kscarbel2

The Washington Post / May 16, 2017 The Trump administration said Monday that it will dismantle part of the Affordable Care Act that created online insurance marketplaces for small businesses and tried to foster a greater choice of health plans for their workers. Moving to end the ACA's small-business enrollment system by 2018 represents the first public step by the Health and Human Services Department to implement an executive order President Donald Trump signed his first night in office, directing agencies to ease regulatory burdens of the health-care law. In starting with the Small Business Health Options Program, or SHOP, the administration is targeting an aspect of the ACA that has been troubled from the outset and never lived up to its proponents' expectations. As of early this year, federal figures show, nearly 230,000 people were covered through SHOP health plans - a fraction of the 4 million that congressional budget analysts had predicted as the small-business marketplaces began in 2014. Although that means relatively few Americans will be directly affected by the decision, its symbolic impact is large. The specifics of the impending change are a work in progress, and federal health officials said Monday that they plan to propose a new federal rule to take effect in January. The basic idea is to narrow, but not eliminate, the federal website for small-business insurance so that companies could still go online to apply for government tax credits under the law. However, they no longer would use that website to select health plans. The site instead would show the names of available insurers and tell companies to deal directly with brokers of the health plans. "We're still working out the details on that," said a senior official at HHS' Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about decisions that have not been finalized. "The goal here is to reduce the burden," he said, noting that the current method is cumbersome for insurers. The official said the announcement was made now because insurers selling ACA health plans are deciding this spring and summer whether to continue next year. Kevin Counihan, chief executive of the ACA's HealthCare.gov during the Obama administration, said it's unclear whether the 2010 law allows the Trump administration to legally make such a change. The law's language is vague on whether the small-business part of the law must mirror the enrollment system for people buying coverage on their own, he said. "The irony in some of this," Counihan said, is that "they've now added more steps in the goal of being simpler" - because businesses would need to use two websites, one to check whether they qualify for ACA business tax credits and another to work with a broker or an insurer. The SHOP exchange has long been troubled. The separate marketplaces for businesses with 50 or fewer employees were intended to correct difficulties that many such companies had encountered with insurers because their size made it difficult to spread out the risk if an individual worker had high medical costs. As a result, small companies were much less likely to offer a choice of health plans or any coverage at all. But the Obama administration was late in building the SHOP part of HealthCare.gov. Officials also postponed an ACA requirement that workers in small businesses be offered a choice of health plans. "Arguably, it never took off in the first place," said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at Georgetown University's Center on Health Insurance Reforms. And even before Trump took office, Corlette said, the Obama administration had begun unraveling the SHOP exchanges through a late 2016 rule change: It removed a requirement that health plans with many people enrolling in the ACA's individual marketplaces also had to sell coverage plans in the small-business marketplaces. A spokeswoman for America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry's main trade group, said Monday that the further changes the Trump administration is planning "will simplify the enrollment process for small groups in many states." But John Arensmeyer, chief executive of the Small Business Majority, condemned the idea of ending the online enrollment and requiring business to go to a broker or insurer to get coverage. "Forcing small employers to make this extra effort just to enroll in SHOP will make it likely that SHOP usage dwindles to little or nothing," he said, calling the plans "just one more example of how the Trump administration would rather undo key parts of the Affordable Care Act."

. . .

Ford plans to cut global work force by 10% Automotive News / May 15, 2017 Reuters and Bloomberg contributed to this report. Ford Motor Co. is preparing major reductions to its worldwide work force amid CEO Mark Fields’ renewed efforts to hike profits and address the company’s falling share price, The Wall Street Journal and Reuters reported, citing people briefed on the move. A source familiar with the plan told Reuters on Monday that Ford plans to shrink its salaried work force in North America and Asia by about 10 percent. Reuters, citing a person briefed on the plan, said Ford will offer generous early retirement incentives to reduce its salaried ranks by Oct. 1, but the company does not plan cuts to its hourly work force or production levels. In Germany, where Ford’s European operations are based, the company has made voluntary buyout offers to a limited number of staff members over the past few months, according to IG Metall union official Witich Rossmann, who added that he hasn’t been informed of a larger job-cut program. Ford is targeting $3 billion in cost reductions this year to enhance earnings in 2018 as U.S. light-vehicle demand begins to slip after seven straight years of gains. Ford shares closed Monday at $10.94, up 2 cents, just above their 52-week low of $10.90 a share and well off their 52-week high of $14.04 a share. The company's stock price has suffered during the three years Fields has been CEO, succeeding Alan Mulally, and Ford’s market value has slipped behind those of Tesla Inc. and General Motors. The job reductions, expected to be disclosed as early as this week, affect salaried employees and aim to cut Ford's global head count by about 10 percent, the Journal reported late Monday. It is unclear if more employment cuts are planned, Reuters said. “We remain focused on the three strategic priorities that will create value and drive profitable growth, which include fortifying the profit pillars in our core business, transforming traditionally underperforming areas of our core business and investing aggressively, but prudently, in emerging opportunities,” Ford said in a statement in response to the Journal and Reuters reports. “Reducing costs and becoming as lean and efficient as possible also remain part of that work. We have not announced any new people efficiency actions, nor do we comment on speculation." Ford ended the first quarter with about 202,000 employees worldwide, with half of that head count in North America. The automaker may face potential fallout from President Donald Trump, who has made boosting U.S. auto employment a top priority. The company plans to emphasize the voluntary nature of the staff reductions, Reuters said. Ford said last month when it reported first-quarter earnings that it planned to cut $3 billion in costs. The company's first-quarter profits fell by $900 million to $1.6 billion from a year earlier, as revenue rose and profit margins shrank. Even with first-quarter revenue rising by $1.4 billion, or 4 percent, to $39.1 billion, reflecting a strong sales mix, profits were pinched by charges for recalls, continued investment in new mobility services and higher parts costs for some 2016 product launches. Ford says the first quarter will be the toughest in what is expected to be a down year overall for the automaker. The rest of 2017 is expected to be about even with, or better than, its financial performance last year, when it earned $10.4 billion in pretax profits, the second-best in the company’s history. Ford shareholders last week criticized company leaders over what one investor called the “pathetic” performance of the automaker’s shares and questioned how the board can continue to support Fields, who has been CEO since July 2014. The board convened ahead of last week’s annual meeting to press Fields on his plans for improving the company’s fortunes, a person familiar with the discussions said. Fields faces sharp questioning of his strategy with Ford’s shares having fallen about 36 percent since he replaced Mulally, who steered the company through the global financial crisis without a government bailout. Fields has been pouring billions into electric vehicles, self-driving cars and ride-sharing experiments as Ford’s conventional vehicle business has struggled more than rival GM amid a slowing U.S. market.

I think you're being rather unfair. Under Volvo, a great deal has been done. For example, Volvo Group shut down Mack Trucks' World Headquarters and squeezed a handful of people into their nice Greensboro, North Carolina Volvo Truck headquarters. Volvo Group also closed Mack Trucks' Engineering, Development & Test Center (ED&TC) in Allentown, taking over Mack brand R&D. And, Volvo Group has replaced American Mack engineering, now having all the Mack models on the Volvo platform. Furthermore, the Mack brand trucks now all have Volvo powertrains. Taking a pedigreed American truck and evolving it into a nameplate on a Volvo-based truck is no simple task. It took significant time, money and effort. It's a noteworthy achievement. I'm entirely confident that, under Volvo's ownership, the Mack brand will soon rank number 3 or higher very soon in North America.

“We're not on anybody's side, ever,” said former FBI Director James Comey in a March speech. “We're not considering whose ox will be gored by this action or that action, whose fortunes will be helped by this or that — we just don't care and we can't care.” .

Ending West's dominance in the power tools market China Daily / July 25, 2016 Chances are high that on your next visit to a hardware store in the United States, you may notice that Chinese fall clean-up tools are among the best-selling products, giving Germany's Bosch, the world's top power-tool maker, stiff competition. Before you attribute the sales to presumably lower prices of made-in-China goods, take a reality check: Worx products are costlier than Bosch's. That's not all. The cordless, lightweight Worx grass-trimmer won an award from the US Electronic Retailing Association in 2010 for its quality and innovation. There's more. GFK, a European research and consulting company, said in a report that some costlier Worx products outsell Bosch in the latter's home market Germany. The person behind the brand is Don Gao, president of Positec, a leading Chinese maker of power tools, lawn and garden equipment, and accessories. "It's not very easy to make inroads into some well-established markets such as the US, Germany and the UK because customers are very loyal to local brands. But we did it, step by step," he said. When it was founded in 1994, Positec was just a trading company engaged in exports of power tools, including hand drills, trimmers, chainsaws and mowers. Business was good, spurred by the country's foreign trade. But Gao knew the company had to grow beyond simple trading. For the long run, Positec had to have its own products. So, in 1995, Gao set up a factory in Suzhou in Jiangsu province, East China. The plant made products for large home improvement retailers overseas such as Sears and home improvement stores B&Q (UK) and OBI (Germany). Positec was clearly not aiming to be a glorified original equipment manufacturer. OEMs typically dream of making products for industry leaders such as Bosch and Black & Decker. But Gao was aiming higher. Not for him an OEM at the bottom of an industrial value chain. "We have no say in pricing because you always find someone sets prices lower than yours. The cut-throat competition in China squeezed profits of many traditional producers," he said. He asked himself: "Why can't we have our own brands?" In 1999, he decided to create his own brand of power tools. "The shift meant that your old partners became your competitors, so you faced a huge risk of losing orders." The risk was real and, to be sure, huge: turnover that year plunged by $50 million. Some erstwhile partners even threatened to withdraw their existing orders. "We said, 'Go ahead'." After several years' efforts and research, Gao finally launched a brand called Worx in 2004. In the same year, Positec acquired Rockwell, a well-known US brand founded in 1945. Positec, in order to avoid direct competition with local brands, took a shortcut to gain local resources in the US market. The Rockwell acquisition was a quick way to squeeze into a foreign market and help the company build up reputation and a distribution network. Positec spent some 15 percent of its annual revenue on TV commercials and online social media promotions in new markets. The campaigns worked so well US sales almost doubled, even during the housing crisis from 2008 to 2010. Gao said the key to winning a marketing battle lies in what he calls product innovation. "Consumers don't care about the technologies you are putting into products. They only care about whether it works well when they are cleaning up their gardens or assembling their own bookshelves," he said. A Forbes report said Positec now spends 6 percent of its revenue on innovation, much higher than Black & Decker's less than 2 percent and Bosch's 1.8 percent. In recent years, it has invested 1 billion yuan on innovation and launched more than 100 products every year, most of them complete with smartphone applications that allow remote control as well as access to product information and after-sales service. To keep up with the latest trends in power-tool products, Gao spends one-third of his time every year travelling around in the US and Europe and attending various fairs. "If there's a new launch of a product in the marketplace, I want to know," he said. The company has a distribution network and operations in 13 countries and three research and development centers in China, Italy and Australia.

The Bullen of IVECO Magirus dominates 2017 Austrian Truck Race Trophy at Red Bull Ring Iveco Trucks Press Release / May 15, 2017 A perfect weekend for IVECO: the Bullen of IVECO Magirus leads the team ranking following a superb start to the new season. Jochen Hahn is Number 1 in the driver ranking and Gerd Körber is in 4th place. The Bullen of IVECO Magirus Team, a brand new partnership between the two teams powered by IVECO, Hahn Racing and Schwabentruck, dominated the 2017 Austrian Truck Race Trophy at the Spielberg Red Bull Ring. The newly formed partnership tallied up two impressive victories plus a podium placement for Jochen Hahn of Team Hahn Racing, and two podium wins for Gerd Körber of Team Schwabentruck. The defending champion Jochen Hahn inaugurated his brand new IVECO truck – a Stralis 440 E 56 XP-R race truck with an IVECO Cursor 13 engine, specially prepared by FPT Industrial – by making a clean sweep of victories at Austrian Truck Race that placed him in the lead of the driver ranking. Gerd Körber of the Schwabentruck Team reached two podium places and finished the weekend in 4th place in the driver ranking. The Austrian Truck Race took place over the two days of the weekend with four competitions, two on Saturday and two on Sunday. On Saturday, Jochen Hahn took the first FIA European Truck Racing Championship race of the season at Red Bull Ring after a commanding display of his driving skills. Claiming his first win for IVECO, the champion converted pole position into a maximum points result, holding off Steffi Halm throughout the 20-lap race. Gerd Körber had to manage his pace in the closing stages of the first race but he held on to begin the new season with a 3rd place. In the second race, which started with a reverse grid respect to the first race arrival, Jochen Hahn reached the 5th place and Gerd Körber achieved another 3rd place on the podium. Local driver Markus Altenstrasser brought his Schwabentruck Team home in 8th and 9th place in the two races of the day. On Sunday, Jochen Hahn claimed his final victory of the weekend with a second win in the first event of the 2017 FIA European Truck Racing Championship at Red Bull Ring. He succeeded in moving up his new IVECO truck from 3rd place to the lead in one manoeuvre after contact between the leading pair Sascha Lenz and Adam Lacko. He closed the 3rd race ended with another podium – the 2nd place. Gerd Körber had some bad luck in this race because of an accident and finished in 11th place. In the final race, which started with a reverse grid respect to the first race arrival, Hahn closed with a first place and Körber succeeded in working his way up the placements and finished 5th. .

You're right. But the Mack brand remains in 6th place, no longer appearing to be on customer's short list. Remember, today's product is not the same product that we think of from 20 years ago. And, when Mack salesmen go in to bid on deals and, again and again, find themselves $10,000 to $15,000 higher than the competition, it becomes rather demoralizing. No. 1 Freightliner No. 2 Navistar No. 3 Kenworth No. 4 Peterbilt No. 5 Volvo No. 6 Mack In 1999, Mack ranked number 3, but now number 6. That speaks volumes in itself.

UD Trucks / April 25, 2017 .

Motor India / April 24, 2017 Ashok Leyland, the 2nd largest commercial vehicle (CV) manufacturer in India, has showcased recently its full range of future ready products, based on Intelligent Exhaust Gas Recirculation (iEGR) technology, and industry-leading services at its annual Global Conference 2017 in Chennai. Pioneering the indigenous development and application of the iEGR technology, Ashok Leyland will be the only domestic OEM to implement this technology successfully for its products above 130HP. Thus, Ashok Leyland has, once again, brought its technology prowess and Indian innovation to the fore for the benefit of its customers. Sharing his views at the Global Conference 2017, Mr. Vinod K. Dasari, Managing Director, Ashok Leyland, said, “Ashok Leyland has many innovative class leading firsts to its credit through the years. This showcase of the iEGR technology across our product range bears further testimony of our capability to roll-out technology-led future ready products. More so this indigenous technology will help us deliver on our brand promise of ‘Aapki Jeet, Hamari Jeet’ in multiple ways. For our customers it will mean ease of use and better cost efficiencies. For the environment it will mean more efficient fuel combustion and improved emissions. The indigenous development of iEGR technology will also mean faster time to market and minimal cost of implementation. We will emerge as the only OEM in India to have achieved this.” Intelligent Exhaust Gas Recirculation Intelligent Exhaust Gas Recirculation (iEGR) technology is a simple yet innovative solution to achieving the desired results in order to meet the BS4 norms. This technology is not only better suited to Indian conditions compared to Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology (based on European technology) but will also prove to be hugely cost effective, easy to operate and hassle-free to maintain. All of which will benefit the Ashok Leyland customer, resulting in better margins compared to products by OEMs which are based on SCR technology. With iEGR technology as the highlight, the company displayed a mix of over thirty innovative products and services, featuring trucks, buses, light commercial vehicles (LCVs), simulators, quick service bikes and gensets. .

Motor India / April 26, 2017 Eicher Trucks & Buses, part of the VE (Volvo-Eicher) Commercial Vehicles (VECV) joint venture, has launched the Eicher Pro 5000 series, a brand new range of heavy trucks from 16 to 40 with Euro-4 technology. With the launch of this advanced technology trucks range at competitive prices, Eicher plans to strengthen its presence in the heavy duty segment and this reinforces its vision of driving modernization in the commercial transportation. Commenting on the launch Vinod Aggarwal, MD & CEO, VE Commercial Vehicles said, “With the launch of Pro 5000 series of Heavy Duty (HD) trucks, Eicher now has the widest range of HD trucks at various price points to deliver superior value and suit the needs of all application segments of customers in basic, value and premium category of trucks. These trucks with new Euro-4 technology engines are based on i3-EGR technology that is innovative, contemporary and efficient. The new E694 engine also includes advanced features based on Volvo Group’s Engine Management system EMS 3.0 and offers first-in-the-industry features like fuel coaching and cruise control at a competitive price. HD trucks segment continues to be the biggest potential area of growth for us and the launch of Eicher Pro 5000 series will enable us to further enhance our market share in the segment” Eicher Pro 5000 series is a new range of durable Euro-4 trucks designed and developed to deliver unmatched reliability through highly efficient E694 engine with i3 EGR technology from Volvo Group’s EMS 3.0, tough and robust aggregates and Intelligent Driver Information System. These trucks are designed to deliver best-in class fuel efficiency and optimized operational cost, leading to quick returns on investment. Further, commenting on the aftermarket support solutions to the customers, Aggarwal added, “Eicher offers innovative and customized service solutions to partner the individual customer needs throughout vehicle life cycle from purchase to maintenance to resale. Our unique offerings like Dial-a-Part and GPS enabled mobile service vans leverage the technology to ensure quick response and maximum uptime for our customers. Apart from these services, there are a lot of innovative solutions like “Eicher Freedom – AMC Package”, “Eicher Sure – Used Trucks Business ”, and most importantly “Eicher Promise – to put the vehicle back on road in time” to ensure highest level of productivity for our customers, leading to better profitability and prosperity for them’’. Eicher Pro 5000 series will be available across all major markets of VECV. These trucks are loaded with features that make it ready to take on the harsh challenges of today’s trucking business and coupled with cost effective operations, these will meet the aspirations of ambitious fleet owners. .

Commercial Motor / April 26, 2017 .

Commercial Motor / May 10, 2017 .

Commercial Motor TV - sponsored by DAF Trucks / May 10, 2017 .

Commercial Motor TV - sponsored by DAF Trucks / May 3, 2017 .

Commercial Motor TV - sponsored by DAF Trucks / April 26, 2017 .

Commercial Motor TV - sponsored by DAF Trucks / April 20, 2017 .

Scania Group Press Release / May 11, 2017 Scaniamilen just one good example of how we pay attention to our employees’ health. Scania takes its employees’ freetime seriously. Yes, you read that correctly; a company that every day works full-pelt to produce trucks, buses and engines for global markets wants to ensure that the time its people are not working is as important as their working time. Therese Forsling Onsfalk, healthpromotor in Södertälje, explains why: “If you have employees that are healthy, they can also make a good contribution with their work, and so contribute towards the success of Scania.” Health facilities around the world The fact that Scania even has a health promotion team is proof of how seriously the company takes employee well-being. The company has sports and health facilities at various sites around the world. In Södertälje the Gröndal centre, open to staff and their family members, offers training facilities, personal training and group exercise classes, as well as other leisure activities including photography and kayaking. “It’s a fantastic facility,” says Therese. “And it’s also a wonderful way for a new employee to get to know fellow workers.” Therese also highlights the work done by colleagues such as Senay Tekeli in Zwolle to motivate those who, for various reasons, are more desk-bound or keeping to the production-line. “Senay introduced Power Sensation to Zwolle last year. It´s a schedule with movements for each month. The idea is that employees do different movements at their workplace (or on their free time) each day, movements for both their upper body and their lower body. You don’t have to change into gym clothes or go to the gym. The idea has caught on and at the start of this month we introduced it in Sweden at Södertälje, Oskarshamn and Luleå.” Scaniamilen – since 1993 Coupled with the Pausit programme on employees’ PCs, which is a bit like a desktop personal trainer, there’s no excuse for people not to stretch their legs (and arms), even if they are as busy as they should be! Also, for those addicted to the demon nicotine, Scania even offers help with giving up, so again, no excuses! One of the most popular health initiatives is the Scaniamilen, a run which has been taking place since 1993, and which also takes place at our sites at Angers in France, Slupsk in Poland and Zwolle in the Netherlands. This year’s Södertälje event takes place on Thursday (11 May) at Gröndal. Runners choose between five or ten-kilometre distances. There will be over 4,500 adults and 1,300 children running this time. Although there are prizes awarded to the top three runners in the men’s and women’s class at five and ten kilometres, the purpose of the event is not competition, but keeping fit and staying active, and doing so with colleagues. National ski team present The event is truly for everyone – the Swedish Cross Country national team is participating, and even some of the Scania bosses are taking part! Among them are Claes Erixon, Executive Vice President and Head of Research and Development, and Erik Ljungberg, Senior Vice President, Corporate Relations. For Claes, who is aiming for a time of 50 minutes in the ten kilometres, the event is about bringing employees together in an informal setting. “There’s a real community feeling to the event. It’s about ‘we’ as Scania employees doing something fun together. And of course it’s also good for people’s health.” Meanwhile Erik, a keen runner, is shaking off a knee injury and is using the five-kilometre run as part of his rehabilitation. “It’s a great event for employees and allows them to come together in a different and fun way outside of the work environment. They can bring their families along too. It also gives people a target to work towards, getting them training and, as a bi-product of that improving their health.” .

MAN Truck & Bus Press Release / May 11, 2017 MAN Engines recently delivered the first of its D2676 LE264 diesel engines to the French rail vehicle manufacturer Alstom. The 6-cylinder in-line engines, each with 353 kW (480 hp) at 1,800 rpm, are suitable for the use in hot countries and will be installed in "Coradia Polyvalent" diesel railcars (Diesel Multiple Unit – DMU). The single-stage turbocharged and common rail engines are well adapted to withstand to local climatic conditions, like high external temperatures, humidity as well as sandy and dusty environments. As in the conventional Coradia Regiolis, the engines are mounted on the roof, thus enabling easier access for maintenance work. This also increases passenger comfort at the same time, thanks to the space gained in the low-floor area. 102 units of the robust MAN engines will be fitted in 17 railcars for SNTF, the Algerian National Company for Rail Transport, which will then connect the capital city of Algiers with other major cities across the country. A further 60 engines will be installed in 15 railcars destined for use in Senegal to connect the new airport and the city of Dakar. The first trains are due to begin operation in the spring 2018 in Algeria. .

Iveco Trucks Press Release / May 10, 2017 For the first time ever, IVECO will be taking part in the full FIA European Truck Race 2017 as technical sponsor for two teams: will continue to support Team Schwabentruck, and it will back the Team Hahn, who will defend the title in 2017 on IVECO. The first round of the championship is set to take place in Austria at the Red Bull Ring, beginning Saturday 13th May and ending on Sunday 14th May. IVECO's presence on the track will be doubled at the 2017 edition of the FIA European Truck Race Championship. Team Schwabentruck has represented IVECO for the past eight years and this year also Team Hahn – the 2016 champion that will defend the title in 2017 with IVECO – has chosen to compete on board a Stralis race truck. Pierre Lahutte, IVECO Brand President, commented: "We have taken up the challenge of being 100% involved in the championship, with two highly competitive teams who will race bearing the colours of the IVECO flag. We are proud that our vehicles will be part of the exciting world of racing, which will engage and thrill our customers across Europe. This is a valuable opportunity to demonstrate the incredible performance of our trucks on circuits that will test the engines and the mechanics of the vehicles to their limits. These intense conditions are designed to test the durability of the vehicles and the reliability of the components used in the production of these trucks." IVECO is supporting Team Schwabentruck with two Stralis models designed for racing. German driver Gerd Körber, three times champion of the European Truck Race (1996, 2001 and 2003), and his teammate Markus Altenstrasser will drive a Stralis 440 E 56 XP-R 5.5-tonne race truck, featuring an IVECO Cursor 13 engine that delivers an impressive 1150 hp. These vehicles are specifically designed and equipped to reach 160 km/h, the maximum speed stipulated by sporting regulations. Team leader Gerd Körber will be competing for the first time to win the entire championship, participating in all races. Team Hahn was established in 1996 and driver Jochen Hahn took his father's place in 1999, when he won the title of Rookie of the Year thanks to the superb results he achieved. The glory years for Jochen and Team Hahn began in 2011, and they went on the take the title victory for three consecutive years, as well as a second place in 2014, third place on the podium in 2015 and first place again in the most recent edition. Team Hahn will also compete with a Stralis 440 E 56 XP-R race truck. In preparation for the first round in Austria, the two teams were in attendance at the official FIA test at the Most circuit in the Czech Republic, testing the latest developments on their vehicles and the new engines. The test at Most was attended by the majority of the teams that are set to face each other in the championship, and was an extremely useful opportunity to trial their competitiveness in the field. Both IVECO teams took full advantage of this first intense test to check the general functionality of the vehicles, with a specific focus on the performance of the new engines. It also represented an important opportunity for Jochen Hahn to gain confidence with the Stralis XP-R, which is different to the trucks he has driven in previous seasons. IVECO will take to the track on each of the nine championship circuits, as well as consolidating the brand’s presence in the paddocks with vehicle displays, fan shops and hospitality facilities. Two of the four IVECO Emotional Truck models will be on display as a special tribute to the great names of the world of motorsport: the Schwabentruck Emotional Truck and the vehicle dedicated to the Dakar Team PETRONAS De Rooy IVECO. The new Hahn Team Emotional Truck will be on display from the Misano competition onwards. .

The Morning Call (Allentown, PA newspaper) / May 13, 2017 Rickard Lundberg started his career in the Volvo Group in 1989 when he was only about 19 years old. Then, in the first of what would be many jobs with Volvo, he worked on the shop floor, turning crankshafts at the truck maker's engine factory in Skovde, Sweden. So perhaps it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Lundberg, now 47, brings that same hands-on approach to his new job as the vice president and general manager of Mack Trucks' Lehigh Valley Operations. In fact, when Lundberg arrives at the massive Lower Macungie Township assembly plant — a little before 7 a.m. most days — he typically spends the next three hours on the shop floor, preferring to interact with some of the plant's 1,500 employees and understand issues firsthand rather than dissecting the facility's processes within the confines of a boardroom. "I'm born on the shop floor," said Lundberg, who started at Mack on Oct. 1 after a roughly three-year stint as vice president for powertrain production at a Volvo plant in Koping, Sweden. "That's where I started my career in this company many, many years ago, and that's where I hope to die sometime, I think — out there together with people." Now Lundberg — who built scale models of Mack trucks as a 10-year-old boy in Sweden — has the responsibility to ensure the Lower Macungie plant is properly reborn through an $84 million investment that aims to turn the structure into a world-class facility. That investment is slated for completion around mid-2018 and will make the 1-million-square-foot facility more modern, integrated and efficient. Lundberg, who doesn't smile for photos but maintains a sense of humor, spoke to The Morning Call earlier this month about the investment project, his career with Volvo and the possibility of getting a tattoo of the iconic Mack bulldog. Here are excerpts from the interview: Q. Why did you want to take this job at Mack? A. When my manager at the time called me and said there is a position for you if you would like to go there, I took the decision like that [snaps his fingers]. There are many things to it. The first one is of course the brand: Mack. It's easy to fall in love with the brand. I spent time in Volvo for 28 years before coming here, and I never thought about getting a Volvo tattoo, but I'm actually thinking about a bulldog up here [points to his arm]. I kind of promised during my first town hall that there might be a bulldog on my arm. There are 1,500 people that can hold me accountable for that. It's a childhood dream for me to be part of what we are doing here. I built Mack trucks long before I joined Volvo. As a 10-year-old boy, I built scale models. My friends, they built motorcycles and cars. But I built scale models of trucks, and it wasn't Volvo or Mercedes — what you see in Europe. It was American trucks. There were some Peterbilts there, yes, but there were Mack trucks and Freightliners. American trucks have been there for me for a long, long time. Q. How are you transitioning to the area on a personal level? A. Very well. We enjoy the area, both me and my family. I moved here with pieces of my family. I have four kids and two of them are adults — one of them right now is at a university in Sweden and other one is traveling around the world. My wife and two small kids — 5 and 7 years old — relocated here with me in November, and we live in Upper Macungie. Upper Macungie because we like it. We found a wonderful house, and we have a nice park just outside where we are living, where we take the kids and they can play. The soccer season started and both of them are active on soccer teams. We're really enjoying the area right here. The kids are in school — the big one in second grade and the small one in preschool activities, and my wife started working 1 1/2 months ago. We settled down really nicely. Q. Mack recently recalled 100 people back to work at the plant, and you're hiring another 50. Where do you see employment headed at this plant? A. There are two things that decide the employment. One is the market situation, and we will constantly try to adapt to the market. So if the market is showing we're going up, then we will hire people. If we go the other way, we will have other kinds of discussions. Right now, we hired 100 people, we added a second shift for one of our assembly lines and that is to follow where the market is going. And the other thing that will determine the number of people we have is the different ambitions we have at that moment. You said 150 — it's 100 related to the second shift we are putting in place, and the other 50 is connected to our ambitions right now to increase the quality level and to increase our ability to deliver trucks on time to our customers. Q. It seemed, by the summer of 2015, the relationship between Mack and the community might have atrophied a bit. When you got here, what did you see? A. I think you're probably painting a quite accurate picture. Looking into what my predecessor did and maybe some people before that, they wanted to really come back to a situation where people were aware of, "Hey, the headquarters moved in 2009, but we are still here." There's a big chunk of people in the plant — 1,500 people. We are still here. We are still producing all the trucks for the North American market in this place, and we are planning to stay. That's why we are investing $84 million because we are planning to stay in this facility. Q. How's everything going here at the plant with the upgrades, and what is Mack trying to achieve with the expansion? A. We are right in the middle of what we call Reborn. That's the branding name of the whole rebuilding of the plant — creating new infrastructure, how we bring material into the plant, how we can take care of the assembly operation within the plant and how we bring trucks out of the plant. When I joined here, it was more or less set up: This is what we're going to do. So for me, it's very much now that we make sure we do it in the best possible way. I would like to put a lot of emphasis on it's a clear aim to become a world-class facility. This facility was built in 1975 and not much was done over a number of years and now we're trying to do everything at one time. We also need to put much effort into the soft part of the change. Investments by themselves will not make us world-class. It's how we interact and engage people, how we work with people and processes, how we take care of the engaged men that we have on the shop floor. Q. With Volvo reorganizing its truck operations last year, did that give Mack more freedom but also more responsibility? A. After [Volvo President and CEO] Martin [Lundstedt] came in, he's been very clear on trying to give more responsibility to the brands, instead of centralizing and making sure everything is done according to how we decide it should be done in Gothenburg. But still, we are owned by Volvo. It's a fact, and it's also a strength for the Mack brand and for the all the brands that we belong to a big group. That helps us. I will just take the example for us here now: This is probably one of the most diverse plants on the globe right now, at least in the Volvo Group. We have people from India. We have people from South America, from Brazil, from Thailand, from China, from Belgium, from France. There is a Swede here as well, I heard. Right now, this is probably the plant in the Volvo Group going through the biggest changes. We are doing everything at the same time. And I'm telling you if we were Mack alone, we would not be able to mobilize all the knowledge, resources, etc., to do the change. I hear it sometimes, "Don't you want to be more on your own?" Of course, sometimes it's very fun when the parents are away, right? It's free time. But it's also good when the parents are there and taking care and supporting you. All the changes we are doing here right now, it's good with a big group behind you. But it's also important that we have the freedom of doing this our way because we are not Volvo, we are not Renault or any of the other brands. We don't want to become the Gothenburg plant or the other plants. We want to become a better version of Macungie. Q. How about your future plans? Would you like to stay here? A. For me, it's not a one- or two-year project to be plant manager. I need to be here a number of years to really do what we have started to do. At the same time, I don't think it's good to stay in the same position as a plant manager for 10 years. As I used to say, to start with, you're part of the solution. After a number of years, you become part of the problem, and then it's time to do something else. We'll take it year-by-year. Q. A fun question to end with: What are the first words you think of when you hear Mack? A. Tough. It's a tough truck. It's built for a tough environment and demanding customers. It's something — if you just need something that is not that special, you could probably go buy a Freightliner or whatever. But if you need a tough truck that will do the job, then you get a Mack — tough as a bulldog. Video - http://www.mcall.com/business/leadership/mc-mack-trucks-rickard-lundberg-20170513-story.html#nt=oft03a-1la1