TFL SEP
10
FREIGHT AND LOGISTICS
MANUFACTURING
BASED IN MUNICH, GERMANY,
MAN Truck & Bus AG is the largest company in the MAN
Group and one of the leading international providers of efficient commercial vehicles and
innovative transport solutions. In fiscal year 2011 the company, with some 34 000 employees,
generated a turnover of €9-billion with sales of more than 77 600 trucks and over 5700 buses
and bus chassis under the MAN and NEOPLAN brands.
With a campus spread over one square kilometre and 8650 employees (of which 55% are
in the production and logistics section) the Munich-based manufacturing facility produces
the OEM’s HCV range, that is, vehicles of 18-ton and over, and all driven axles for the entire
spectrum of MAN commercial vehicles (trucks, buses, special-purpose vehicles) as well as the
transfer cases. The LCV and MCV ranges are produced in Steyr, Austria.
The production line is divided into teams comprising between eight and ten members,
depending on the part being assembled. For variety and as a means of up-skilling the workers,
teams are rotated regularly, ensuring that, should the need arise, unforeseen gaps in the
production line can be filled by a competent worker.
While the driven truck axels are produced in Munich, the non-driven axles (such as front
axles, lift axles, etc.) are manufactured in the MAN plant in Salzgitter in Lower-Saxony. All
the engines come from Nuremberg, Germany, MAN´s international competence centre for the
development, production and sale of diesel and gas engines.
Tradition meets
Man Truck & Bus AG,
Munich, is everything
one would expect from
a company steeped
in tradition, yet at
the cutting edge of
technology… CEN’s
Kim Kemp reports back
after a recent visit.
Traction efficiency
While at the MAN factory, I was given the chance to drive a truck fitted with MAN
HydroDrive
®
. The ease of use, by a non-truck driver, was remarkable and I was able to climb
steep, challenging gradients with minimal difficulty.
With the development of this engageable front-axle drive, MAN HydroDrive
®
is ideal for
situations in which extra traction is briefly needed on the front axle, such as when entering and
leaving unsurfaced forest tracks, on earth roads, gradients and slippery surfaces. It produces
more traction and proper propulsion in both forward and reverse directions and while the
system offers more traction, there is little extra weight, coupled with lower fuel consumption
and a higher payload than on conventional all-wheel vehicles.
MAN HydroDrive
®
is engaged by the rotary switch for the differential lock, even while driving
under load. From a speed of about 30 km/h upwards, it cuts out automatically and if the speed
drops below 22km/h it automatically cuts in again. A lamp on the central display lights up
to tell the driver that the front-axle drive is activated. Driving downhill with the HydroDrive
®
engaged, the sustained-action brake also acts on the front axle, thus stabilising the vehicle.
In MAN HydroDrive
®
a hydraulic pump is seated on the gearbox output shaft to feed the wheel
hub motors on the front axle. When it comes to fuel consumption and wear and tear, this
ingeniously simple, rugged andmaintenance-friendly technology is comparable to conventional
rear-wheel drive. With a weight-saving of 400kg, the transfer case is done away with, only
Behind the wheel, experiencing MAN
HydroDrive first hand, is
Kim Kemp,
Editor
TFL and MAN Truck & Bus SA’s Vice
President and CEO,
Bruce Dickson.
