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Freightliner averts cab crisis

Frantic behind the scenes negotiations and contingency plans put in place with a leading local panelbeater by the Freightliner division of DaimlerChrysler SA has served to avert what could have been an absolute disaster in both the short and long term for Freightliner FLB operators around the world writes FleetWatch managing editor Patrick O'Leary.

The story revolves around replacement cabs for the FLB range - or more accurately, the lack of replacement cabs for the FLB range.

It started some nine months ago when the Freightliner division of DaimlerChrysler SA put in an order for cabs with the USA and was caught totally off-guard when told that Freightliner had closed the FLB cab plant in America and that no more cabs were forthcoming.

"We were taken totally by surprise," says marketing manager Johan Cloete. "Apparently, someone in the organisation had taken the decision to close the cab production plant without consulting the parts and sales export division. This meant South Africa, as well as other markets like Australia, were left totally in the lurch."

A frantic search was embarked on by Freightliner South Africa to buy up cabs around the world but Australia was also out there shopping and it wasn't long before there was not one FLB cab available on the international market.

For clients like the Super Group, which operates over 70 Freightliner FLBs, this presented a huge problem. In fact, it presented a potential problem for all local operators of Freightliner FLBs because the demand for replacement cabs in South Africa is high - and herein lies an interesting observation.

"When we pointed out to the Americans that we had to have replacement cabs, they were amazed at the high local demand for cabs. We use approximately two cabs per month with this rising to three or four in some months. It was obviously because of the lack of demand in the US market that someone took the decision to close the FLB cab production line," says Cloete.

As an aside, I mention this being an "interesting observation" because it highlights South Africa as a market where accidents are frequent and serious. Cabs don't suffer bumper damage; they suffer irreparable damage thus the high demand for complete replacements rather than mere rebuilds.

There is an obvious link here to driver training and to endorse this, I recall a conversation with Des Gush, former head of Toyota SA Trucks, when the Peterbilt marque was still in the Toyota stable.

He told FleetWatch at the time that they had gone on the advice of Peterbilt in the USA with regard to spares holdings and had stocked up on long wearing parts and components. Yet the highest short-term demand was for - you guessed it - cabs! And Toyota was given an early warning on this when an operator's driver wiped out the Peterbilt demo unit.

FleetWatch also picked up on this high demand during a visit last year to Super Hermans panelbeaters in Pinetown where we came across a 'graveyard' of cabs that had been wiped out. Sure there were some that could be rebuilt but many were fit only for the scrapheap.

There's no doubt about it, this market needs replacement cabs and FleetWatch finds it strange that no-one in Freightliner Corporation in the USA had bothered to research the organisation's export markets to gauge the demand before taking such a drastic step as to close the plant.

It's quite mind-boggling really and Freightliner Corporation USA needs a rap on the knuckles for exhibiting such folly. Apart from inconveniencing its customers, this saga has also been an embarrassment to its distributor in South Africa - and no doubt to those in Australia, Chile and Mexico where the FLB is a popular model. Quite bluntly, it was a stupid decision and especially given the fact that we in South Africa have been fed so much gumph about being part of the global market. I hate it when we're treated like some back-yard flea market.

That said, I thank goodness for the resilience of South Africans. On being told of the problem, Freightliner SA entered into an agreement with Super Herman panelbeaters in Pinetown to manufacture cabs from parts supplied by Freightliner SA. At that stage, however, Super Hermans had already picked up on the problem and had already reverted to the famous 'Boer maak 'n plan' mode.

"Because there were no cabs available, we had taken scrap cabs and used a floor here, a panel there and manufactured our own cabs," director Johan Herman tells FleetWatch.

The company could do this as it was an authorised Freightliner panelbeater and had in place jigs to build these cabs. It was later that they ceased using parts from scrap cabs and were supplied with panels and such like from DaimlerChrysler SA. This contingency plan worked and took the heat off Freightliner SA which was now able to offer its customers a cab if needed.

With this interim plan in place, DaimlerChrysler SA kept on at the Americans and perhaps the final push came when Jim Hebe, president of Freightliner Corporation, got to hear via some global grapevine that Tyco had made the offer to some of its local South African customers that, if push came to shove, they would recab Freightliners with Navistar bodies. Ouch!

It was, however, a kick that obviously worked for it wasn't long after that Cloete was informed by the Americans of the decision to haul the FLB cab production line out of mothballs and get it going again. The end result is that the first FLB cabs ex-USA will be arriving on our shores in October. In the meantime, Super Hermans is continuing to build cabs on a type of CKD basis.

Given all this, it would be true to say that it was South Africa which showed Freightliner Corporation the folly of its ways and thereby rescued operators around the world from imminent disaster. It would also be true to state that it was Super Hermans which rescued the local Freightliner operation from imminent disaster.

The ending is a happy one but it would have been happier if Super Hermans had been granted the rights to manufacture FLB cabs for the world. They tried. In fact, both Johan Herman and his son Steven visited Freightliner in the USA to try get these rights. Unfortunately, it never happened. Apparently, Freightliner Corporation had previously used a local SA company to manufacture some components and that company blew it on the quality front - thereby blowing it for all.

Mind you, given the fact that South Africa gave Freightliner in the USA a wake-up call to a potential 40 cabs a month for its export markets, it would have been a nice thank-you.

C'mon Jim Hebe - give it a rethink. Put your FLB cab line back into mothballs and let South Africa do it for you for the world. Not only do we need cabs - we also need to create jobs. And just because one local lady arrived at the President's Ball in 'jeans and tekkies' doesn't mean all our ladies will do the same. And this ain't a blind date. Super Hermans has already proved they can be a dignified and able partner by getting you out of the dwang when your own ball was cancelled. Let them dress up an FLB cab in the finest South African robes and then judge. Give them a chance to prove South Africa's world-class capabilities.