transport for their efforts and commitment to complete this programme and make a lasting impact towards this amazing cause.” 

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Colin-on-Cars - Daimler Truck opens new headquarters

Although it has been operating as an independent company for some time, the transition of Daimler Truck Southern Africa was formalised this week with the official opening of its purpose-designed headquarters and campus near Pretoria.

The 12-hectare site houses the main offices, training centre, used and new vehicle retail facilities and a dedicated Daimler Truck Financial Services company.

Karin Rådström, Member of the Board of Management Daimler Truck AG, and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Trucks, says: “I am excited to be part of the DTSA headquarters’ inauguration, re-affirming our commitment into one of our strategic markets in Africa.

Karin Rådström

“The investment not only underlines our positioning as a global player in the commercial vehicle world, but also shows our keen passion for people and the diversity for which South Africa is renowned. The new headquarter sets the team up properly to serve our customers in this very important market for Daimler Truck.”

The opening of the new facility follows a pledge made by Daimler Truck to invest R190-million in South Africa – R170-million going to the building that consumed 180 000 bricks during construction and R20-million used to update facilities on the truck line at the Mercedes-Benz manufacturing site in East London.

Michael Dietz, President and CEO of Daimler Truck Southern Africa Ltd added: “As a team, we are truly humbled by how far we have come since becoming an independent company on December 1, 2021.

“This day marks a great beginning for us and I look forward to further creating a great place to work for our employees, while fully catering to our customers and continuously serving all who keep Africa moving.

“The setting up of this remarkable establishment commenced in quarter one of 2021 and entailed the procurement of the campus, refurbishment of the existing offices, the addition of a dedicated DTSA training facility and notably the construction of the new Daimler Truck Southern Africa headquarter offices.”

Michael Dietz

The new premises were officially opened by Ms Nomalungelo Gina; Deputy Minister of Trade Industry and Economic Development for the Republic of South Africa, Karin Rådström; Member of the Board of Management Daimler Truck AG and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Trucks, Stephan Unger; Member of the Board of Management Daimler Truck AG and Head of Financial Services, Andreas Peschke; German Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa/eSwatini/Lesotho, Andreas von Wallfeld; Head of Daimler Truck Overseas, Michael Dietz; President and CEO Daimler Truck Southern Africa, together with the DTSA Board of Directors.

“The new headquarter is a welcoming home for our team in South Africa. The concept of bringing sales and marketing and Financial Services together under one roof, is taking the right step in our strategy to provide integrated transport solutions for our customers,” says Stephan Unger.

Andreas von Wallfeld, Head of Daimler Truck Overseas, had this to say; “I am very proud of our new home for our team here in South Africa. Having an all-encompassing commercial vehicle campus taking care of all aspects of our business is a benchmark and a truly customer-centric approach.”

With 600 employees across the campus, the DTSA headquarter and TruckStore facilities were designed with a clear intention of creating a sustainable and comfortable workplace with features such as facades and windows screened to limit solar heat gain, while reducing electrical loads.

High-specification low-E double glazing further ensures low heat gains and losses. The roof slopes to the north to allow for future solar installation and rainwater collection on one facade. Parking bays and roof areas are utilised to generate electricity and reduce reliance on non-renewable sources while 752 solar panels provide 350 kWp electricity.

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Colin-on-Cars - Global hub for spare parts

A truck fleet is only as good as its service backup and Daimler Truck has re-organised its spare parts logistics by opening a new global supply hub in Halberstadt, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.

As the heart of the global supply of spare parts, a completely new logistics hub – the so-named Global Parts Center and, in the future parts deliveries will be made from this central location, eliminating additional transport routes and cutting the time until parts are available.

The new logistics hub will deliver up to 300 000 different items – from the smallest screw to a finished truck cab – to almost 3 000 vehicle dealers in 170 countries around the world. The Global Parts Center thus will make an important contribution to ensuring the international flow of goods.

Thanks to state-of-the-art storage and conveyor technology, all vehicle parts will be available for immediate retrieval in an automated high-bay warehouse and an automated small parts warehouse. Construction is scheduled to begin this year, with commissioning scheduled 2028.

Contribution

Karin Rådström, CEO Mercedes-Benz Trucks, says “Halberstadt and the Global Parts Center will play a key role in the future: Spare parts from our new logistics hub will make a significant contribution to keeping our customers and their trucks up and running, thereby delivering on our ambition ‘Trucks you can trust’.”

Jörg Howe, General Representative Daimler Truck AG, responsible for Global Communications & External Affairs, added “Our new Global Parts Center is the biggest logistics project in our company's history. In the future, the Halberstadt site will play a crucial role in keeping our trucks running and thus our economy and society. Without trucks, factories stand still and supermarket shelves remain empty.”

About 2 600 Mercedes-Benz Trucks’ suppliers will provide the logistics hub with their parts in the future so Halberstadt will become the heart of the worldwide supply of spare parts for Mercedes-Benz Trucks. Fuso parts supply in Europe will also be handled by Halberstadt in the future.

In a three-stage logistics process, the new location will serve around 20 regional logistics centres worldwide – in, for example, various European countries, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil and China – which in turn will supply regional dealers with parts.

In the first stage of expansion, the new building in the East Industrial Park in Halberstadt will have a gross floor area of around 270 000 square metres with around 260 000 square metres of logistics space. Up to 450 qualified jobs will be created on site. After further construction stages and the assumption of additional activities in connection with global parts logistics, up to 600 jobs will be created at the site.

Energy

The new logistics location is planned from the start for CO₂-neutral operation; the energy concept completely dispenses with fossil fuels. Neither natural gas nor oil is required. The location will be heated with electric heat pumps that bring heat into the building via underfloor heating systems. Due to the low heating water temperatures and the storage effect in the industrial floors, a high level of energy efficiency will be achieved.

In addition, it is intended to equip the roofs with photovoltaic systems, which can generate up to 13-million kWh of electrical energy per year. This is more electricity than will be consumed at the site. Surplus energy from the Global Parts Center will be made available to other Daimler Truck locations in Germany. The roofs of the outbuildings will be greened.

Employees will be provided with a large number of charging stations for e-vehicles and e-bikes. Appropriate charging options will also be available for suppliers’ trucks, whose fleets are gradually being electrified.

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Colin-on-Cars - New dawn for Daimler Trucks

Michael Dietz

Daimler Trucks & Buses Southern Africa (DTBSA) will operate as a wholly independent business operation from December 01 as a dedicated commercial vehicle operation with its own finance company – and is investing R1-billion in doing so.

Mercedes-Benz will be a separate company looking after passenger cars and vans but manufacturing and assembly for both will remain at the East London production plant.

The separation is in line with the global direction being taken by Daimler AG and Michael Dietz, President and CEO DTBSA says: “This is indeed a massive turning point for us as DTBSA and a huge investment for the Southern Africa market. We have done some ground-breaking changes previously, like the establishment of DTBSA as a legal entity in 2019 and more recently the founding of our very own captive financial mobility services, Daimler Trucks Financial  Services (DTFS).

“I firmly believe the new set-up promotes the necessary focus into our core business, creates favourable conditions for us to be more competitive and accelerates the development of key technologies for us to continue to provide cutting-edge products and services to fulfil the special needs of our customers.

“It is without a doubt this independence is fully aligned with our growth strategy and further strengthens our foothold within the markets we operate in. As we gear up to a smooth transition, our commitment for all who keep Africa moving remains unchanged.”

An investment of up to R1-billion has been made available to ensure continuity in operation, adequate resources, and suitable working infrastructure for the DTBSA business. This new set-up will comprise of the Sales and Marketing, Customer Service & Parts (CSP), Own Retail, Manufacturing Plant, Value-added services which include; TruckStore, FleetBoard, Mercedes-Benz Uptime, Service24h, TruckParts, and FUSO Value Parts (FVP).

Building of a new corporate home in Centurion, Pretoria is scheduled to start soon and bring together all the facets of the new company with the exception of the manufacturing arm, which will will have the same level of access to the key production areas such as harbour, depots/storage centres, testing ground, and Training Academy as Mercedes-Benz.

Looking to the future, Dietz confirmed the fully electric eCanter was undergoing testing in real world operating scenarios with selected customers but added DTBSA would offer a balanced portfolio of product within the expanding electric vehicle sphere with combustion engines offered whenever a conventional powertrain is a key requirement.

Hanif Ahmed, the Chief Financial Officer for DTBSA added: “The aim is to provide unrivalled and dynamic products for our customers along with holistic solutions for both dealers and customers, all of which is driven by service delivery.”

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