Heavy Duty Trucking, June 2017

HDT JUNE 2017 18 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM Hotline Ramona Hood Vice president FedEx Supply Chain KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST NEWS EACH DAY AT WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM TRUCKINGS MOST RESPECTED BUSINESS REPORT DTNAs chief exec speaks on NAFTA truck sales and his new role Roger Nielsen the new president and chief executive officer of Daimler Trucks North America doesnt seem concerned by talk in Washington D C about renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement even though its manufacturing footprint includes Mexico Were a global company and globally we believe in free trade And were prepared to engage everybody and anybody in discussions he said during his first media briefing as chief of DTNA last month on the occasion of officially opening its High Desert Proving Grounds in Madras Oregon I dont anticipate any major changes in the NAFTA The company has reserve manufacturing capacity in the U S and Mexico he noted The supply chain is also dual sourced They have the ability to source worldwide or source domestically Daimlers global presence was recently punctuated when Nielsens predecessor Martin Daum was promoted to lead Daimler Trucks and Buses worldwide Then Nielsen received the call that put him in his current role I was absolutely in shock he confessed I never really thought that would be the next step in my life Nielsen had served as the companys chief operating officer since 2001 And he clearly likes to keep in close touch with staff and products alike He often grabs a truck on display in front of the companys corporate headquarters to head out for lunch And he makes random calls to the call center to see if the answers align with corporate approaches Aspects of his previous role will undeniably influence the work he does today I bring in a view of being responsible for product quality he said Quality in the factory is service quality Daimler clearly has set its sights on a 40 market share and it is a leader in on highway truck sales But the potential for a bigger market overall is dampened somewhat because major buyers have fresh fleets with average equipment ages under 24 months Used truck pricing is not like it was two years ago three years ago four years ago he said Those who have equipment with plenty of miles left are more likely to stick with what they have Some customers are also waiting for different configurations of the next generation Cascadia That rollout is scheduled to be complete in mid 2018 We have some great products yet in our pipeline he added alluding to vocational models that are in the works John G Smith Q The Women In Trucking Association honored you with its Influential Woman in Trucking award Recently you spoke at an event for professional women at FedEx What was your message A One was having visibility in the workplace To be competitive and able to deliver results also requires a level of visibility in your organization The second point is having a board of directors and this is really surrounding yourself with mentors and coaches as well as sponsors and leveraging all three for your career The third piece is understanding that you own your own learning and to actively manage your learning plan in order to achieve your goals And the last piece I spoke to is to realize that fulfillment in your career will mean less if you dont have priorities outside of your career plan By having those priorities you can manage your time more effectively Q Looking ahead to the future what challenges do you see for the industry A Rapid change in the industry I think there are a few areas There is the pace of change tied to technology that we see then there is the change we see within the talent that we need the potential talent shortage and it starts at the driver level really up to the leadership level Its not an industry where individuals are going to school and saying they want to be a part of it We need to make sure its attractive to that next generation and understand from a diversity standpoint the interest that they will want and move them along in their career as well For the full interview go to www truckinginfo com Hood DTNAs new chief Roger Nielsen