Cascadia production to ramp up

The Freightliner Truck plant in Cleveland, N.C., plans to add 1,100 jobs by year’s end to make more Cascadias, Daimler Trucks North America announced. The majority of the positions will be filled with recalled workers who were laid off in 2009, and hiring is slated to begin in early February.

The additional workers represent a 72 percent increase in personnel at the plant and will include an estimated 1,072 shop employees and an additional 29 engineering and support positions.

The increase in production capacity and hiring comes in response to demand growth which has created back orders as long as six months for the Cascadia model, according to a company news release.

Daimler will also hire 100 employees at its components and logistics plant in Gastonia, N.C., near Cleveland.