According to Daimler Trucks CEO, Martin Daum, supply chain constraints were the “biggest negative surprise for us [Daimler] last year.”
He added that his primary concern is whether U.S. and Mexican suppliers will be able to find enough workers.
“A lot of suppliers weren’t able to ramp up when it came to their labor workforce and that gave us, then, a shortage of parts. That means delays. That means express shipments. That means rework because we have to run our lines always at full speed. Then we have the trucks sitting off-line. And then we have to do the rework and then we have delayed deliveries even at year-end,” Daum said.
Daimler Trucks is the nation’s leader in U.S. retail sales of Class 8 trucks.
Trailer manufacturers are experiencing similar shortages. According to the Vice President of Stoughton Trailers, David Giesen, he says, “Every week we run into components not showing up that were committed and maybe ordered some time ago. It’s everything going right down our list.”
