25/3/09
Source: http://www.oxfordreview.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1492335
The unionized workers at the city's SAF-Holland manufacturing plant voted Sunday to overwhelmingly accept an "unconventional" new three-year contract intended to provide temporary "relief assistance" for the company.
Despite some concessions intended to help with the company's day-to-day operating activities, the plant's workers, which are represented by the Canadian Auto Workers Local 636, accepted this new collective agreement with 94 per cent support.
"Traditionally, we seek to increase wages, benefit levels and pension levels at contract time," plant chair John Griffioen said. "However, because of the worldwide recession, SAF head office ... has taken precautionary measures in Europe and North America to protect the company financially through the bad times.
"A temporary measure was requested at the Woodstock facility to allow relief assistance with cash flow here."
The most unusual provision of this new collective agreement is a new weekly employee payment intended to mitigate the company's benefit costs. From March 30, 2009, to December 2010, the plant's 115 hourly workers will provide $20 per week toward the cost of providing benefits. Starting in January 2011, this weekly premium will be reduced to $10 per week until the provision expires in November 2011.
Griffioen described this provision as unusual within the "structure of the CAW," which, in some recent contracts, has made concessions in terms of health-care, dental and other benefits.
"The trend is to skin out benefits to find money," Griffioen said. "We'd be doing our membership a disservice by doing that so we had to take a different route."
The other principal concessions in the new agreement were the elimination of a paid lunch for the plant's day shift and a three-year wage freeze. The Holland workers also agreed to freeze any cost-of-living increases until April 2011.
"The measure(s) taken by this membership shows me that they are more concerns with retaining their good jobs than a penny in the pocket," Griffioen said.
The new contract, however, does contain some monetary gains for vision care, work boots and life insurance in its third year.
The plant's bargaining committee, which also includes Ed Solarewicz and Jim Roe, began negotiating the new agreement in December 2008 after the expiration of the previous contract. After 12 meetings with management, and numerous meetings with the workers, the committee was finally able to present the contract for a ratification vote on Sunday.
While there are currently about 30 Woodstock workers on layoff, Griffioen said the plant, which manufactures equipment for the trucking and transportation industries, was generally in good shape. In recent years, the Woodstock plant installed several new CNC machines, as well as new paint-line robots, enhanced hoist systems and other major improvements.
"This has not been your typical factory in trouble story," Griffioen said. "While there has been some restructuring throughout Germany and North America, the corporation remains in good shape with great potential."
SAF-Holland, the result of a 2006 merger between Holland Hitch of Canada Ltd. And Germany's Otto Sauer Achsenfabrik GmbH (SAF), is one of the world's leading manufacturers of coupling and suspensions systems, with over $1.3 billion in annual sales and a worldwide workforce of 6,000.
20/3/09
Source: http://www.safholland.com
Bessenbach, Germany, March 20, 2009 – SAF-HOLLAND S.A. is expanding its sales potential. Daimler subsidiary Daimler Truck North America (formerly Freightliner Corporation), one of the largest truck manufacturers in North America, now offers customers the option of an innovative, ultra-lightweight HOLLAND FWAL Lightweight fifth wheel. The FWAL fifth wheel plate is forged out of aluminum alloy, making it much lighter in weight than conventional cast iron or steel products. It also features the proven “No Lube” technology, which includes a special surface coating on the locking mechanism and a number of other technical details so the fifth wheel does not require lubrication. This SAF-HOLLAND development is suitable for fleets who seek a combination of low maintenance requirements for tractor units, along with environmental sustainability and significant weight reduction (up to 40kg).
Trailer axle system production is now underway in the United States, and the first customers took delivery of the new axles last month. Production will be increased to meet demand in the weeks ahead. The production facility in Missouri works flexibly to manufacture different kinds of axle systems to suit individual customer requirements. In launching its own axle production, the Group is opening up significant additional sales potentials since buying axles from third-party manufacturers is no longer required. At the same time, SAF-HOLLAND has rounded out its product portfolio in North America.
Dr. Reiner Beutel, CEO of SAF-HOLLAND GROUP GmbH, said, "We are pleased that Daimler Truck North America recognizes that SAF-HOLLAND’s new FWAL fifth wheel offers their fleet customers additional advantages of weight optimization and reduced cost. This confirms our product strategy of offering technically sophisticated solutions in our core and growth markets around the world. The start-up of trailer axle production in North America is one example of leveraging technologies across the entire organization, supporting our ability to meet the requirements of customers around the world."
17/3/09
Source: http://trailer-bodybuilders.com/truck-trailer/saf-holland-fifth-wheel-manufacturing-0317/
SAF-HOLLAND has announced that it will be moving fifth wheel manufacturing operations from its Monroe, North Carolina, plant to its Wylie, Texas, facility. The Wylie facility machines and assembles fifth wheels for the company and provides enough unutilized capacity to absorb all of the Monroe plant’s current volume.
The consolidation of manufacturing operations is slated for June 1. The Monroe plant will remain operational until the consolidation process is complete.
While 13 hourly and salaried employees at the Monroe facility will be directly impacted by the move, it is expected that a comparable number of hourly and supervisory positions will be added at the Wylie plant to handle the increase in production. At this time, it has not been determined how many of the Monroe positions will be transferred to the Wylie facility, or to other SAF-HOLLAND operations.
“By consolidating manufacturing operations we will have the opportunity to improve the utilization of our Wylie facility, while creating significant savings for the company,” said Sam Martin, Chief Operating Officer for SAF-HOLLAND. “It also allows us an opportunity to integrate Lean Manufacturing practices and ensure that we continue to improve on the high level of quality and delivery standards customers have come to expect from SAF-HOLLAND.”
The plant consolidation addresses the company’s global effort to implement lean manufacturing practices in all of its manufacturing operations, along with improved global logistic processes and aggressive inventory control.
9/3/09
Source: http://trailer-bodybuilders.com/truck-trailer/saf-holland-missouri-axle-production-0309/
SAF-HOLLAND announced that axle production has commenced at its Warrenton, Missouri, facility, with initial shipments of both drum and disc-braked axles. The plant will continue to ramp up production throughout 2009 to eventually provide axles for all of the company’s current North American trailer suspension offerings and aftermarket requirements.
“The merger of SAF and HOLLAND has provided us with a unique opportunity to serve our customers with suspension systems specifically designed for and produced in their individual markets,” said Sam Martin, Chief Operating Officer for SAF-HOLLAND. “By leveraging our global manufacturing experience and our extensive design capabilities, we now have exactly the system offerings, complete with our own axles and brakes that our North American customers need to stay competitive in today’s challenging business environment.”
Axle-manufacturing operations at the revamped Warrenton North Plant have been integrated into a streamlined facility that will occupy approximately one-half of an existing 235,000-square-foot facility, which also houses stamping and roll-forming operations. As designed, the plant is capable of producing 80,000 axles per year.
“The Warrenton Plant’s Lean Manufacturing and One-Piece flow processes will deliver a significantly higher level of efficiency and just-in-time responsiveness to customer needs,” notes Richard Abel, Director of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering for SAF-HOLLAND. “Technologies, such as bar-code-driven data, will be used to optimize the manufacturing process and allow continual monitoring throughout the process. Every axle design and process will also be validated by an extensive battery of verification and compliance testing to ensure complete quality control and performance.”
23/2/09
Source: http://www.cargonewsasia.com/secured/article.aspx?id=30&article=18534
Malaysian container hauliers want the government to raise the axle-load limits on roads to 30 percent across the board from the current five percent, to help meet high maintenance costs and turn-around of their vehicles amid the global economic downturn, Business Times reported.
Association of Malaysian Hauliers (AMH) president Datuk Ahmad Shalimin Shaffie said a dialogue was held on February 3 between the association and the Road Transport Department (JPJ) director-general Datuk Solah Mat Hassan on, among other things, the implications of the economic crisis on the haulage industry.
"The issue of hauliers overloading their trucks, and the recent announcement by Works Minister Datuk Mohd Zin Mohamad of a new axle rating for all commercial vehicles, was raised," Ahmad Shalimin, who is also chairman of the Malaysian Logistics Council's focus group on land and rail transport, told Business Times.
"Since the official specification (of the new axle standard) and its approval process take a longer time, we are seeking guidance from JPJ and the Transport Ministry for the axle-load limits to be increased to 30 percent for all commercial vehicles. We believe this will provide a temporary solution for hauliers who are now finding it difficult to increase their haulage charges due to the economic downturn," he added.
Ahmad Shalimin said local hauliers have seen a 25-30 per cent drop in revenue and container volume since December last year compared with a year earlier, in tandem with the fall seen by local ports.
It was reported that all container haulage prime mover and trailer combinations in Malaysia are currently licensed at the maximum BDM of 38 tonnes.
