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The factory’s productivity has increased<br />
significantly in recent years.<br />
A new lease of life<br />
The universally reputed Fruehauf brand is celebrating an<br />
impressive comeback in the semi-trailer manufacturer<br />
market. The factory in the French city of Auxerre is moving<br />
full steam ahead and the product range has been renewed,<br />
with a trend towards continuous and vigorous expansion.<br />
Sheer size alone is not enough to<br />
guarantee constant success. Indeed, size<br />
requires lasting strength; this was what<br />
trailer giants General Trailers (GT) were<br />
lacking when dark clouds started<br />
gathering over the European trailer<br />
industry in the first years of the 21st<br />
century. In 2003, GT was forced to go into<br />
liquidation and the huge conglomerate<br />
was sold off piece by piece.<br />
One of the jewels among the liquidation<br />
assets was the historical company<br />
Fruehauf, which originated in 1918. It was<br />
then that Auguste Fruehauf, who has<br />
German origins, founded the Fruehauf<br />
Trailer Company in the American city of<br />
Detroit. In 1944, the name cropped up in<br />
France for the first time: Raoul Massardy<br />
obtained franchises from the American<br />
company, founded Fruehauf France in<br />
1946 and started producing trailers in Viry<br />
Châtillon. In 1958, the company relocated<br />
to Auxerre, its current location, where it<br />
has undergone a remarkable revival.<br />
Maxispeed, the curtainsider which has<br />
been instrumental in Fruehauf’s success.<br />
At the time of General Trailers, a 1,000strong<br />
workforce was producing<br />
approximately 8,000 units a year. The<br />
company now employs a workforce of<br />
around 600, turning out 7,000 units a year.<br />
Since the takeover in<br />
2004, Francis Doblin, the<br />
new man at the helm of<br />
Fruehauf, was able to<br />
announce that the<br />
company was once again<br />
back in the black. He had<br />
based Fruehauf’s revival<br />
strategy on four key<br />
principles: “Customer focus,<br />
operational excellence,<br />
constant commitment to<br />
service and international<br />
growth,” were the key<br />
objectives to which he had his<br />
crew commit themselves.<br />
As business has grown, Fruehauf has<br />
continued to modernise its product<br />
offering. A best-seller in the carrier range,<br />
the curtainsider semi-trailer MaxiSpeed<br />
Classic 34T has been given a brand new<br />
body, as well as being fitted with the full<br />
range of safety systems (EBS and stability<br />
system). In addition, it still features the<br />
product’s well known qualities including its<br />
extra-stable floor, capable of supporting<br />
9-ton loads. The company has also<br />
launched a new coil carrier as well as a<br />
comprehensive new range of container<br />
carriers, and has added to its range of<br />
semi-trailer tippers by introducing a new<br />
generation of hardox 450 "round” tippers<br />
designed to withstand the toughest<br />
Fruehauf<br />
conditions. As far as axles are concerned,<br />
the company caters for the customer’s<br />
choice, whatever the brand. This has not<br />
stopped Fruehauf from forging a special<br />
strategic alliance with SAF and Gigant,<br />
thus enabling it to offer either of the latter<br />
brands as standard, both of them coming<br />
with a six-year or one-million kilometre<br />
guarantee.<br />
“Generally speaking, our strategy consists<br />
of forging close ties with leading market<br />
suppliers, whose ambitions are the same<br />
standard of innovation, quality and service<br />
as ourselves,” explains Fruehauf Manager<br />
Francis Doblin. "That is one of the reasons<br />
why we opted for <strong>Haldex</strong> electronics.”<br />
With regard to customer service, the<br />
company has set up an innovative and<br />
user-friendly on-line spare parts<br />
identification and ordering system. A<br />
couple of mouse clicks is all it takes to call<br />
up the full set of technical data for the<br />
customer’s vehicle.<br />
Results have been very positive. “Last year,<br />
sales increased by 27% with our French<br />
market share in curtainsiders and vans<br />
rising by more than 8 points. We are, by a<br />
long way the leaders in the French market,<br />
with a national market share of 35% in<br />
these segments,” says Francis Doblin,<br />
describing the company’s progress. The<br />
company is also doing well internationally,<br />
even though it continues to focus on the<br />
French market. In Poland, the company<br />
has recently set up a subsidiary (Fruehauf<br />
Polska). In Germany, the vehicle<br />
rental firm Fischer<br />
& Knobel is acting as a partner. Close<br />
partnerships have also been formed with<br />
Slovakia, where Fruehauf is one of the<br />
market leaders, as well as with Denmark,<br />
Sweden and the Baltic states. The gate to<br />
Russia has been pushed wide open, thanks<br />
to cooperation with the Finnish company<br />
Armachine which deals not only with<br />
Finnish, but also with numerous Russian<br />
customers.<br />
www.fruehauf.com<br />
Fruehauf<br />
vehicle<br />
electronics<br />
feature the<br />
<strong>Haldex</strong><br />
Electronic<br />
Braking System<br />
EB +.<br />
<strong>Haldex</strong> Magazine - Spring 2007<br />
07