|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Headlines Compare the U.S. House and Senate health care bills ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
Daimler
U.S. unit launches output at
heavy truck plant in Mexico
SALTILLO, COAHUILA, Mexico, Feb 27 (SNS) – Daimler Trucks North America, formerly Freightliner LLC—a unit of Daimler AG (DAI), a major maker and seller of commercial vehicles, disclosed the firm opened its new $300.0 million plant here today that will manufacture heavy-duty trucks for the U.S., Canadian, and Mexican markets. The plant will produce Freightliner's new flagship, the Cascadia-model truck and will have the ability to build up to 30,000 units of the model per year. It also will create 1,400 new jobs. The Cascadia is slated to go on sale in Mexico during late 2009, Daimler disclosed. The Saltillo plant is the second Daimler Trucks North America manufacturing facility to be located in Mexico, joining the Santiago Tianguistenco plant, which produces Freightliner-branded heavy and medium-duty trucks for domestic Mexico sales, as well as for export to Latin America, the United States, and Canada. The firm broke ground on the plant more than two years ago and said the facility was completed on time. It covers 1.3 million square feet of space and includes a production facility, a logistics center, administration building, and a training center. As reported, the Daimler unit confirmed last October 14 it would close two medium and heavy-duty truck assembly plants in North America—hurting thousands of hourly jobs—and kill its Sterling brand by 2010, in response to an ongoing sales slump. The firm said it permanently will halt assembly at a heavy-duty truck plant in Portland, Ore., by June 2010, when the current labor contracts expire. The firm also said it will shut another site in St. Thomas, Ont. by March 2009, following the expiration of a similar deal with the Canadian Auto Workers union. It will also permanently halt production of the Sterling-badged medium and heavy-duty trucks at the same Ontario site. The firm’s Western Star commercial truck production at Portland will be shifted to the company’s new site in Santiago, Mexico, while assembly of Freightliner-branded military vehicles will occur at one of the company's facilities in the Carolinas by mid-year 2010. Production at Saltillo, Mexico was expected to start this month. As reported, Daimler’s U.S. truck unit declined to comment last July 24 on unconfirmed internal reports the company was planning to close St. Thomas, after the firm disclosed plans to shed 720 jobs—nearly half of its workers—at the facility during the last quarter of this year over decline in demand for the vehicles.
As reported,
Daimler Trucks North America
reconfirmed on the eve of
the 2008 Mid-America
Trucking Show plans to
launch final production of
Freightliner Cascadia-model
heavy-duty trucks by last
December at the new $300.0
million site in Saltillo.
The firm acknowledged the
plant, capacitized at 40,000
units annually on three
daily work shifts, would
supplement output of Class
8-type trucks at Cleveland,
N.C., as the Cleveland
facility would become
capacity constrained on the
upside of a new business
cycle, which likely will
begin in 2010.
It also said at the time full production capacity use of 40,000 units per year may not occur until 2015, when Sterling-branded Class 8-type trucks are added to the assembly mix at Saltillo. The company said last October it expects 2,300 workers at St. Thomas and Portland will be laid off by mid-2010, due to the plant closures. It includes 720 workers at the St. Thomas plant which were cut late last year, as previously disclosed. Nearly 1,200 salaried workers lost their jobs, with over half related to the Sterling brand. Daimler Trucks North America expects the cuts to cost the firm nearly $600.0 million. But it sees improvement to its annual earnings of $900.0 million by 2011, as a result of the changes, it added. As reported, Daimler Trucks North America confirmed to Stark's News Service Interactive the firm rehired some hourly workers last year at Cleveland, despite the soft U.S. truck market. Daimler Trucks North America said the firm would rehire 650 workers at Cleveland by last September 2 to meet increased demand of the new Freightliner Cascadia-model truck. The recall came after the firm started furloughing nearly half of its workforce at the same site last June. However, the firm said last August it would replace a partial second shift at the Cleveland site, despite the current market conditions. Employment at the site was expected at 1,985 once the second shift resumed, the company added. As reported last July, Daimler Trucks North America obtained an order for undisclosed value to supply 300 units of Freightliner Cascadia Class 8-type trucks by this year to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT). As reported, the U.S. truck-maker shifted 13.4 per cent of its salaried jobs, or 341 positions, from Portland last year to a new location in South Carolina near its existing truck-making site. The company assured Freightliner's headquarters would continue to be based in Oregon despite the move of the sales and marketing positions. As reported, Daimler Trucks North American reportedly renewed a 40-year lease in 2006 for its headquarters in Portland in the Swan Island Industrial Park. (Thanks for the info. John)
|
|||
|
| President : Frank Rouse
Vice President : Ray Simonis
Recording Secretary : Fred MacKenzie
Secretary-Treasure : Gene McGlothlin
Conductor-Sentinel : Mike White
Auditors Jose Canul Marcia Keck Shellia Dedmon
Trustees Ray Simonis Cheryl Rouse Richard Brandt
NOLC Delegates Britt Cornman Frank Rouse Joe Kear . Joe Estes Gene McGlothlin Cheryl Rouse
OMC Delegates Britt Cornman Joe Kear Fred MacKenzie Frank Rouse
District 24 Delegates Joe Estes Marcia Keck Fred MacKenzie Gene McGlothlin Joan Miller Tony Mims Gil Robles Chris Taylor |
