750,000th DAF truck manufactured in Eindhoven
DAF Trucks N.V. delivered the 750,000th truck manufactured in Eindhoven. Mr A.L. Goudriaan, President-Director of DAF, handed over the keys of the XF105—International Truck of the Year 2007—to Mr L.H. de Rijke, Chairman of the Board of Management of De Rijke Group, one of the leading logistics service providers in the chemical industry in Europe.The first DAF truck was sold on 1 September 1949 and, in that year, a total of 150 trucks left the factory in Eindhoven. The following year, more than a thousand trucks were produced. This is in stark contrast to the huge number of trucks that the factory in Eindhoven manufactured in 2006 — almost 40,000 to be precise.
Fastest growing truck manufacturer
“With a market share in the heavy segment that increased from 9.6% in 2000 to 14.5 percent last year, DAF is the fastest growing truck manufacturer in Europe”, says Mr A.L. Goudriaan, President-Director of DAF Trucks N.V. “We put our success down to our trend-setting product range, our first class dealer network and service package and the more than 8,000 dedicated DAF employees who know that the quality they deliver is crucial for the satisfaction of our customers. And therefore for the future of our company. Naturally, we attribute our success first of all to our customers, who provide us with valuable information that enables Product Development to develop trucks that correspond exactly to the customer's wishes. One example is De Rijke Group where half of the fleet of 900 traction vehicles now consists of DAF trucks.”
Reliability is the top priority
“DAF knows better than anyone what a transport operator demands of their trucks”, said Mr L.H. de Rijke, explaining why he had again decided to buy a number of DAFs. “In the chemical sector where we specialise, it's definitely all about maximum reliability and vehicle availability. When our trucks do not arrive with our customer's load at the delivery address on time, production processes can come to a standstill. This is a major responsibility for us and for our drivers, and demands extremely reliable trucks. Furthermore, our customers expect maximum flexibility and we therefore also expect the same from the DAF service organisation. Trucks are maintained outside regular office hours, sometimes even on Saturdays. And, with ITS, DAF still has the best international assistance service in the truck industry. Another aspect that is extremely important: drivers appreciate the comfort and the space in the cabs of the DAFs. At a time when the shortage of drivers is becoming more acute, the XF105 is the best truck that we, as a business owner, can buy for our drivers. In addition, we as a company consider it important to send our people on the road with safe, environmentally-friendly and economical vehicles.”
To satisfy the high demand for its trucks, DAF Trucks N.V. has increased production in Eindhoven over the past two years from just over 100 trucks a day in 2004 to 170 a day at the moment. In June, production rose to 178 trucks a day and, in view of the high demand, a further increase later this year should not be ruled out. In addition to this, Leyland Trucks, which is also a PACCAR company, manufactures 22 DAF trucks of the types CF and XF105 and 45 LFs a day.
The growth has become more pronounced in recent years. At the end of the eighties, around 18,000 trucks were manufactured in Eindhoven a year; at the end of the nineties, this figure was around 25,000 trucks. In the first years of the new millennium, the production in Eindhoven increased, reaching almost 31,000 in 2004. In 2006, the figure broke through the 40,000 barrier. In addition, 16,250 DAF trucks were manufactured at Leyland Trucks in Great Britain last year, so in total a record number of 56,250 trucks were manufactured in 2006. Since the start of truck production in 1949, 750,000 trucks have been manufactured in Eindhoven. In Leyland, a total of around 165,000 DAF trucks have been manufactured to date.
DAF Trucks N.V. — a subsidiary of the American company PACCAR Inc, one of the world's largest producers of heavy duty trucks, is a leading producer of light, medium and heavy duty trucks with a market share in Western Europe of 14.5% in the over 15 tonne category for 2006. Over the last year, the company has delivered a total of around 56,500 trucks onto the market — both inside and outside Europe. DAF also develops and produces components, such as axles and engines, for manufacturers of buses and special vehicles. These components are sold via the DAF Components department. DAF Trucks N.V. has factories in Eindhoven and the Belgian town of Westerlo, over 1000 dealers and service points in Europe and over 8000 employees.
De Rijke Group — Besides providing transport services in the broadest sense of the word, De Rijke provides forwarding activities, storage and value-added logistics, as well as the integral management of the complete goods flow. The company has fully concentrated on the different forms of road transport: goods and parcels, dry bulk, fluids, containers and the transport of industrial liquid gases etc. The company specialises in the handling (including the packaging) of hazardous and/or chemical substances, for which the many warehouse and silo/tank facilities are also fully equipped. Spread over various locations, more than 500,000 square metres of covered storage space is available. The activities of De Rijke were ISO 9001-2000 certified and were also subjected to the rigorous SQAS package of Cefic. The company has 35 establishments in 11 different countries and is fortunate enough to be able to count household names such as ExxonMobil, Huntsman, Shell, BP, Honeywell and DSM among its customers. Besides continuing, significant growth of activities in West Europe, which has been achieved through organic growth and acquisitions, there is currently also strong growth in Central Europe, as well as in regions outside Europe, such as the Middle East.
