Daimler Trucks North America LLC (DTNA) commemorated the production of the 750,000th vehicle built at its Cleveland, North Carolina truck manufacturing plant. Keys to the milestone vehicle - a Freightliner new Cascadia - were presented to representatives from United Parcel Service (UPS) during a ceremony at the facility.
"Over the past 30 years, our Cleveland plant has served as the foundation for our North American manufacturing operations and has been an integral part of our growth, innovation and leadership," said Roger Nielsen, president and CEO, Daimler Trucks North America. "This production landmark demonstrates both customer acceptance of our solutions and the strength of our team. As we continue to evolve our product offerings and technologies, the Cleveland facility will remain a critical part of our strategy and success."
"UPS celebrates this landmark achievement alongside DTNA as we accept the 750,000th truck produced by the Cleveland truck manufacturing plant," says Carlton Rose, president of global fleet maintenance and engineering at UPS. "We applaud the efforts made by thousands of employees across UPS, DTNA, and Peach State Trucks Centers to bring this milestone to fruition. This accomplishment signifies our companies' continued success as collaboration transforms technology and service defines the customer experience."
Freightliner Trucks acquired the plant in 1989 and started producing the Freightliner Medium Conventional, a day cab truck model based on a Mercedes-Benz cabin mounted on an American chassis. Over the years, the product line-up at Cleveland has evolved as DTNA's newest innovations entered the marketplace. Today, in addition to the marketing-leading Class 8 new Cascadia, the Cleveland plant also produces the Western Star 4700, 4900 and 5700XE truck models, and the Freightliner Coronado and Columbia for the right-hand drive Australian and New Zealand markets.
Since the first truck rolled off the line in Cleveland, DTNA has invested more than $350 million in the facility, including a recent $27 million investment to add a new logistics center with state-of-the-art technologies to support the company's lean supply chain practices. More than 2,200 people are employed at the Cleveland facility, DTNA's largest manufacturing plant in the U.S.
