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FleetWatch correspondent and trucking consultant Max Braun celebrated 50 years in the trucking industry last year. That's a lot of years of experience to look back on. To mark the occasion, FleetWatch's editor looked around for a company that had been in this country for around the same amount of years and asked Max to trace their path and give his view of their progress and impact. We found one that company in MAN Truck & Bus (SA) which first entered our market in the early 1960s, a few years after Max had started in the industry as a young man. Here's how Max sees their path over the years he's been around.


When Patrick O'Leary heard I was planning to visit the 61st IAA Nutzfahrzeuge Ausstellung in Hannover, Germany last September, he said: "Since you were an invited guest to attend MAN Nutzfahrzeuge's (MAN) IAA pre-launch in the Austrian town of Wolfgangsee just a few weeks ahead of the Hannover Ausstellung, why don't you write an article for FleetWatch reminiscing about MAN as you have known it over the 50 years you have been in and around the business of trucking?"

At that moment, I did not know whether Pat and I were heading for a love/hate relationship or perhaps even the end of a long and fruitful friendship. When the notion finally sunk in and got past the myriad of issues such as deadlines, training projects and whatever else was clamouring for a piece of my brain, I decided the idea was not at all a bad one.

Why would anyone want to write about that, I hear you say? What's different about MAN? Are they different to any other truck builder? Believe it or not, the answer to this question is yes. That is why I agreed to dig down deep into my memory - and library - so that you may also know, why the Bavarian truck builder is different to most.

My story is not about "specs and stats". Apart from being boring, we all get enough of makes, models and market shares whenever we flip through a trade and tech magazine. This is a story about people; people with courage, determination and dedication to succeed and make a difference.

Modern Methods Truck models throughout the years - such as the F2000 range - have incorporated advanced technical features suitable for the day.

MAN - before I knew them
MAN started making trucks in 1915 about 20 years after Rudolf Diesel invented the compression ignition combustion engine in plants in the German cities of Augsburg and Nurnberg, both of which form part of the company's name - Maschinenfabriek Augsburg-Nurnberg (MAN). For the record, MAN built the first truck with a direct injection diesel engine and the first with a turbocharged engine in 1924 and 1951 respectively. I mention this to establish at this early stage the pioneering and innovative spirit that has always prevailed at MAN

MAN came to South Africa in the early 1960s. Its first authorised distributor in South Africa was Meyer and Hiller (M&H), a company established by two German entrepreneurs. M&H set up its headquarters in Isando, Gauteng as well as an assembly plant for trucks and buses in Pinetown, KZN.

Even in those far off days, the company and the marque kept a low public profile. In 1973, MAN Nutzfahrzeuge took over the M&H operations and renamed the company MAN Truck & Bus (Pty) Ltd. Under the stewardship of the publicity shy Wolf Meurer, a seasoned MAN manager, the company maintained its low profile over the next 20 years.

Storm Clouds
In the early 1980s, storm clouds gathered for truck builders worldwide. Following its near demise, MAN, through sheer determination, survived the harrowing period between 1979 and 1984 when several of its major markets collapsed on the back of the long-running recession in the US and Europe. Worldwide over-capacity, intense competition and the cancellation of an order to deliver some 2 000 trucks to Saudi-Arabia as a result of the Iran/Iraq war added to the woes. At the beginning of 1985, European truck sales were still lagging 20% behind 1979 volumes. 

By mid-1985 - in its 70th year in existence - MAN, under the guidance of chairman Wilfred Lochte whom I had the pleasure of meeting on a few occasions, steered the company to recovery. MAN demonstrated its ability to significantly reduce its break-even point, dramatically expand its export markets and adopt an early long term vision in terms of setting up joint projects in Asia (mainly China) and Africa not to mention the co-operative projects with VWAG, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Mack and Eaton for the supply of components and parts.

1985 was the year I first attended an MAN pre-launch, this time in Munich. I will forever remember the pride I felt when we arrived at the launch venue where the national flag of each MAN subsidiary was flying to greet the several hundred invited journalists from around the world. I will never forget the adrenalin rush I felt when I saw the South African flag flying boldly, proudly, alongside those of the other participating nations. This especially so when our country was in recession, the rand devastated by geopolitical events around the raging unrest that was taking place in our country. The esprit-de-corps and strength of character in adversity displayed by MAN's people in resolving the daunting challenges they had just overcome was a huge inspiration for me.

A big factor in MAN's strategy for success resides in its commitment to meeting customer needs. Through the dark and dismal years of the early 1980s, MAN invested an average of R100-million a year on R/D. This helped them become frontrunners in getting to grips with the then expected emerging European and German legislation governing emissions and noise. MAN was one the first truck builders to develop and fit electronic circuitry, guidance and diagnostics - not to mention automatic clutches and electronically controlled fuel injection pumps to its buses, trucks and military equipment.

Wilfred Lochte emphasised the importance for MAN to be flexible and have the ability to compete when it came to "tailoring" vehicles in one of its plants to meet a wide range of customer needs.

A few years later, Dr Günter Dietz, the then worldwide director for marketing and a board member of the South African subsidiary, on his first visit to South Africa, confirmed MAN's commitment to the South African market. He was impressed with the stability of our market and the ongoing demand for MAN products. He said these factors and the market's ability to pay for vehicles, fully justified his company's decision to introduce the then state-of-the art F90 model range. 

Dr Dietz once again confirmed the core aspects of MAN strategy: "We prefer steady demand and not just market size. Smaller markets make it easier to build a top class service organisation and it is easier to manager fluctuations in demand. We like to look after the smaller and medium-size fleets; that's where our flexibility comes in", he explained.

However, I was well aware that MAN in South Africa was already well on its way to penetrating more and more national "blue blood" fleets. In some instances, their success represented a move away from total standardisation, until then entrenched in many mega fleets.

In March 1989, Dr-Ing Klaus Schubert, who was then director of engineering on the MAN Nutzfahrzeuge board and later became CEO of the company, delivered the Desmond Bolton Transport Lecture at the University of Pretoria (Tukkies). Dr Schubert based his presentation on the growing importance of road transport in general and the role of trucks in particular. He spoke of the need to regard heavy trucks as long-term capital investments since the objectives in developing heavy trucks included:

• Greater operating economy
• Enhanced safety
• Improved environmental compatibility
• Increased comfort

Forerunner to MAN Trucknology
He outlined the interlinking technologies to achieve such objectives. He nominated electronics to suit the needs of heavy trucks as the most important one. His detailed presentation covered the concepts of electronic fuel injection, variable turbine configuration, after treatment of exhaust emissions, fully- and semi-automatic drive trains, anti-lock braking, electronically controlled braking, level control of air-suspension and vehicle guidance technology. This was the forerunner to MAN Trucknology and the birth of the TGA model range. Come to think of it, history says the total development cost up to the launch of the TGA range in 2000, exceeded one billion D Marks

Looking back on developments in South Africa, the company took a leaf out of its UK book. Following the decision to take direct control over its distribution network, market shares doubled in just four years. The performance of the local dealer network situated at 29 locations is closely monitored by the frequent use of an independent customer satisfaction monitor and a dealer standards programme.

Casting my mind back some 20 years to the Marplan Syndicated Truck studies conducted by Ian Byers, a most talented and competent researcher, showed a positive market reaction to MAN trucks. They were seen to be well-engineered, quality products with acceptable operating costs and at a reasonable price. Dealers had a good reputation and sales reps were seen to be knowledgeable and rated best in pre- and post-sales contacts.