Daimler Trucks is increasing production of its Freightliner Cascadia.Daimler Trucks North America LLC today, June 30, announced it will recall approximately 540 workers to three of its manufacturing facilities in North Carolina.
Recalled workers are expected to be in place by mid-July at the company’s truck manufacturing facilities in Mt. Holly and Cleveland, as well as at its components and logistics plant in Gastonia. Daily build rates at the Mt. Holly and Cleveland plants are rising sharply to meet strong order activity.
In April, DTNA and the United Auto Workers reached agreement on new labor contracts for the plants. The new contracts include baseline production commitments, which will provide job stability and security for plant employees.
To date DTNA customers have placed orders for more than 21,400 vehicles meeting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency emissions standards, including 16,565 Freightliner trucks, a DTNA division.
“Our Class 8 daily build rate in the U.S. will increase by more than 67 percent this July versus July 2009,” said Mark Lampert, senior vice president, sales and marketing for DTNA.
Schneider National Inc. recently ordered several hundred 2011-model year Freightliner Cascadia tractors to replace older-model, less energy efficient trucks in its fleet. The trucks will be equipped with BlueTec selective catalytic reduction emissions technology. Freightliner Trucks is the primary supplier of vehicles to Schneider National, including the majority of the company’s EPA 2010-compliant trucks.
DTNA officials also noted DTNA combined Class 8 market share for the U.S. and Canada leads the industry at 34.2 percent April year-to-date, and that DTNA Class 8 orders represent approximately 36 percent of the industry backlog.
