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EuroCombi - Haldex

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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

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