US President Barack Obama visited a North American commercial vehicle subsidiary of Daimler AG for the second time this year.
After his visit to the Freightliner trucks production plant in Mount Holly, North Carolina, in March of 2012, the US President met the employees of the aggregate plant in Redford, Michigan, on Monday, December 10. At the Redford plant the Daimler subsidiary Detroit Diesel Corporation has its headquarters and produces powertrain aggregates under the Detroit umbrella brand for trucks of the Freightliner and Western Star brand.
During his visit at the location, Obama commended Daimler’s plans to expand the production at the Redford location. For this, the company will invest $120 million and create 115 new jobs.
In future, Daimler production in the US State of Michigan will include the Detroit DT12 automated manual transmission and the new asymmetric turbocharger Detroit DD15. Thus, Daimler Trucks will become the first commercial vehicle manufacturer in the NAFTA region to offer a fully integrated powertrain from its own production.
Global product platforms coupled with local know-how
Andreas Renschler, Management Board Member of Daimler AG responsible for Daimler Trucks and Daimler Buses: “Under the umbrella of our components brand Detroit we combine engines, axles and transmissions into an efficient, fully integrated power-train,” explained Renschler. “We will offer this powertrain portfolio in all our US trucks in the future. This is a prime example of our Global Excellence Strategy. We create global platforms for all powertrain components, which can then be adapted to local requirements. Thus, we are as global as possible and as local as necessary”, underlined Renschler.
For example, transmissions will be produced in the Mercedes-Benz plant in Gaggenau and adapted to the country-specific requirements of trucks in the NAFTA region. Thus, Daimler Trucks can effectively optimize the levers of costs, production processes and quality with its cross-brand modular strategy and global production network, which will benefit customers in the end.
DTNA maps leading role in powertrain technologies
Martin Daum, President and CEO of Daimler Trucks North America: “A fully integrated powertrain from a single source is a decisive competitive advantage. That is why we decided in favor of the Redford location, where our employees work hand in hand in one location,” underlined Daum. “With this we are placing great confidence in the workforce here.”
The further development and optimized design of the powertrain are decisive for Daimler’s industry leadership in green technologies. A good example of this pioneering role is the certification of Daimler Trucks North America in accordance with the GHG14 Greenhouse Gas Standard a full year earlier than required by the US Environ-mental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The entire vehicle program in the 2013 model year (long-distance trucks, medium-duty trucks as well as construction and municipal trucks) is fully compliant with the new GHG14 Standard, which is aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions for medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks. Note: GHG14 does not replace the current emission standard EPA 10, valid in the NAFTA Region (binding since 01/2010 – corresponds to Euro VI), since the latter addresses and regulates the classic pollution aspects (particles, NOx).
