Volvo names new Mack Trucks president

[kscarbel2]

Jon Harris, The Morning Call  /  December 8, 2017

Mack Trucks will have a new top dog in its leadership structure by the middle of next year.

Mack’s parent company, the Sweden-based Volvo Group, on Friday announced Martin Weissburg, president of Volvo Construction Equipment, will become president of Mack Trucks, effective June 1. He will succeed Dennis Slagle, who has led Mack since 2008 and, come June 1, will remain with Volvo as a special projects leader reporting to group President and CEO Martin Lundstedt.

“Thanks to Denny Slagle’s leadership, the Volvo Group’s North American truck business has substantially improved its profitability and competitiveness, and is strongly positioned for the future,” Lundstedt said in a news release. “In Marty Weissburg, Mack Trucks will have another proven leader who is passionate about realizing the full potential of this great truck brand.”

While a reason for the change was not provided in the news release, Mack spokesman Christopher Heffner indicated Slagle made the decision.

“Having capped ten successful years with the introduction of the new Mack Anthem, Denny decided he wanted to take on new challenges,” Heffner wrote in an email. “He’ll be 64 next year, and thought that after we fully ramp up and commercialize the new product, it would be a good time to move on to new things. Quite simply, he felt the timing was right, and he could not be happier with the selection of Marty Weissburg as his successor.”

In the 55-year-old Weissburg, Mack is getting a leader who is “commercially minded and someone who makes decisions based on facts and an analytical framework that allows for taking action quickly,” according to his biography on Volvo’s website, which also describes him as “high energy.” Weissburg, an Ohio native, on Jan. 1, 2014, started as president of Volvo Construction Equipment, the second-largest division — with estimated 2017 sales of about $8 billion — of the $37 billion Volvo Group.

Weissburg, who joined the Volvo Group in 2005 as president of Volvo Financial Services Americas, will continue to be a member of Volvo’s executive board. He will be based in Greensboro, N.C., where Mack relocated its headquarters — and 580 jobs — from Allentown in 2009.

Mack, however, still has a large presence in the LehighValley, a footprint that includes a massive LowerMacungieTownship assembly plant that employs about 2,000 people. The most senior manufacturing leader for Mack in the LehighValley is Rickard Lundberg, who took over as vice president and general manager of Mack’s Lehigh Valley Operations on Oct. 1, 2016.

Weissburg will join Mack at what executives have called an exciting time for the brand, which the company has been repositioning since 2014 when it unveiled a new logo. Mack also has reinvested in its Lehigh Valley facilities, completing a $3 million renovation at its Allentown customer center and carrying out an $84 million investment in its Lower Macungie plant to make the facility more modern, integrated and efficient.

The plant also is getting a new task: Assembling Mack’s new highway truck, Anthem, which was unveiled in September. The Anthem, with full production beginning in the first quarter, represents an opportunity for Mack to grow its long-haul business and achieve its market share ambitions in North America.

The truck maker also has boosted its marketing efforts this year, announcing several partnerships aimed at expanding its audience reach while also amplifying its messaging around certain products, such as the Anthem. To name a couple: Mack in July announced a partnership with Khalil Mack, the Oakland Raiders’ pass-rushing phenom who helped the company promote the Anthem, and, just this week, announced a partnership agreement with Petty’s Garage, the high-performance speed shop founded in 2008 by Richard Petty.

Business hasn’t been bad, either. Through September, Mack is riding a 53 percent jump in orders — a barometer of future deliveries — as the North American construction segment remains strong and the long-haul and regional haul markets are on the upswing.

“I promise you that the best days for Mack are still to come,” Slagle said during September’s unveiling of the Anthem at the PPLCenter in Allentown. “After today, the game changes.”

After June 1, how the game changes will be in the hands of Weissburg.

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[kscarbel2]

https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=25576277&privcapId=312375

Mr. Martin Weissburg serves as an Executive Vice President of AB Volvo (publ) and has been its Member of the Group Executive Board since March 01, 2016.

Mr. Weissburg has been the President and Chief Executive Officer at Volvo Construction Equipment since 2014. He served as an Executive Vice President of Volvo Construction Equipment at AB Volvo since January 1, 2014.

He served as the President and Chief Executive Officer at Volvo Commercial Finance LLC The Americas. He served as the President at Volvo Financial Services AB since May 15, 2010 until January 2014.

He served as an Executive Vice President - Volvo Financial Services at AB Volvo since January 01, 2013.

Mr. Weissburg is responsible for global Operations at Volvo Financial Services. He served as Head of the financial services of North American operations at Volvo Financial Services LLC until 2005.

He served as President of Americas operations at Volvo Financial Services AB from 2005 to May 2010.

He served as the President at Great Dane Financial and Senior Vice President at Orix Financial.

He also worked in capital markets for Heller Financial, and held positions with Caterpillar in the construction equipment and finance areas.

Mr. Weissburg has a Bachelor of Science from Purdue University and an MBA in International Business from George Washington University.

Born 1962 in Ohio.

[kscarbel2]

Martin Weissburg appointed President of Mack Trucks

Volvo Group Press Release  /  December 8, 2017

Martin Weissburg, currently President of Volvo Construction Equipment, will become President of Mack Trucks effective June 1, 2018, in which capacity he will continue to be a member of the Executive Board for the Volvo Group.

Martin Weissburg was born in 1962, and has served as President of Volvo Construction Equipment since 2014. He joined the Volvo Group in 2005 as President of Volvo Financial Services Americas, and in 2010 became global President of Volvo Financial Services. He will be headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA.

Martin Weissburg will succeed Dennis Slagle, who has led the company since 2008. Effective June 1, 2018, Dennis Slagle will remain with the Volvo Group as a special projects leader reporting to Martin Lundstedt, President and CEO.

“Thanks to Denny Slagle’s leadership, the Volvo Group’s North American truck business has substantially improved its profitability and competitiveness, and is strongly positioned for the future,” comments Martin Lundstedt. “In Marty Weissburg, Mack Trucks will have another proven leader who is passionate about realizing the full potential of this great truck brand.”

Journalists who would like further information, please contact: Joakim Kenndal, Volvo Group, Media Relations tel +46 31 323 72 29 or John Mies, Vice President Communications, Volvo Group North America+1 (336) 543-9094 .

http://news.cision.com/volvo/r/martin-weissburg-appointed-president-of-mack-trucks,c2410048

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[Dirtymilkman]

Kevin, what say you about this guy? 

[fxfymn]

Apparently a money guy, not a manufacturing guy. Probably good for the long term survival of the company and not so good for those who long for a more diversified product line and a stronger emphasis on the vocational lines.

[kscarbel2]

11 hours ago, Dirtymilkman said:

Kevin, what say you about this guy? 

Mark, finance guys are typically pretty confident about themselves but they generally know little to nothing about the product (they believe their product understanding is adequate).

Like Denny, he came from construction and knows how to survive in Volvo's corporate world. Unlike Denny, he was in financial, not hands-on with the product.

How does a background in construction relate to heavy trucks? Answer: It doesn't.

Paul Vikner and Kevin Flaherty were the last men from the real Mack Trucks to serve as president (they were mere puppets under the new Volvo regime though, like China's last emperor Puyi under Japanese control in Manchukuo).

Denny Slagle is a fine human being. However as Mack president, he has never gotten the brand airborne.

I'm confident in saying that Weissburg won't either, and he'll be gone or reassigned within two years.

Volvo will pull the plug on the Mack brand within fifteen years.

[james j neiweem]

Why don't they sell Mack and get it over with? Probably will let Mack die like White, Autocar and Diamond Reo. Speaking of Autocar why don't they expand their line up into construction heavy haul etc. Maybe the sale agreement with Volvo precludes such an expansion.

[Maxidyne]

Volvo would rather slowly kill Mack then sell Mack as a going concern that will become a competitor.

[TS7]

Maybe if Mack had some good finance people 30 years ago they would not be where they are now.

[kscarbel2]

59 minutes ago, TS7 said:

Maybe if Mack had some good finance people 30 years ago they would not be where they are now.

Making money in the trucking industry is even harder than the auto industry (they have volume). It requires conscious government support.

Government should recognize that a strong US-owned truck industry is essential to our nation's economy and security.

Like foreign governments, the US has over the years bent over backwards to support our auto industry.

Unlike foreign governments, the US has all but ignored its commercial truckmakers. And as a result, over half of the heavy trucks on America's roads today are produced by foreign aggressors.

[TS7]

I do not think the TAXPAYER should bail out any mismanaged business.  

[fxfymn]

I won't go into the high amount the Feds put into the industry through the interstate highway system, but suffice to say that unlike freight rail, they are very well taxpayer funded.

As for "letting Mack die" why should Volvo do that? Mack is making money and has been selling about the same market share as the Volvo brand. Just because they don't make what a lot of folks here fantasize about for products doesn't make them an inferior company. Volvo has chosen to become  a supplier of OTR trucks with a much smaller emphasis on vocational lines that Mack was once known for. They supply the capital and they have the right to choose how they want to generate the return on that capital.

[fjh]

On 12/9/2017 at 6:04 AM, kscarbel2 said:

Mark, finance guys are typically pretty confident about themselves but they generally know little to nothing about the product (they believe their product understanding is adequate).

Like Denny, he came from construction and knows how to survive in Volvo's corporate world. Unlike Denny, he was in financial, not hands-on with the product.

How does a background in construction relate to heavy trucks? Answer: It doesn't.

Paul Vikner and Kevin Flaherty were the last men from the real Mack Trucks to serve as president (they were mere puppets under the new Volvo regime though, like China's last emperor Puyi under Japanese control in Manchukuo).

Denny Slagle is a fine human being. However as Mack president, he has never gotten the brand airborne.

I'm confident in saying that Weissburg won't either, and he'll be gone or reassigned within two years.

Volvo will pull the plug on the Mack brand within fifteen years.

They have done better than I expected on the plug issue I had expected they would have done it by now I'm surprised they are still willing to continue on with thes smoke and mirrors game!  ( When ) it happens thou I won't  be surprised!

THE Evil swedish aggressor! 

Edited December 10, 2017 by fjh

[kscarbel2]

7 hours ago, fxfymn said:

I won't go into the high amount the Feds put into the industry through the interstate highway system, but suffice to say that unlike freight rail, they are very well taxpayer funded.

As for "letting Mack die" why should Volvo do that? Mack is making money and has been selling about the same market share as the Volvo brand. Just because they don't make what a lot of folks here fantasize about for products doesn't make them an inferior company. Volvo has chosen to become  a supplier of OTR trucks with a much smaller emphasis on vocational lines that Mack was once known for. They supply the capital and they have the right to choose how they want to generate the return on that capital.

Globally, Volvo has the volume and Renault Truck is the bright star.

In the US market, the Volvo brand continues to grow while the Mack brand remains stagnant with a very small line-up that inherently can't grow by much. Remember, in the old days when Mack sold volume, we had a broad product range (as the Volvo brand does today).

If Mack and UD went away tomorrow, Volvo wouldn't lose a minute's sleep.

[kscarbel2]

8 hours ago, TS7 said:

I do not think the TAXPAYER should bail out any mismanaged business.  

In general, I agree with you 200 percent.

Car and truckmaking CEOs must be competent, and held accountable.

The incompetent management at the old GM was inexcusable.

Now we all know how cyclical the truck industry is. It challenges the best of CEOs. And yet our nation's economy depends on trucks. Other countries protect their truck industries. As a result of the US government not doing the same, foreign aggressors have taken over our domestic truck industry. That is not a good thing.

[fxfymn]

15 hours ago, kscarbel2 said:

n the US market, the Volvo brand continues to grow while the Mack brand remains stagnant with a very small line-up that inherently can't grow by much. Remember, in the old days when Mack sold volume, we had a broad product range (as the Volvo brand does today).

What product line does Volvo offer that Mack does not?

[kscarbel2]

59 minutes ago, fxfymn said:

What product line does Volvo offer that Mack does not?

The US market product range, as we all know, is but a fraction of what it used to be. For example, the lack of an MR replacement, the lack of a Super-Liner product, the lack of a COE so as to be a player in the global market, the lack of a big bore powerplant, the lack of a proprietary Mack brand powerplant (e.g. a signature Mack brand V8) to set it apart from the Volvo brand. With limited offerings, total sales potential is inherently reduced.

[fjh]

1 hour ago, kscarbel2 said:

The US market product range, as we all know, is but a fraction of what it used to be. For example, the lack of an MR replacement, the lack of a Super-Liner product, the lack of a COE so as to be a player in the global market, the lack of a big bore powerplant, the lack of a proprietary Mack brand powerplant (e.g. a signature Mack brand V8) to set it apart from the Volvo brand. With limited offerings, total sales potential is inherently reduced.

They do offer the choice of distinctly different  ENGINE  Paint color How ever!  That sets Us Worlds  apart from them!   Green or RED what should I choose! hmmmmm!

[james j neiweem]

That's funny fjh. TS7 I agree with you 100%. Paccar didn't have the product or component lineup that Mack had 40 years ago Yet they are still around. They didn't over reach like Mack and White did. While Paccar maintained a profitable business model Mack and White did not as a result of over expansion.

[fxfymn]

46 minutes ago, james j neiweem said:

That's funny fjh. TS7 I agree with you 100%. Paccar didn't have the product or component lineup that Mack had 40 years ago Yet they are still around. They didn't over reach like Mack and White did. While Paccar maintained a profitable business model Mack and White did not as a result of over expansion.

I'm not sure over expansion is the right term, but they had a model of supplying whatever the customer wanted, no matter the production run. That's great if the customers are willing to pay for that in sufficient numbers to make it profitable. Apparently they were not.

I really believe that the undoing of Mack, and many other old line manufacturers, was the high inflation of the 1970's and the accompanying very high interest rates which made borrowing capital so expensive. In an orderly economy with a basically fixed cost of capital companies could afford to carry the cost of custom manufacturing. When it started to cost them upwards of 20% to get money they just could not keep building products that took a long time such as custom trucks because of the carrying costs. Plus the price of components rose so fast that builders just could not pass the costs on fast enough to stay viable.

I know I'm the odd ball here for believing that Volvo is on the right track to keep Mack a viable company. They are building what the mainstream customer wants and they are selling product. We may wish Mack was what it once was, but I don't think the economics are there to support that business model today. If the economics were there builders like Hendrickson and Marmon would still be here producing low run custom trucks.

 

[41180]

I've always thought mack lost its way in the 90s when they kind of turned into a cookie cutter type truck. Never building a traditional looking truck based on the ch cab design. It's  like they said buy sloped hood trucks or go elsewhere,we don't want your business , mack became a wimpy looking truck .

[Hayseed]

9 hours ago, fxfymn said:

What product line does Volvo offer that Mack does not?

Here in Australia, there is quite point of differentiation between the 2.

The most obvious one that Volvo only sell COE's & Mack only sell Conventionals.

 Mack also seem to have a pretty strong independant team of Executives intent on keeping Mack true to it's roots..But for how long? I'm not too sure.  i see They're now fitting the Volvo 8 bag suspension (& Volvos 500000lbs Diffs) to Macks.

It's UD I feel sorry for,I reckon It'll be killed off before Mack will be....

 

[41180]

Mack hiring 400 more employees,gonna be most ever employees in the factory .things can't be to bad.