MAN lion: roaring in SA for six decades!
MAN lion: roaring in SA for six decades!
MAN – which has been engineering the future since 1758 – is celebrating 60 uninterrupted years in South Africa. DAVE VAN GRAAN, who runs the training academy at MAN Automotive and who has been with the company for many decades, traces its auspicious history in the country.
Since the birth of the internal combustion engine (developed by MAN engineer Rudolf Diesel in 1897) to the very first truck produced in Lindau, Germany in 1915, MAN Truck & Bus has led the way with many industry “firsts”. In 1962, the leading commercial vehicle brand anchored its roots deep into the Southern African soil when its pioneering entrepreneurs, Meier & Hiller, set up a local production plant for MAN trucks in Pinetown. For 60 years since then, MAN has had an uninterrupted presence in South Africa, having expanded its operations nationwide from the original site.
Unquestionable engineering pedigree
The engineering pedigree of the brand, which aptly sports the lion logo, is unquestionable – with awards for product innovation and design proudly adorning the walls of the international commercial vehicle Hall of Fame.
However, this particular milestone is celebrated in a proudly South African context. The potential of the region was quickly understood by MAN’s Munich headquarters. A suitable administrative head office was established in Isando, Johannesburg, in 1973, while the company was renamed MAN Truck & Bus South Africa in 1974.
Readers may find it interesting that the local operation was the only one within the global MAN network that had the rights to assemble both MAN and VW brands within one factory – a partnership which had significant relevance when MAN and VW Commercial Vehicles jointly developed a light commercial vehicle range between 1977 and 1979.
SA is an assembly centre of competence
Over the last five decades, MAN Truck & Bus has used South Africa as a CKD (completely knocked down) assembly centre of competence for the group, and has subsequently brought multiple generations of truck and bus product ranges to the local right-hand drive markets. From its South African base, all 12 right-hand drive countries are supplied with suitably engineered products fit for purpose from both an engineering and a regulatory compliance point of view. With every product cycle, the local organisation is able to reduce the timelines between when a product is introduced to the lucrative left-hand drive European markets and when suitable right-hand drive derivatives of MAN’s latest innovations can be made available to local customers.
Of course, such a long local presence has also enabled the brand to offer transport solutions unique to both the local markets and within the global MAN network. For example, the establishment of MAN Bus & Coach in 1999 laid the foundation for MAN to be the first OEM to offer a complete passenger transport solution – including bus chassis and bus body – from a single source. Again, this bus body capability has also enabled a complete bus solution using VW product technology – the latest market offering launched to the South African public in November 2022.
The articulated and bi-articulated commuter bus offerings from MAN, which enable road-train type passenger seating capacities, remain unique offerings from this premium brand. The Lion’s Explorer bus and coach bodywork has evolved significantly over the last two decades too.
Massive commitment to the development of people
When one has made such a massive investment into a country or sub-region for so many decades, the level of involvement within the local community naturally gains momentum. Let’s start with our people commitment: never before has MAN been more motivated to play a transformational role than now. We have seen a fantastic evolution, where roughly one-third of our headcount is female – from newly on-boarded apprentices and factory workers on our assembly lines to our executive.
Never before have we made such a significant investment into learning and development programmes for our employees – from vocational training and learnerships for young graduates to soft skills courses and leadership development programmes. We believe we have to equip our team members with the best possible skills to cope with our dynamic and increasingly complex business context – hence also expanding our Training Academy capability and beefing up our curricula which support the requisite career journeys necessitated by evolving customer needs. Modern organisations have to ensure strong teams, and strong teams demand a more modern and innovatively engaging working context. This is why people are integral to our company strategy.
Of course, the world of innovation brings new customer demands, more challenging logistics support requirements, and the need for greater agility in ensuring a competitive edge. For this reason, we have to ensure we not only provide our customers with world-class, cutting-edge truck and bus product technology, but also work very hard on remaining relevant and abreast of all the latest business solution needs of the market. Financial and telematics services; flexible extended warranties; tailor-made repair and maintenance contracts; technical, parts, and driver training programmes; replacement cycle-linked used vehicle trading; and multi-level customer support capacity have all become entry-level requirements for any brand wishing to achieve a sustainable market share. Over the last decade, MAN Automotive South Africa has progressed its offerings within these business solutions and support services at an incredible pace.
When one considers that the automobile has only been around for a little over 100 years, and that MAN Trucks and Buses has had such a long-standing, uninterrupted presence in the local environment, it is remarkable that a global commercial vehicle brand can make its award-winning product technology available to a local customer base; hone the offering through its massive local investment in assembly operations, dealer network facilities, and people; and then offer tailor-made transport solutions. Those solutions continually strive for a reduced total cost of ownership in a locally relevant way – and continuously show improvement in all aspects of the business by evolving and innovating to ensure the expected levels of customer service excellence.
Here’s to the next 60 years in South Africa!
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