Scania annual report 2003

CUSTOMERS
Customer demands shape new products
Scania’s customers are found all over the world. Their operations may
differ, but they all have in common that in their businesses they make
heavy demands on Scania’s products and services. All work at Scania is
focused on understanding and meeting the demands, needs and wishes
of these customers.
Scania pursues a continual dialogue with
customers during the development of new
products, to ensure that these products
live up to all the demands that are made.
In the task of developing the new truck
range, this included conducting product
clinics, to which drivers and other customers
were invited early in the development
process to test various design solutions,
especially related to the cab interior.
These clinics were then repeated at
regular intervals until the final stage of development
work. Since the needs of customers
vary in many respects, depending
on where they are in the world, the product
clinics were conducted on several
continents. In addition, a number of preseries
trucks were operated by various
hauliers to find out what customers
thought about them under real-life
conditions.
New customer demands
Internationalisation, structural changes and
increasingly active customers and consumers
have changed the transport industry
in recent years. Demands for faster,
more reliable and cheaper deliveries are
forcing transport companies to improve the
efficiency of the flow of goods, services and
information. Large hauliers are evolving into
logistics companies, which assume total
responsibility for their customers’ transport
needs. Meanwhile many smaller haulage
firms are specialising or becoming subcontractors
to larger transport companies.
Such services as financing, insurance,
short-term vehicle rentals and maintenance
are in ever greater demand.
Scania’s product
development
work occurs in
close cooperation
with drivers.
Truck customers
Scania’s truck customers are using their
vehicles during more and more of the day
and night. This presupposes access to
routine maintenance and repairs. For
Scania, it means 24-hour service workshops,
comprehensive parts management,
complete maintenance and many other
services generated in close contact with
the customer.
A large proportion of Scania’s truck
customers work in the long-haulage segment,
where Scania’s international service
network is highly valued.
Drivers, who live with the products, are
an important target group to Scania. They
have a major influence on the purchasing
and investment decisions of transport
companies and are key individuals when it
comes to operating cost, environmental
impact and safe vehicle handling.
Bus and coach customers
Scania’s customers in city bus services
today are often private operators, in many
cases active in more than one country.
To a growing extent, they are demanding
a total transport solution. Service and repair
contracts, financing and traffic planning
are examples of the elements that
may be included in Scania’s bus business.
Customers in the tourist coach segment
previously composed their own
coach, by ordering the chassis from one
manufacturer and the body from another.
Today more and more customers, especially
in Europe, want to buy whole buses
from one supplier. This means that to a
greater extent, Scania is selling a complete
vehicle, where the chassis comes from
Scania and the body is purchased from
an independent bodybuilder.
Industrial and marine engine customers
Scania’s industrial and marine engine customers
are found in many different sectors.
But whether it is a machinery manufacturer,
a lone fisherman or a defence
materiel procurement officer, their demands
are similar. They all want a reliable
engine with a long service life and the best
possible operating economy. Since most
of Scania’s industrial and marine engines
are operated far from service workshops,
dependability is high on the customer’s list
of demands.
In recent years there has been increased
demand for engines that meet a
variety of emission standards.
ANNUAL REPORT 2003 18