Daimler-Freightliner marriage celebrates silver anniversary

PORTLAND, Ore. — It’s been more than 65 years since the Freightliner nameplate first saw the light of day.

In the late 1930s, Leyland James, then president of Portland, Ore.-based Consolidated Freightways, conceived and developed the cab-over-engine (COE) power unit design to improve the efficiency of his fleet. The design evolved over a 10-year period, and then in 1950, his manufacturing company, Freightliner Corp., sold the first COE truck to an outside carrier.

The short-hood trucks with lightweight aluminum cabs caught on with other freight carriers, and soon Freightliner became an established truck builder and an independent brand — selling 10,000 trucks in 1980.

A year earlier, Mercedes-Benz had opened a truck assembly plant in Hampton, Va. hoping to break into the North American market. But truck buyers on this side of the Atlantic weren’t yet ready for European trucks.

So it acquired the Freightliner and within 11 years, turned the medium-sized, Portland-based truck maker into the number one heavy-truck producer in North America. Seven years later, in 1999, Freightliner celebrated the production of its one-millionth truck.

Recently, Freightliner and parent company, DaimlerChrysler celebrated a 25-year anniversary that has taken both organizations — now the DaimlerChrysler Truck Group — to the top in their respective markets.

Looking forward to the truck makers’ 50th anniversary, Andreas Renschler, head of the DaimlerChrysler Truck Group, says the company will continue to build on its core competencies by using the sheer size of the company to gain every competitive advantage possible.

They will be focusing on more efficient manufacturing strategies such as grouping its worldwide engine activities.

In 2007/2008, for example, the company will introduce a global engine platform that will be offered around the world, followed shortly thereafter by the phase out of the Series 60 engine, and the other heavy duty engines currently available elsewhere in the world. The single engine will see the company through the 2010 and Euro VI emissions mandates.

Furthermore, Dr. Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the board of management at DaimlerChrysler AG told attendees at the anniversary celebration that a new management model is being rolled out across the corporation, and that over time, more of the DaimlerChrysler Production System will be implemented at the manufacturing level to increase productivity and competitiveness.

“The new model will enable us to be leaner, more flexible, and faster; and to improve productivity,” Zetsche said. “Ultimately, we will be a more efficient company. That means we’ll be better able to quickly respond to market needs without a large, multi-layered bureaucracy to work around.”