Freightliner shuffles, streamlines management group; hires Chris Patterson

PORTLAND, Ore. (Dec. 21, 2001) — North America’s largest producer of trucks and buses has shaken up its management structure, hoping to find a combination that can make the company profitable again.

Freightliner LLC, DaimlerChrysler AG’s commercial-vehicles arm in North America, said a new executive committee will have broader and more centralized authority over financial controlling, dealer operations, product development, and strategic planning.

Also, control of Freightliner’s Orion Bus and Thomas Dennis Corp. has been shifted to DaimlerChrysler’s commercial bus division, Evobus. Thomas Built Buses, the High Point, N.C.-based school bus manufacturer, will remain part of Freightliner LLC, which produces trucks under the Freightliner, Sterling, and Western Star brands.

“Our new organization is designed to achieve the materials cost savings, production savings, overhead reductions, and business model improvements set forth in our turnaround plan, and to return Freightliner to profitability and sustained financial performance,” said Rainer Schmueckle, Freightliner LLC president and CEO.

As part of the management restructuring, Freightliner announced numerous personnel appointments. Among them is the appointment of Chris Patterson as senior vice-president, parts and service. Patterson will be responsible for all parts sales, customer support, and aftermarket programs for Freightliner LLC business units. He will be a member of Freightliner’s executive committee and report directly to Schmueckle.

Patterson, a Canadian, spent five years with Freightliner in the 1990s, serving as president of Freightliner of Canada and senior vice-president, sales and marketing, at Freightliner Trucks. He most recently was vice-president of sales and marketing with Volvo Trucks North America.

The company also named Bob Cariglia vice-president of sales for Freightliner Trucks. Cariglia, who like Patterson is Canadian and a former Freightliner Canada president, will oversee Freightliner’s heavy- and medium-duty truck sales initiatives in the U.S. and Canada. Cariglia will report to Freightliner vice-president of sale Mark Lampert.

Last summer, Freightliner launched a turnaround plan that includes reducing product lines, eliminating jobs, cutting costs, and raising prices on new trucks. The company is expected to lose more than $1 billion US in 2001 amid an industry-wide sales slump and a crushing amount of used-truck inventory.