June 2009

The systems and processes are structured to ensure the 12 000 International trucks stay on the roads. It’s all about ‘uptime’. Barloworld Logistics is the Third Party Service provider to the facility.

THE SOUTH AFRICAN trucking industry has some really good friends in the corridors of Navistar International Corporation, chief among them being Tim Quinlan, regional vice president of the group, writes Patrick O’Leary. 

Quinlan, who has lived in South Africa for many years using it as his base to manage the sub-Saharan, Asia Pacific and Russian markets, is a man who, through all the trials and tribulations of both the country and the local representivity of the International brand over the past years, has never lost faith in the viability of this market. 

When the Imperial Group decided to close down Commercial Vehicle Holdings – which housed International, Renault and DAF trucks – it wasn’t long before Quinlan mustered together a powerful team headed by the inimitable Bob Jones as MD with the ever jovial and optimistic John Barnett at his side, to ensure continuity of the brand and more importantly, service to its customers. 
 

	Phyllis Cochran, senior vice president and general manager of Navistar Parts Group, officially unveiled the new facility with Josef Kory, vice president, Global Distribution Operations.
Tim Quinlan, Navistar Truck Group – now happy with the parts distribution set-up he feels customers deserve.

The result was that in 2008, Navistar rolled out a new distribution strategy for southern Africa creating Navistar International Trucks Southern Africa (NITSA) as a fully fledged subsidiary of parent company Navistar Inc to import and assemble International brand trucks such as the International 9800i and provide comprehensive after-sales technical service and parts support for the International brand. 

Among the long-term plans was to put in place a parts distribution centre based on world-class, best practice principles. The good news is that at the beginning of June, the doors to a new 4 200 sq.m. parts distribution center (PDC) was officially opened in Midrand, launching Navistar’s newest facility in South Africa. 

At the opening ceremony, customers, dealers, employees and Navistar executives celebrated the benefits of the new PDC, which will greatly improve customer service and parts availability for customers throughout the region. The Midrand PDC now imports, stocks, markets and distributes aftermarket service parts for the entire southern Africa region as well as the Sub-Saharan region of Africa. 

Manager of the new PDC, Denvor Govender, with a map of some of the sun-Saharan dealers the new facility will service.

An indication of the importance of this event was given by the presence of some high ranking executives from the Navistar Parts Group in Warrenville in the USA - Phyllis Cochran, senior vice president and general manager being one of them. Also there was Nate Jolliff, director, worldwide logistics and lean operations support as well as Josef Kory, vice president, Global Distribution Operations. 

“Our strategy in southern Africa is another sign of Navistar’s growing global presence and demonstrates our commitment to serve our customers in the southern Africa region,” Cochran told the assembled guests. 

The PDC will support dealerships in Namibia and Swaziland as well as several in South Africa, including locations in Wadeville, Johannesburg South, Polokwane, Middelburg and Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Harrismith, Richards Bay,  George, Nelspruit, and Port Shepstone. 

There were a lot of good words said on the day and all in all, it was one of those occasions which embodied all the ‘right stuff’. 

FleetWatch compliments the company on its solid commitment to its customers and to its markets. International® brand trucks have been operating in this market since 1921 (remember the old International Harvester) and are set to be here for many more years to come. We welcome that with open arms.