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issue 03/2011<br />
the man group magaZine<strong>foru</strong>m<br />
Lift to in the heavens<br />
How the world’s tallest<br />
transportable free fall tower<br />
travels with <strong>MAN</strong> trucks<br />
spinning for safety<br />
What helicopter gears must<br />
bear in the testing facility of<br />
RENK Test System Systems<br />
worLd in motion<br />
Why global mobility will<br />
increase sixfold six-fold in in the<br />
decades to come
Musical MaritiMe voyage<br />
this massive hall of MaN Diesel & turbo’s Primeserv academy usually serves as<br />
a training site for engineers working on huge ship engines. this summer, it became<br />
the venue for a special concert played by the augsburg Philharmonic orchestra,<br />
with its musicians seeking “Far-away Maritime Worlds”, and invoking melodies that<br />
reflect the magic of the seas. the musical voyage was visually framed by one remaining<br />
diesel giant at the back of the stage and a four-stroke single cylinder unit dating<br />
back to 1906, set up next to the glass frontage of the hall.
masthead<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> ForuM – the <strong>MAN</strong> Group magazine<br />
is published four times a year in German and English.<br />
Published by <strong>MAN</strong> SE,<br />
Andreas Lampersbach, Corporate Communications,<br />
Ungererstrasse 69, 80805 Munich, Germany<br />
www.man.eu<br />
editors-iN-ChieF Claudia Weber, Inés Gutiérrez,<br />
Tel.: +49. 89. 36098-384, Fax: +49. 89. 36098-382,<br />
E-Mail: <strong>foru</strong>m@man.eu<br />
PublishiNg house Burda Creative Group GmbH/<br />
BurdaYukom Publishing,<br />
Konrad-Zuse-Platz 11, 81829 Munich, Germany<br />
Tel.: +49. 89. 30620-0, Fax: +49. 89. 30620-100,<br />
www.burdayukom.com<br />
editors Klaus-Peter Hilger (resp.), Kirti Letsch<br />
iNterNAtioNAl editors Patricia Preston,<br />
Asa C. Tomash<br />
<strong>MAN</strong>AgiNg editor Marlies Viktorin<br />
CoNtributors Katharina Becker, Dr. Martin Kaluza,<br />
Christine Karl, Verena Nitsche, Barbara Rott, Marcus<br />
Schick, David Selbach<br />
CreAtive direCtor Anita Mrusek<br />
Art direCtor Robert Neuhauser<br />
Photo editors Michelle Otto (resp.),<br />
Elke Latinovic, Anka Müller, Benno Sänger,<br />
Cover F1online<br />
ePP Silvana Mayrthaler<br />
ProduCtioN Wolfram Götz (resp.),<br />
Franz Kantner, Cornelia Sauer<br />
PriNtiNg Pinsker Druck und Medien GmbH,<br />
84048 Mainburg, Germany<br />
Printed on Galaxi Supermat<br />
reProduCtioN permitted with reference.<br />
Any changes must be coordinated with the editors.<br />
CoPyright ©2011 by <strong>MAN</strong> SE<br />
and Burda Creative Group GmbH<br />
>>> iN tANdeM toWArds suCCess<br />
First entering the job market or embarking on a career<br />
is often not easy. Conflicts must be resolved<br />
and far-reaching decisions be made. In such situations,<br />
it helps to exchange ideas with someone who<br />
has already been through them. This is precisely the<br />
point of mentoring: People with experience in life<br />
and their professions act as mentors, standing by<br />
the side of those who are at the onset of their careers.<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> supports numerous programs, where<br />
students or junior executives are accompanied by a mentor for a certain period of time.<br />
What our author Katharina Becker did not suspect, was how much the old hands also<br />
profited from the exchange with young people. Apparently, guiding and supporting others<br />
can be a way to explore one’s own self (page 20).<br />
>>> Meet the big <strong>MAN</strong><br />
Since this spring, the agricultural machinery manufacturer<br />
Krone has been traveling the western United States to present<br />
its forage harvester of the latest generation in action. The<br />
motto of the road show is “Meet the big <strong>MAN</strong>,” a reference to<br />
the <strong>MAN</strong> diesel engines up to 1,078 hp strong that drive the giant<br />
machines. The interested audience was especially impressed<br />
by the smooth running of the motor, reports Hartwig<br />
Janssen, North American Krone sales manager: “We often<br />
heard that the machine doesn’t sound like a diesel at all.” A<br />
statement, by the way, that had our author Martin Kaluza<br />
take notice. For <strong>MAN</strong> agricultural machinery customers had said the almost identical thing<br />
before: The tractors built by <strong>MAN</strong> under the designation ‘Ackerdiesel’ until 1963 were already<br />
considered atypical of diesels at that time—and ran extra smoothly (page 42).<br />
>>> MeetiNg the Future With oPtiMisM<br />
In March of this year, 219 children lost their parents on the<br />
east coast of Japan. This is only one of the sad statistics emerging<br />
from the Tōhoku earthquake and the resulting tsunami. In<br />
her conversation with Ko Sasaki, the president of <strong>MAN</strong> Diesel<br />
& Turbo Japan Ltd., our colleague Kirti Letsch was moved by<br />
the optimism shining through when he spoke about the future<br />
of his country. In April 2011, <strong>MAN</strong> SE donated generously<br />
to the SOS Children’s Village in Fukuoka. The funds are designated<br />
for the construction of a second SOS Children’s Village<br />
in the center of the area affected by the earthquake (page 9).<br />
<strong>foru</strong>m 03/2011 03<br />
contributors
04<br />
standards<br />
02 PERSPEcTIVE<br />
03 conTRIbuToRS<br />
03 MaSThEad<br />
47 foRuM quIz<br />
30<br />
20<br />
42<br />
10
news<br />
06 Additional traineeships; record sales for <strong>MAN</strong><br />
Latin America; compressors for gas storage<br />
project; new <strong>MAN</strong> Board member; contribution to<br />
SOS Children’s Village in Japan; hybrid truck test<br />
interview<br />
10 ‘mobility could increase sixfold’<br />
Stephen Perkins heads the think tank for future<br />
traffic, logistics and environmental issues at the<br />
OECD in Paris. An exchange about the worldwide<br />
mobility needs of tomorrow.<br />
feature<br />
14 master of free fall<br />
At 66 meters in length, the Power Tower is<br />
the highlight at every fair for those with heads<br />
for heights. <strong>MAN</strong> trucks carry the world’s tallest<br />
free-fall tower from town to town.<br />
technology<br />
26 powerful all-rounder<br />
It feeds a small town with energy, balances<br />
electricity supply fluctuations of wind turbines or<br />
melts plastics: a close-up of the new six-megawatt<br />
gas turbine of <strong>MAN</strong> Diesel & Turbo.<br />
30 surge of savings<br />
Recently introduced and revolving very slowly, the<br />
G-engine of <strong>MAN</strong> Diesel & Turbo allows for the<br />
application of even larger ship propellers. The result:<br />
fuel savings of up to seven percent.<br />
32 groundwork for iron birds<br />
Helicopter gears must meet the highest of<br />
reliability standards. At the RENK Test System<br />
GmbH site in Augsburg, Germany, they are<br />
tested to the very limit.<br />
company<br />
20 the value of experience<br />
Within the <strong>MAN</strong> Group, mentoring programs<br />
are a vital instrument for HR development:<br />
Participants relate how they work and how to<br />
benefit from these plans.<br />
38 looking for the best solution<br />
The new Service Engineering department at<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> Truck & Bus keeps a very close eye on<br />
the customer. On how to improve structures<br />
and processes for optimized service quality.<br />
<strong>foru</strong>m 03/2011 05<br />
contents<br />
42 from motor plow to giant chippers<br />
For the last nine decades, <strong>MAN</strong> machinery has<br />
worked the land. Once motorized by 21 hp, the<br />
strongest agricultural equipment now runs with<br />
up to 1,078 hp. The milestones of a long tradition.<br />
46 closing words<br />
Be it during training or rising through the ranks of<br />
management—intensive facilitation and personal<br />
guidance play a key role at <strong>MAN</strong>, explains Chief<br />
Human Resources Officer, Jörg Schwitalla.
06<br />
news<br />
perfect double: Comedian Max giermann posing as<br />
goalkeeper oliver Kahn in the “Man kahn” campaign.<br />
> CaMpaign<br />
Bus comedy with Oliver Kahn<br />
together with the Man soccer team bus,<br />
the legendary german goalkeeper oliver<br />
Kahn and comedian Max giermann, known<br />
from the “switch reloaded” television<br />
sketch show, are the stars in 12 video clips<br />
created by Man se. the first episodes of<br />
the german version are already live at www.<br />
Manschaftsbus.de. Kahn and giermann—<br />
playing the role of Kahn’s trainee—travel<br />
across germany in Man’s football team<br />
coach, experiencing the humorous side of<br />
everyday soccer life. “Man kahn” is the title<br />
of the comedy series, borrowed from the<br />
company’s brand campaign slogan, “Man<br />
kann” (“We are your Man”). the two actors<br />
waxed enthusiastically about the campaign<br />
concept: “the idea of the double Kahn<br />
convinced me immediately,” says the goalie<br />
of his first comedy role. “i have hardly ever<br />
laughed as much as during filming with<br />
Max giermann. He is a perfect double.”<br />
and giermann adds: “filming with oliver<br />
Kahn was fabulous. i’m looking forward<br />
to the next episode.”<br />
> Career opportunities for young people<br />
Additional apprenticeship places<br />
Man ramps up its training capacity,<br />
creating additional apprenticeships<br />
at its sites in germany.<br />
For the start of this year’s vocational training program, the <strong>MAN</strong> Group will be<br />
taking on one more trainee than originally planned at each of its German production<br />
sites. This marks the company’s contribution to the campaign launched by<br />
the IG Metall metals union in North Rhine - Westphalia under the slogan “One<br />
extra training slot per company”, which <strong>MAN</strong> Diesel & Turbo has already taken<br />
part in. According to Jörg Schwitalla,Chief Human Resources Officer at <strong>MAN</strong> SE,<br />
“fostering young talent is a key factor in <strong>MAN</strong>’s ability to compete. We need young<br />
and motivated people to remain globally competitive with our products and<br />
services in the future.” Participating in the campaign, adds Schwitalla, will give<br />
even more young people the opportunity to develop their talents, ideas and desire<br />
to perform well, as they become acquainted with the diverse range of <strong>MAN</strong>’s technologies.<br />
Overall, there are about 2,000 trainees working in <strong>MAN</strong>’s German plants<br />
and sales offices, with the worldwide total at around 2,900.
Photos: Hauke Dressler, SOS Kinderdorf<br />
> rECOrd SALES<br />
Reaching the half million mark<br />
After a mere 15 years, <strong>MAN</strong> Latin America has just produced<br />
its 500,000th vehicle at its factory in resende,<br />
Brazil. Located in the south of the federal state rio de<br />
Janeiro, the plant produces trucks of the Constellation,<br />
Worker and delivery series as well as bus chassis for the<br />
Volksbus model. The sales figures were also a cause for<br />
celebration: With 5,200 vehicles sold, July 2011 was the<br />
best July in company history. in the first half of 2011,<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> Latin America had already reinforced the position<br />
of market leader in the truck segment that it has held for<br />
the last eight years, by increasing its market share from<br />
28.1 to 30.6 percent.<br />
New truck delivery: Almost one truck<br />
out of three rolling on the streets of<br />
Brazil comes from <strong>MAN</strong> Latin America.<br />
> SOS ChiLdrEN’S ViLLAgE<br />
Employees lend a hand<br />
<strong>foru</strong>m 03/2011 07<br />
Energetic employees make for<br />
enthusiastic children: <strong>MAN</strong> supports commitment<br />
to young people and their offspring.<br />
As of fall 2011, <strong>MAN</strong> Group employees can contribute half of one<br />
workday to a pilot project to help at the vocational training center of<br />
the SOS Children’s Village in Nuremberg. “<strong>MAN</strong> doesn’t just strive to<br />
commit to social causes as a company. Our employees also wish to<br />
do their share and we want to support that,” says Yvonne Benkert,<br />
senior manager for Corporate Responsibility at <strong>MAN</strong> SE, who<br />
initiated the project. The SOS Children’s Village currently supports<br />
some 800 young people with challenging backgrounds who are just<br />
entering their working lives. Remedial teaching better qualifies<br />
them for vocational training or a job. In the meantime, the adjoining<br />
day care center looks after their children. <strong>MAN</strong> staff can now<br />
participate in four different projects: Renovating the youngsters’<br />
communal quarters, offering job interview training to adolescents,<br />
servicing the outdoor play equipment at the day care center or<br />
reading aloud to small children indoors. If the Nuremberg pilot<br />
project proves popular with employees, more projects are planned—<br />
even on an international scale.
08<br />
news<br />
> EmployEE survEy<br />
Every vote counts<br />
lively interest: About<br />
80 percent of all mAN<br />
staff took part in<br />
the employee survey.<br />
From India to Brazil, from Denmark to South Africa: This year,<br />
47,200 employees of the <strong>MAN</strong> Group had the opportunity of<br />
participating in a Group-wide employee survey—with data privacy<br />
and anonymity the number one priority. A response rate of<br />
80 percent made for outstanding participation. The results of the<br />
survey will provide a basis for discussing <strong>MAN</strong>’s strengths and<br />
potential for improvement, as well as introducing concrete changes.<br />
Based on the results, the Management Board of <strong>MAN</strong> SE has<br />
identified a number of top issues for the <strong>MAN</strong> Group. The objective:<br />
Continue to move <strong>MAN</strong> forward and boost employee satisfaction<br />
levels. Jörg Schwitalla, Chief Human Resources Officer at <strong>MAN</strong> SE,<br />
explains: “Apart from getting more openness and honesty into our<br />
communications processes, we also need to make an even stronger<br />
effort in making customers the focus of all our activities. And: We<br />
intend to live our <strong>MAN</strong> management culture and make it tangible.”<br />
radial compressors of this type<br />
are supplied to the Netherlands<br />
by mAN Diesel & Turbo.<br />
> powEr supply<br />
Compressors for gas storage project<br />
The Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (PJSC) is currently<br />
building western Europe’s largest gas reservoir in<br />
the Netherlands. The gas storage facility will be built in<br />
Alkmaar, near the North Sea, and feature a capacity of<br />
4.1 billion cubic meters. <strong>MAN</strong> Diesel & Turbo was commissioned<br />
to supply the entire compressor technology.<br />
In all, the company will be delivering six compressor<br />
systems. While proving highly efficient, <strong>MAN</strong>’s compressors<br />
are also notable for their highly eco-friendly operations.<br />
For example, the hermetic sealing of each unit ensures<br />
that no gas can escape. Gas reservoirs are needed<br />
in order to balance out seasonal fluctuations in consumption,<br />
ensuring that a reliable supply of natural gas<br />
is available at all times.<br />
> humAN rEsourcEs<br />
René Umlauft appointed to the Board<br />
As of september 1, 2011, rené umlauft was<br />
appointed a deputy member of the mAN sE<br />
management Board. At the same time, the Berlin<br />
native (46) became the cEo of the mAN division<br />
mAN Diesel & Turbo. umlauft had been working<br />
for siemens since 1991, most recently serving as<br />
head of the company’s renewable Energy Division.<br />
New appointment to the<br />
mAN management Board:<br />
As of fall 2011, rené<br />
umlauft serves to bolster<br />
the power Engineering<br />
business unit.
Photo: Simon Katzer, Hauke Dressler<br />
ko sasaki is president of MAn diesel &<br />
Turbo Japan. in July 2011, he visited<br />
the sOs Children’s Village in Fukuoka.<br />
> A CALL TO ...<br />
Ko Sasaki<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> Forum: Hello, Mr. Sasaki. The events in<br />
Fukushima earlier this year shocked the entire<br />
world. How are you doing today?<br />
Ko Sasaki: We are gradually recovering from the<br />
catastrophe. In economic terms, things are looking<br />
up, and progress is being made with the shutdown<br />
of the Fukushima I atomic power station. At the<br />
same time, the nuclear contamination of agricultural<br />
products is alarming. The government needs<br />
to take faster action to deal with this.<br />
What is the mood like in the country?<br />
Fairly optimistic. People’s willingness to help is astonishing.<br />
A great many volunteers, including<br />
many young people in particular, have come forward<br />
to help with the work of reconstruction. There<br />
is clear determination to recover from the catastrophe<br />
and make a positive step forward.<br />
You recently visited the SOS Children’s Village in<br />
Fukuoka. Does it house many earthquake victims?<br />
Fukuoka is too far from the affected area—about<br />
1,100 kilometers. So SOS Children’s Villages want to<br />
open a new place in Sendai. A generous donation<br />
made by <strong>MAN</strong> SE should help to make this possible.<br />
How could the work of the SOS Children’s<br />
Village be described?<br />
It is important for us to raise awareness and acceptance<br />
levels for the Children’s Villages. The Children’s<br />
Village in Fukuoka was only set up in 2010.<br />
Until that time, there were few institutions of this<br />
kind in Japan. Orphaned children are mostly sent to<br />
children’s homes—foster families hardly exist at all.<br />
There is growing interest, however. Since the Children’s<br />
Village in Fukuoka opened a year ago, it has<br />
already had 1,800 visitors.<br />
What impressed you the most on your<br />
recent visit?<br />
It made me aware of what a lot of ground we have<br />
to make up in this area. I was very impressed by<br />
how passionate the staff members of the Children’s<br />
Village feel about their work.<br />
> ExpAnsiOn<br />
New <strong>MAN</strong> site in Munich<br />
> Hybrid TruCk TriAL<br />
Customer tests in Munich<br />
<strong>foru</strong>m 03/2011 09<br />
Easy access: the new MAn offices are<br />
well connected with the public transport<br />
network and the freeway.<br />
since the beginning of 2011, the MAn Group has hired well over<br />
1,000 additional staff members at locations in Munich. Thus, the<br />
company is now opening a new business location, moving into<br />
spacious offices in the parkstadt-schwabing complex located in<br />
the north of the city. beginning in the fall of 2011, the 20,600<br />
square meters of office space has housed employees of the sales<br />
subsidiary MAn Truck & bus AG and MAn Finance international,<br />
as well as some corporate departments of MAn sE.<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> Truck & Bus is currently putting its new hybrid truck to the test in<br />
Munich. In cooperation with wholesaler Arndt GmbH Co. KG, two <strong>MAN</strong><br />
TGL 12.220 Hybrid distribution trucks are used. The test operation is<br />
intended to provide key empirical values that <strong>MAN</strong> can use for the<br />
further optimization of its hybrid truck. Stefan Kerschl, project leader at<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> Truck & Bus, comments: “Reliability, economy and environmental<br />
friendliness are the crucial factors for hybrid drives if they are going to<br />
succeed on the market. Using them in delivery vehicles will give us<br />
valuable performance data under real conditions.” <strong>MAN</strong> Truck & Bus<br />
expects the TGL Hybrid to cut fuel costs by as much as 15 percent.
10<br />
interview<br />
‘Mobility could increase sixfold’<br />
In the coming years, trucks and buses will become increasingly important for the transport of passengers and<br />
goods, forecasts Stephen Perkins, head of the Joint Transport Research Centre of the International Transport Forum<br />
at the OECD in Paris. He explains how mobility can still be managed in a world with nine billion people.<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> Forum: The world’s population is expected to reach the<br />
seven billion mark this fall. In 2025 it will be eight billion,<br />
and by 2050 more than nine billion. Is the volume of transport<br />
increasing at the same rate?<br />
Perkins: Actually, it’s increasing even faster. The number of passenger<br />
kilometers will be multiplied three or four times over the<br />
same period. In China, the number of trips taken could very likely<br />
even be multiplied by six. This development also depends on the<br />
question of whether China will follow the Japanese model—with<br />
highly concentrated big cities and a well-developed public transport<br />
system—or rather imitate the European and North American<br />
pattern, with far-flung residential settlements.<br />
Is that why mobility is increasing more rapidly than the<br />
population? Because the Chinese are emulating the Europeans?<br />
No, it is because incomes are rising. More and more people commute<br />
from the suburbs to the city, the number of business trips is<br />
growing and people take more holidays. The volume of freight is<br />
rising at a disproportionate rate, because increasingly production<br />
operations are distributed around the globe. It is still very much<br />
cheaper to transport small quantities of unfinished products just<br />
in time for final assembly than to ship big consignments which<br />
have to be put into intermediate storage at the plant.<br />
A growing proportion of freight transport is being handled<br />
by road, by truck. Why is this?<br />
Roads are everywhere, with a greater reach than other transport<br />
modes. They are flexible, suited for the growing commercial<br />
sector and also provide the first and final legs for other transport<br />
channels. Road’s main competitor is rail. If the rail system were<br />
to carry all of the forecast growth in freight, enormous investments<br />
in infrastructure would be required. So it’s all about<br />
making transport and logistics as efficient as possible. In this<br />
regard, long trucks can also help reduce the number of vehicles<br />
on the primary routes.<br />
In many countries, high-capacity trucks are a controversial<br />
topic. Critics are afraid that they present an increased risk of<br />
accidents, because these vehicles are so difficult to control.<br />
They are not difficult to control. In fact, they are equipped to<br />
higher standards than the average vehicle. Braking performance<br />
is better. The length of the vehicle means the benefits of some advanced<br />
safety technologies such as lane guard systems are particularly<br />
significant. Until such advanced technologies are required<br />
on all vehicles, there is an opportunity for voluntary agreements<br />
or special licensing arrangements for higher-capacity vehicles to<br />
be equipped to the highest standards. The costs of these systems<br />
can be easily covered, as long trucks are much more profitable<br />
than conventional vehicles.<br />
Will air travel, road and rail at least be more effectively<br />
interlinked in future?<br />
It’s hard to say. The problem is always the same: Reloading a consignment<br />
from one mode of transport to another costs money. But<br />
logistics businesses have strong incentives for finding the most efficient<br />
combinations, as the transport operations of companies like<br />
DHL and TNT show every day. Allowing the market to drive efficiencies<br />
on all the modes is important to achieving efficient system-wide<br />
intermodal links.<br />
What about oil prices? How can road transport continue to<br />
look more appealing than rail in future, when the cost of gas<br />
goes on mounting as it has done in the past?<br />
Despite increases in oil prices, other factors like labor and capital<br />
weigh heavier in transport costs, and overall transport costs account<br />
on average for only a few percentage points of the final cost of<br />
goods. The cost of gas could continue to rise for quite a while without<br />
changing the situation, and in real terms today’s oil price is only<br />
around 10 percent higher than the peak in the second oil crisis in<br />
1980. In addition, manufacturers such as <strong>MAN</strong> are developing technologies<br />
to optimize engines, improve aerodynamics and reduce<br />
Photo: Prisca Martaguet
“Long trucks are much more profitable<br />
than conventional vehicles.”<br />
Stephen Perkins, head of the Joint Transport Research Centre at the OECD
12<br />
> personal profile<br />
Stephen Perkins<br />
stephen perkins heads the Joint Transport<br />
research Centre of the international Transport<br />
<strong>foru</strong>m (iTf) at the organization for<br />
economic Cooperation and Development<br />
(oeCD) in paris. The iTf is an international<br />
government organization that serves as a<br />
transport policy think tank for its 52 member<br />
states and organizes an annual meeting<br />
of all ministers of transport in leipzig,<br />
Germany. The newest member nation is<br />
China, with official accession proceedings<br />
currently underway. after completing his<br />
studies in energy economics and environmental<br />
science at imperial College london<br />
and the University of east anglia, perkins<br />
worked for the international energy agency<br />
(iea) in paris, another oeCD branch. at the<br />
iTf, the 51-year-old British national focuses<br />
on regulation issues and pricing models<br />
designed for managing congestion and reducing<br />
environmental pollution.<br />
drag and rolling resistance. All these improvements could reduce<br />
fuel consumption and CO 2 emissions by 20 percent.<br />
Do you think that electrical drives and hybrid truck engines are<br />
the shape of the future for trucks?<br />
The development of hybrid and electrical drives is moving fast<br />
and I wouldn’t like to try to forecast the future here, but present<br />
trends in the long-distance haulage market indicate that the diesel<br />
engine has a clear advantage. For the inner city, for short-distance<br />
trips, hybrid and electric drives are viable, however, and<br />
have a great advantage in terms of noise. And at ports and on<br />
plant premises where pollutant emissions are a problem, electric<br />
drives are already taking over, such as in the ports of Los Angeles.<br />
Back to infrastructure: You’ve said that it is hard to imagine how<br />
existing roads will cope with so much more traffic. Isn’t this<br />
especially true in fast-growing countries like China and India?<br />
India has just launched a major road expansion program. And<br />
China probably actually has more infrastructure capacity than it<br />
needs—at least in critical areas like ports. The roads of western industrial<br />
nations are in principle sufficient to handle the expected<br />
growth—provided that money is invested in better transport management<br />
systems.<br />
Really? Central Europe is already choked by traffic jams...<br />
Away from ports and other major freight generators, traffic jams<br />
are mainly caused by passenger cars, so traffic management solutions<br />
have to address cars as well as trucks. The best thing would be<br />
a flexible toll, where the prices would vary in accordance with road<br />
use, based on clearly defined and fair regulations. Technically, it<br />
could be based on the German Toll Collect system, for instance.<br />
Couldn’t intelligent control systems also help to regulate the<br />
flow of traffic? By GPS and autopilot?
Photo: Prisca Martaguet<br />
> freight traffic<br />
Trucks will become the<br />
backbone of global trade<br />
experts forecast that the share of truck<br />
traffic will grow to 73 percent of overall<br />
freight traffic by 2030. especially china<br />
will see a much increased significance<br />
of trucks as a means of transportation.<br />
Source: Transport Outlook 2011,<br />
International Transport Forum<br />
2005<br />
2030<br />
2050<br />
92<br />
89<br />
Yes, indeed. Although the main advantage of the road system is<br />
that drivers can decide for themselves how and where to travel.<br />
Navigation systems that are permanently online and communicate<br />
with one another can help guide traffic away from congested<br />
links, however.<br />
You seem to be assuming that there isn’t going to be any change<br />
in the demand for mobility. Yet many young people in the<br />
west are not actually concerned any more with having a car of<br />
their own and are looking for alternatives.<br />
That is indeed true. And there’s a whole raft of innovative approaches<br />
which meet this trend. Car sharing for instance. Electrical<br />
cars, provided at small charging stations around the city, similar<br />
to hire cycles, are to be piloted in a number of cities including<br />
Paris. You could also imagine contracts of the sort you get with a<br />
mobile phone. The customer buys the electric car and rents the<br />
battery, as that is the most expensive element.<br />
84<br />
SOUTH AMERICA<br />
72<br />
77<br />
81<br />
54<br />
48<br />
40<br />
NORTH AMERICA<br />
PACIFIC<br />
EUROPE<br />
25<br />
89<br />
86<br />
90<br />
CHINA<br />
OTHER COUNTRIES<br />
<strong>foru</strong>m 03/2011 13<br />
And in parallel to this, societies are getting older all the time.<br />
Don’t we need quite different strategies to cope with this?<br />
Of course. People of advancing age tend to use cars less and are<br />
more likely to rely on public transport. But then public transport<br />
needs to be geared to accommodate them—with low-floor buses,<br />
easily accessible seats and hand holds. All features that benefit<br />
other users too. The trend is designing public transport systems<br />
to be accessible for all.<br />
So will trains and buses become increasingly important for<br />
passenger transport?<br />
It’s a similar situation to that with freight. Rail-based systems<br />
can’t just be developed overnight. But if you keep a lane free for<br />
buses, as is the case today in many parts of London, you have<br />
created massive new capacity at a stroke. In cities, of course, buses<br />
can also use an electrical drive system. In any case, they have<br />
a big future ahead of them. <<br />
46<br />
87<br />
91 94<br />
56
Photos: Sorin Morar, imago/Peter Widmann<br />
>>> “Any of you without a last will: Not<br />
making it was a mistake!” Addressing her<br />
guests, Christina Bruch-Schneider does not<br />
exactly mince words. Then she pushes the<br />
button. And down it goes. From a height of<br />
63 meters. Straight as a die, at a speed of 15<br />
meters per second. We are on the 66-metertall<br />
Power Tower, the highest transportable<br />
free fall tower in the world. ”You all still look<br />
fine,” whoops Christina Bruch-Schneider<br />
master of free fall<br />
The soaring and regal highlight of every funfair: the Power Tower.<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> trucks carry the colossus across Germany—<br />
and to its seasonal pinnacle, the Munich Oktoberfest.<br />
Several steel floor slabs<br />
provide the basis for the<br />
180-ton giant.<br />
into the microphone. “But that was only for<br />
starters. Part two is still to come.” And with<br />
that she fires the gondola and its ten and a<br />
half thousand kilos back up to the 13th story<br />
of the Power Tower, with its 32 ecstatically<br />
screaming and foot-stomping passengers.<br />
“You want more? You can have more!”<br />
“Experience enhancement through<br />
commandos” is the term in show business<br />
circles. And Christina Bruch-Schneider can<br />
<strong>foru</strong>m 03/2011 15<br />
feature<br />
issue those like no other. That is why patrons<br />
are flocking in droves, craving the<br />
adrenaline kick that comes with speed and<br />
acceleration. And the dizzy altitude is another<br />
factor in this extraordinary thrill<br />
ride. The Power Tower is among the top attractions<br />
at every fun fair and festival. To<br />
make this amusement ride shine in all its<br />
glory, showman Ewald Schneider has to<br />
meet a huge logistics challenge each and
16<br />
feature<br />
every time. It takes about three days for him<br />
and his team of nine to 20 assistants to set<br />
up the 180-ton cult tower, which occupies<br />
an area of 21 by 22 meters. As this is such an<br />
elaborate procedure, the family business<br />
attends only major events—such as the famous<br />
24-hour endurance race at Le Mans,<br />
the Winter Wonderland in London, the<br />
Hamburg Dom festival and, of course, the<br />
Munich Oktoberfest.<br />
Reliable MaN fleet<br />
The Schneiders and their Power Tower travel<br />
with an entourage consisting of five traction<br />
vehicles—all made by <strong>MAN</strong>—plus 11<br />
trailers and attachments. Even on the Autobahn,<br />
the tower makes an impressive showing—a<br />
spectacular convoy. It takes five trailers<br />
to carry the mast alone, conveniently<br />
disassembled into six parts, from one festival<br />
to the next. Just a few days ago, Ewald<br />
Schneider added a new, specially manufactured<br />
motor tractor with crane to his pool<br />
of <strong>MAN</strong> vehicles. The truck was used for the<br />
first time at the Fall Festival in Rosenheim,<br />
Upper Bavaria. The next stop was the famous<br />
Munich Oktoberfest. “It’s the perfect<br />
vehicle,” enthuses Schneider. 44 years old,<br />
he was born in Eastern Westphalia and now<br />
resides in Munich. Indeed, the <strong>MAN</strong> vehicle<br />
is a real showman’s truck. The silver 33.540<br />
TGX with a six-cylinder power set has been<br />
specially designed with three axles. Its tail<br />
02<br />
01<br />
03<br />
1. Part of the gondola swings into view. The cabin<br />
can accommodate 32 brave passengers.<br />
2. Practiced choreography: The team needs around<br />
three days to get the tower set up.<br />
3. The size of mill wheels, these brake disks catch<br />
the cabin just a few meters off the ground.<br />
supports a regal telescopic crane for lifting<br />
massive loads. “This way, the truck helps us<br />
with setting up and dismantling and it is<br />
also powerful enough to pull our trailers,<br />
which weigh tons,” says Schneider during<br />
set-up in Rosenheim.<br />
colossus of MaNy toNs<br />
Such multitasking capability is a top priority<br />
for show people when it comes to their<br />
vehicle fleet. “We clock between 30,000 and<br />
40,000 kilometers per year. That isn’t much<br />
for a traction unit,” observes Schneider.<br />
With its <strong>MAN</strong> fleet, the family company<br />
transports the individual tower components,<br />
gondola elements, supports, the<br />
workshop container, as well as the personnel<br />
vehicle and accommodation caravans to<br />
about 10 events every year. The heavyweight<br />
record is set by the tower’s central<br />
unit, weighing in at 58 tons. With its two<br />
1,200 hp electric motors, the gears, cable<br />
winches and brake disks, it provides the<br />
foundation as well as the physical centerpiece<br />
of the structure. Four projecting steel<br />
struts give the tower a secure base. Setting<br />
it up the way its inventor intended requires<br />
a high degree of experience and accurate visual<br />
measurements. “The base and the load<br />
carrying points have to fit together perfectly,”<br />
says Ewald Schneider. “Basically, we are<br />
rebuilding the foundations from scratch<br />
each and every time.” And the team does it<br />
Photos: Sorin Morar
Operated by remote control,<br />
the telescopic crane of<br />
the <strong>MAN</strong> truck is ideal for<br />
lifting heavy loads.
18<br />
feature<br />
with great diligence. Experts from the local<br />
planning authorities and the TÜV, Germany’s<br />
quality standards authority, check meticulously<br />
to make sure that all safety regulations<br />
are followed.<br />
One of the biggest challenges for the<br />
troupe is that of positioning complex technology<br />
and high-end equipment securely in<br />
a very confined space. While setting up the<br />
tower, every switching maneuver and every<br />
manual operation must be absolutely accurate.<br />
Everything runs according to a practiced<br />
setup plan. After all, pitches at festivals<br />
are valuable commodities.<br />
tough job, but never boring<br />
In order to assemble the five tower elements<br />
with their brightly colored lights down to<br />
the nearest millimeter, a special big crane<br />
moves into action. Using a kind of joystick,<br />
the crane driver lifts parts weighing tons<br />
from the flatbed trucks arriving in close<br />
succession, swings them like toys into the<br />
air and places them precisely on top of one<br />
another. This calls for maximum concentration<br />
from the whole team. “Show people are<br />
jacks-of-all-trades, because they must be<br />
lending a hand wherever it’s needed,” says<br />
Schneider, describing the job profile. This<br />
applies both to assembly and to operation.<br />
It can happen that the boss has to repair a<br />
transformer, or the electrician may have to<br />
stand in at the cash desk or whip the crowd<br />
01<br />
03<br />
into a frenzy. “It may be a tough job at times,<br />
but it’s never boring,” says Christina Bruch-<br />
Schneider, who is busy with her bookkeeping<br />
even while the tower is being set up.<br />
Ewald Schneider and his wife were literally<br />
born into the travelling show circuit<br />
and its business. She comes from a long line<br />
of an established Düsseldorf showbiz family.<br />
“I grew up with big wheels and rollercoasters.<br />
I’m the eighth generation of my<br />
family to be touring folk festivals.” Her hus-<br />
02<br />
04<br />
1. Ewald and Christina Schneider both come from<br />
long-established show-business families.<br />
2. A canine guest throughout Germany: Oskar the<br />
Dog never misses a festival.<br />
3. The Schneider outfit takes its principal attraction,<br />
the Power Tower, from one city to the next.<br />
4. The <strong>MAN</strong> fleet arrives early in the foothills of the<br />
Bavarian Alps; assembly in Rosenheim can begin.<br />
band can look back at 250 years of folk festival<br />
history carved into his family tree. “My<br />
great-grandfather had hippodromes, with<br />
pony rides as the special attraction. I was<br />
presented with my first autoscooter at the<br />
age of 16. That was my first step in the direction<br />
of independence.” The Schneiders have<br />
three children, aged 18, 15 and six. Just like<br />
their parents before them, they are educated<br />
at boarding schools. Will they be going<br />
into show business as well? “We’ll have to<br />
see about that,” says Christina Bruch-Schneider.<br />
“School takes priority. We are all well<br />
aware how hard and laborious this job is.”<br />
Family with a Fun Fair gene<br />
Ewald Schneider junior, the 15-year-old,<br />
seems to have already developed a taste for<br />
the family tradition. During his school<br />
breaks, he helps set up the tower, assisting<br />
his father in lifting the last unit of the<br />
brightly colored backdrop to its lofty position<br />
with the telescopic crane of the <strong>MAN</strong><br />
TGX. “Power Tower” is written on it in red<br />
lights, together with “13th Floor”. As the last<br />
component of the façade is screwed into<br />
place, the glamour is already palpable. The<br />
plastic seats with their orange safety bolts<br />
gleaming like life jackets are still vacant as<br />
yet. The gaze is drawn up and further up, to Morar<br />
the very top of the tower. Yes, indeed: “Any<br />
Sorin<br />
of you without a last will: Not making it was<br />
a mistake!” Let the good fair times roll. < Photos:
The Power Tower is considered<br />
the tallest transportable<br />
free fall tower in the world.<br />
In less than five seconds, it<br />
drops from a height of more than<br />
60 meters to ground level. This<br />
earned the tower an entry in<br />
the Guinness Book of Records.<br />
> RecoRd fIGuRes<br />
Power Tower – the fastest route<br />
between heaven and earth<br />
Total height: 66 meters<br />
drop: 63 meters<br />
speed rising: 6.5 meters per second<br />
speed falling: max. 15 meters per second<br />
Weight of the gondola (loaded): circa 10,500 kilos<br />
Passenger capacity: 32<br />
Total weight of the equipment: circa 180 tons
20<br />
The value of experience<br />
Talent, diligence and a little luck are generally considered indispensable<br />
success factors. Yet young professionals need role models just<br />
as urgently. With tailored mentoring programs, the <strong>MAN</strong> Group supports and<br />
nurtures men and women in their career development.<br />
Properly sowing the seeds: From the beginning, mentors offer advice and inspiration to career entrants.
Photos: www.saengerphotodesign.de<br />
“What mentors teach<br />
their mentees can’t<br />
be learned from books.”<br />
Harika Yücebilgiç, talent management<br />
specialist at <strong>MAN</strong> SE, Munich<br />
Deeper roots, faster growth: Mentees tap the networks of their mentors to learn more about the company environment.<br />
<strong>foru</strong>m 03/2011 21<br />
company
22<br />
“Mentors experience a real<br />
sense of appreciation that they can<br />
pass on their experience.”<br />
Martina Zimmermann, head of Worldwide Organization Personnel<br />
Development, <strong>MAN</strong> Diesel & Turbo, Augsburg<br />
Sustainable growth: Through mentoring programs, companies pass on valuable expertise to the next generations.
Photo: Kenji Aoki<br />
>>> Harika Yücebilgiç is certain: “Mentors<br />
can teach their mentees what can’t be<br />
learned from books.” As talent management<br />
specialist at <strong>MAN</strong> SE in Munich, Yücebilgiç<br />
manages <strong>MAN</strong>’s mentoring program at the<br />
Technical University of Munich (TUM).<br />
Since 2007, the commercial vehicle and engine<br />
manufacturing company has supported<br />
programs at TUM whereby alumni—former<br />
students of the university—assume a<br />
year-long mentorship for current students.<br />
This involves not only entry into professional<br />
life, career planning, leadership and<br />
technical issues, but also personal matters,<br />
such as juggling family commitments and<br />
professional life, work-life balance, or conflict<br />
management. In addition to first-hand<br />
support, mentors offer their protégés access<br />
to their own networks to facilitate internships,<br />
diploma theses or job placements.<br />
“<strong>MAN</strong> considers it a fundamental<br />
social responsibility to provide support today<br />
for the generation of tomorrow,” says<br />
Jörg Schwitalla, Chief Human Resources Officer<br />
at <strong>MAN</strong> SE and patron of the TUM<br />
mentoring program. “Our experienced<br />
mentors offer students an important jumpstart<br />
for their careers. On the other hand,<br />
we get to know motivated young people,<br />
who contribute new ideas to the company.”<br />
<strong>MAN</strong>’s commitment also emphasizes its<br />
appeal as an employer, by strengthening<br />
the company’s reputation and assisting in<br />
personnel recruitment.<br />
aluMni for students<br />
Is an internship advisable after studying<br />
abroad? How can doctoral work be reconciled<br />
with family commitments? These and<br />
other questions are the topics of discussion<br />
for Robin Sonneborn, who took up his mechanical<br />
engineering studies at TUM in May<br />
2011, and for his <strong>MAN</strong> mentor Sven Eisenbach.<br />
Now working for <strong>MAN</strong> Diesel & Turbo<br />
in Augsburg, the computational engineer<br />
says that while a student, he had been grateful<br />
to talk to friends of his parents about career<br />
issues. “It does help to exchange views<br />
with someone who has already had the experiences<br />
that still lie ahead,” says Sonneborn.<br />
When asked if she would like to join<br />
the TUM program as a mentor, Fernanda<br />
Kleffmann did not hesitate for a second. “I<br />
really liked the idea. It was something I’d always<br />
wanted to do,” says Kleffmann, who<br />
comes from Brazil and now works as a logistics<br />
project manager at <strong>MAN</strong> Truck & Bus in<br />
Dachau, near Munich. Since the spring of<br />
2011, she has been mentoring 26-year-old<br />
mechanical engineering student Kerstin<br />
Schmidt-Thrö. They meet once a month to<br />
discuss job applications, contact networks<br />
or planning trade fairs. “I enjoy sharing my<br />
expertise,” says the 33-year-old. “This kind<br />
of mentoring isn’t a monologue at all, but<br />
rather an exchange. I also tell her about my<br />
projects. We meet at eye level, that was very<br />
important to me.”<br />
The idea of mentoring was resurrected<br />
just a few years ago to benefit HR development.<br />
And yet it is by no means a passing<br />
fad. The concept dates back to Greek mythology:<br />
Before setting off for the Trojan<br />
war, Odysseus asked his confidant named<br />
Mentor to look after his son Telemachus in<br />
his absence, introduce him to society and<br />
stand by him as fatherly figure and advisor.<br />
Referring to this story, mentoring today describes<br />
the specific exchange of information<br />
between people on different developmental<br />
and hierarchic levels.<br />
The first mentoring programs deliberately<br />
targeted the advancement of women,<br />
who are rarely found in top positions even<br />
with outstanding abilities. Contact with<br />
persons in executive positions is particularly<br />
useful to them. Traditionally shaped by<br />
industrial production, <strong>MAN</strong> is industry average<br />
with a female ratio of about 11 percent.<br />
In order to boost this figure—not least in<br />
<strong>foru</strong>m 03/2011 23<br />
company<br />
view of skilled labor shortages—<strong>MAN</strong> proactively<br />
supports promotion programs to<br />
encourage women in technical professions,<br />
such as the mentorING scheme (ING being<br />
the German abbreviation for engineer) at<br />
the Technical University of Munich. Female<br />
students of electronics and IT, mechanical<br />
and construction engineering, computer<br />
sciences, and physics receive the support<br />
and advice of an experienced mentor for a<br />
year at a time and can attend numerous<br />
events on topics such as career planning,<br />
professional bearing or how to make a good<br />
impression, or job application training.<br />
external Mentors<br />
Tanja Reissenweber is another beneficiary<br />
of targeted advancement for women. When<br />
the 40-year-old took up her first management<br />
position at the Bavarian home loan<br />
bank LBS, she was proposed for the crossmentoring<br />
program, an initiative by Munich’s<br />
social services department, aimed at<br />
female executive staff, which brings together<br />
mentors and mentees from different<br />
companies in pairs. “I wanted a clear view of<br />
my career goals,” explains Reissenweber.<br />
Her mentor came from <strong>MAN</strong>—an advantage,<br />
she thinks. “I wouldn’t have been so<br />
open with someone from my own company.”<br />
And besides, the relevant issues in the<br />
two companies differ less than some would<br />
assume: leadership issues, self-presentation,<br />
compatibility of family and career.<br />
“We used a project in order to make Tanja<br />
Reissenweber more visible in her company,”<br />
says her mentor Wolfgang Weiss, personnel<br />
developer at <strong>MAN</strong> Truck & Bus Germany,<br />
one year and many meetings down the line.<br />
“He helped me recognize the value of my<br />
contribution and to stop playing it down as<br />
something to be taken for granted,” says<br />
Reissenweber, in appreciation of her mentor.<br />
“He was very skillful in asking me pointed<br />
questions and thus helped me in heading
24<br />
company<br />
off in the right direction.” She now has a<br />
better view of her career. Although being a<br />
committed executive she has deliberately<br />
decided against taking the next step on the<br />
career ladder. Unlike in the past, however,<br />
she now contemplates the idea of going into<br />
business for herself, she says. Just like Tanja<br />
Reissenweber, female junior executives at<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> can also benefit from experienced<br />
mentors at other Munich companies such<br />
as Allianz, Siemens and Wacker Chemie.<br />
international exchange<br />
Martina Zimmerman, head of Worldwide<br />
Organization Personnel Development,<br />
could never have imagined the enormous<br />
interest that young people would have in<br />
the experience of the older generation. Last<br />
year, <strong>MAN</strong> Diesel & Turbo in Augsburg<br />
launched an internal mentoring program<br />
with 10 mentoring pairings. In it, executives<br />
with international experience support<br />
selected young talents beyond location<br />
and national boundaries. “The feedback<br />
was quite overwhelming,” reports a<br />
rather pleased Zimmermann.<br />
Now in its second year, the mentoring<br />
program has been extended to 17 pairings.<br />
Be it in Augsburg, Zurich, Oberhausen, Berlin,<br />
Copenhagen, Dubai or India—mentors<br />
are meeting with their mentees from a variety<br />
of departments. The objectives here<br />
are as varied as the individual personalities.<br />
“With one pairing, the emphasis will<br />
be on management issues, while another<br />
might focus on how to position oneself<br />
during an international assignment in such<br />
a way that headquarters will also notice,”<br />
relates Zimmermann. In addition, she says,<br />
the mentoring program encourages knowledge<br />
transfer and cooperation between departments<br />
and across national boundaries.<br />
These cross-corporate exchanges are<br />
also important to Bernhard Frey. As head of<br />
Personnel Marketing at <strong>MAN</strong> Truck & Bus in<br />
Munich, he is responsible for its Graduate<br />
Program, where he himself serves as a mentor.<br />
While it began at the national level back<br />
in 2003, the program has been expanded to<br />
cover 40 locations worldwide. Supported by<br />
an experienced executive from their main<br />
department who acts as a mentor, trainees<br />
pass through a series of company postings<br />
over the course of 15 months—including<br />
some abroad—to become better qualified<br />
for their future professional responsibilities.<br />
The prospect of jumping on her career<br />
ladder with an overall view was particularly<br />
attractive, says his trainee Antje Bolenz.<br />
Alongside her work in the HR division, the<br />
business administration graduate has had<br />
placements in communication, management<br />
support and production—enabling<br />
her to not only broaden her expertise, but<br />
also to establish valuable contacts within<br />
the company. “Moving from one office to<br />
another and assuming new responsibilities<br />
all the time isn’t easy. I need to adapt rapidly,”<br />
reports the 27-year-old. “It is our goal<br />
that trainees will network together and cooperate<br />
in an interdisciplinary way,” says<br />
her mentor, Frey. “We want engineers working<br />
with controllers, and developers with<br />
HR managers—that is precisely what the<br />
company needs.”<br />
open to feedback<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> expects its trainees to meet the highest<br />
standards in this regard. “We want the<br />
very best graduates in all sectors: engineers,<br />
marketing specialists, HR officers,<br />
technicians, production technicians,” says<br />
Frey. “They must deliver performance, be<br />
willing to learn, cope with conflicts and remain<br />
open to feedback.” Bolenz not only<br />
appreciates that her mentor tells her about<br />
her strengths, but also values his pointing<br />
out what she still needs to work at. No matter<br />
what challenges she is encountering,<br />
important issues with him, and he takes<br />
the time to listen. “I have the feeling that he<br />
always drops everything he’s doing whenever<br />
I should need his help.”<br />
Mutual benefit<br />
Still, not only does the generation of upand-coming<br />
executive staff stand to benefit<br />
from mentoring—mentors in turn can<br />
profit from this intensive dialog with the<br />
young. “Mentors experience a real sense of<br />
appreciation by their company that they<br />
can pass on their experience,” explains<br />
Martina Zimmermann.<br />
In addition, mentors can share their<br />
experiences with others in their position at<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> networking meetings. The process of<br />
helping and advising another person is also<br />
a personal discovery, says mentor Sven<br />
Eisenbach, describing his own experience.<br />
Mentoring made him reflect on what he<br />
himself did upon first finishing his degree<br />
and at changing situations at the beginning<br />
of his professional career. Considering<br />
his past motivation, he says, has helped<br />
him to develop further. And it actually<br />
happens quite often that old hands can<br />
learn something from these whippersnappers.<br />
Mentor Wolfgang Weiss compliments<br />
his mentee Tanja Reissenweber: “I admire<br />
the ease with which she reconciles family<br />
and a career. I would never have managed<br />
that feat myself. She has actually taught<br />
me: Yes, it’s possible.”<br />
During the ongoing contest for the<br />
top talents, mentors also serve as figureheads<br />
for the company. “Well-qualified individuals<br />
are needed at every level,” points<br />
out Eisenbach. “The intensive support program<br />
offers the opportunity to recruit a<br />
truly outstanding staff member.” As witnessed<br />
by Thomas Grimm, a designer in the<br />
truck product management department of<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> Truck & Bus: His mentee is now working<br />
at the same company. <<br />
her mentor is involved. She discusses all Photo: Gallerystock/Mark Laita
“Mentoring isn’t a<br />
monologue, but rather<br />
an exchange.”<br />
Fernanda Kleffmann, Logistics Project Manager,<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> Truck & Bus, Dachau<br />
“The intensive support program offers<br />
the opportunity to recruit a<br />
truly outstanding staff member.”<br />
No mentoring sans controlling: Upon conclusion of frequently long-term support, the mentees’ development process is jointly discussed.<br />
<strong>foru</strong>m 03/2011 25<br />
Sven Eisenbach, computational engineer,<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> Diesel & Turbo, Augsburg
Powerful all-rounder<br />
A newly developed gas turbine from <strong>MAN</strong> Diesel & Turbo can generate<br />
an output of six megawatts of electricity—sufficient power to supply<br />
a small town of 13,000 households. One outstanding feature is the turbine’s<br />
economical size: It could easily fit into a double garage.<br />
oIl Cooler<br />
Keeps the lubricating oil for<br />
the gas turbine system<br />
at the right temperature.<br />
Input aIr fIlter<br />
makes sure that only filtered air<br />
enters the gas turbine, without any<br />
particles or foreign matter.<br />
Control system<br />
this electronically controlled and<br />
computer-monitored communication<br />
unit links the entire package<br />
with the customer’s control room.
Infographics: Horst Kolodziejczyk/Hokolo 3D<br />
Chimney<br />
Power-heat cogeneration<br />
utilizes fuel twice as effectively—producing<br />
both<br />
electricity and heat, which<br />
would escape through the<br />
chimney in other systems.<br />
This allows for actually<br />
utilizing about 80 percent<br />
of the applied energy.<br />
auxiliary Gear uniT<br />
links the starter motor as a<br />
drive with the gas turbine.<br />
heaT exChanGer<br />
here the exhaust heat from the<br />
turbine turns water into hot<br />
steam that can be used for other<br />
applications, such as drying<br />
or melting a variety of products.<br />
Gas Turbine<br />
The system’s centerpiece. newly<br />
developed by man Diesel & Turbo,<br />
it features a high degree of efficiency,<br />
low emission levels and low maintenance<br />
requirements.<br />
GeneraTor<br />
The gas turbine<br />
drives a generator<br />
and thus supplies<br />
electricity.<br />
Power Gear uniT<br />
Converts the rotary speed of the gas turbine<br />
to the required generator speed. For powergeneration<br />
purposes, this amounts to 50 hertz<br />
in europe and 60 hertz in the us.
28<br />
>>> Shimmering like silver, the metal piece<br />
rests on your skin, nestling into the palm,<br />
smooth and cool. Merely the size of a<br />
thumbnail, the object has the ideal dimensions<br />
and design of a mislaid earring. Far<br />
from it, though. This tiny thing measuring<br />
just 17 millimeters actually turns out to be a<br />
compressor blade in the original format. It is<br />
part of the 11th and smallest compression<br />
unit of the new gas turbine made by <strong>MAN</strong><br />
Diesel & Turbo.<br />
The new member of <strong>MAN</strong>’s gas turbine<br />
family is designed to tap additional market<br />
potential, especially in the field of decentralized<br />
energy production. Such applications,<br />
which must work quickly, reliably and independently<br />
of the rest of the power grid, require<br />
machines of the six-megawatt class—<br />
previously missing from the company’s<br />
portfolio. To close the gap, the smaller drive<br />
designed at the Oberhausen plant now supplements<br />
the more powerful THM turbines<br />
from <strong>MAN</strong> Diesel & Turbo, which work as<br />
heavy-duty turbines with an output of more<br />
than 10 megawatts.<br />
> Six-megawatt gaS turbine<br />
Compact size, efficient energy yield<br />
Similar to a car engine, the gas turbine is a drive machine comprising several components.<br />
the power unit owes its name to the hot gas generated in the combustion<br />
chambers, 01 causing the turbine blades 02 to turn. thus, thermal energy is converted<br />
to mechanical energy, which initially drives 03 the compressor. in the twinshaft<br />
design represented here, the compressor and the gas generator turbine 04<br />
form a single unit. the same housing contains the effective power turbine 05 , which<br />
is also used as a mechanical drive in gas or oil pipelines, or else serves to produce<br />
power through a generator. in order to initiate the overall process, ambient air is first<br />
sucked into the system through the inlet housing 06 . the adjoining compressor is<br />
equipped with 11 rows of blades of varying sizes. the largest blade is about the size<br />
of a slice of toast; the smallest is about as large as a dime. Step by step, the air is increasingly<br />
compressed and driven into the combustion chambers at high pressure.<br />
Here the air blends with a gaseous or liquid fuel, ignites and combusts. One part of<br />
the air intake is diverted from the combustion chambers and serves to cool the surrounding<br />
environment, which can reach a temperature of<br />
up to 1,200 degrees Celsius.<br />
3D<br />
Kolodziejczyk/Hokolo Horst Infographics:<br />
Thorough markeT analysis<br />
Kicked off six years ago, the development required<br />
a substantial specification document:<br />
The resulting product needed to be long-lasting,<br />
robust, easy to maintain, low in emissions<br />
and versatile. In addition, it required a<br />
high degree of efficiency when working at<br />
less than full capacity. Due to experience<br />
06<br />
03<br />
04<br />
gathered in recent years with the technology explains Volker Langusch, project manager test center developed specifically in Ober-<br />
to improve the output and efficiency of the for Sales in the Process Industry Gas Turhausen, the complete system—comprising<br />
THM series, the development team found it bines sector. Take the test compressor, for in- the compressor, the turbines and peripheral<br />
easier to achieve these ambitious targets. In stance: Fitted with blades in the original size, units—underwent its first performance tri-<br />
addition, setting up a comprehensive net- it passed all tests perfectly.<br />
al from November 2010 to February 2011.<br />
work of partnerships with universities, re- Tested at another institute, the com- The outcome was satisfactory: Hundreds of<br />
search institutes and other companies bustion chamber proved its functionality measurement devices proved that the new<br />
proved extremely useful. “This way we could with regard to the desired emission levels gas turbine remained within the desired<br />
test the functionality of many individual for nitric oxide and CO2, as well as the unit’s limits in all segments. “Starting with the<br />
components in advance, which accelerated stability and cooling of hot components. first ignition, we went from zero to a<br />
the development of the overall system,” This cleared the way to a prototype. At the 100-percent performance in just a week,”<br />
01<br />
02<br />
02<br />
05
lauds Sven-Hendrik Wiers, head of Gas Turbine<br />
Development at <strong>MAN</strong> Diesel & Turbo<br />
in Oberhausen. Nothing remained to hinder<br />
a market launch in December 2010.<br />
Based on a detailed analysis of customer requirements,<br />
the turbine will become available<br />
in either a single-shaft or a twin-shaft<br />
version in the future. The difference: The<br />
two-shaft machine serves as a mechanical<br />
drive, such as for compressors in the oil and<br />
gas industry. In this design, the turbine part<br />
is divided up into a gas generator turbine<br />
and a power turbine, with independent rotary<br />
speeds. In the single-shaft design, all<br />
the compressor and turbine systems are<br />
lined up on the same shaft.<br />
used in mini power stations<br />
Due to its compact size—about four meters<br />
high, three meters wide and eight meters<br />
long— the gas turbine can be used wherever<br />
electrical energy is needed: in remote<br />
locations like an oil platform, for instance,<br />
or as a mini power plant for residential areas.<br />
After all, the turbine’s six-megawatt<br />
output can provide power for a small town<br />
of around 13,000 households. <strong>MAN</strong>’s developers<br />
are talking about a “world-class” machine<br />
that is so economical of space that it<br />
would fit into a double garage. Another<br />
market for the gas turbine is in the field of<br />
regenerative energy, as sun and wind do not<br />
always deliver power consistently. What to<br />
do in the case of light rain, overcast skies<br />
and no wind? For a reliable source of power,<br />
a regenerative energy supply needs backup<br />
power plants to balance these fluctuations.<br />
To this end, gas turbines can be expected to<br />
also play an increasingly important part in<br />
future energy production.<br />
Last but not least, there is also increasing<br />
demand for gas turbines in power stations<br />
that work according to the power-heat<br />
cogeneration principle. This technology results<br />
in a more efficient use of energy than<br />
when heat and power are produced separately.<br />
In combined gas turbine and steam<br />
turbine systems, for example, the exhaust<br />
gases from the turbine can be directed to a<br />
waste heat boiler that produces steam. This<br />
drives a downstream steam turbine that<br />
yields additional electricity. The steam’s residual<br />
energy content at the turbine outlet<br />
can be condensed in a cooling tower or used<br />
to generate more heat. In comparison with<br />
pure gas turbine operations, this results in<br />
a significantly higher degree of efficiency:<br />
Just in terms of electricity production, the<br />
efficiency gain is well above 30 percent. In<br />
coupled operations, a fuel utilization level<br />
of around 80 percent is also achievable,<br />
which in turn helps to improve the system’s<br />
environmental balance.<br />
In addition to eco-friendliness, the developers<br />
also focused on the economic aspects<br />
of the new product. “With a projected<br />
life cycle of 30 years or more, the initial investment<br />
is negligible,” emphasizes Sven-<br />
<strong>foru</strong>m 03/2011 29<br />
technology<br />
“Starting with the first ignition, we went from<br />
zero to a 100-percent performance in just a week.”<br />
Sven-Hendrik Wiers, head of Gas Turbine Development at <strong>MAN</strong> Diesel & Turbo, Oberhausen<br />
“A comprehensive network of partnerships allowed us<br />
to test the functionality of many individual components in<br />
advance, which accelerated machine development.”<br />
Volker Langusch, project manager for Sales in the Process Industry Gas Turbines sector<br />
Hendrik Wiers. Fuel costs and maintenance<br />
play a decisive role here. Nobody can predict<br />
what the price of natural gas is going to<br />
be in 20 years’ time. Other fuels—such as<br />
synthetic gases, biodiesel and bioalcohol—<br />
are therefore growing increasingly important.<br />
With its six small combustion chambers,<br />
the design of the new gas turbine<br />
makes it easily adaptable for a variety of different<br />
fuels.<br />
easy maintenance<br />
The new gas turbine was also designed with<br />
an advantageous approach to servicing in<br />
mind—an important sales argument for<br />
customers. While a complete turbine replacement<br />
can be carried out within just<br />
72 hours, inspections hardly cause any interruptions<br />
to normal operations. This is<br />
due to a sophisticated maintenance system<br />
developed by <strong>MAN</strong> Diesel & Turbo. It involves<br />
online monitoring that detects abnormalities<br />
and introduces appropriate<br />
measures immediately, as well as a device<br />
known as a borescope. In rather the same<br />
way as an endoscope is used for arthroscopy<br />
of the knee joint, it allows for examining<br />
the interior workings of the turbine without<br />
any disassembly. Another advantage of the<br />
new product from Oberhausen is that all<br />
components of the gas turbine system—<br />
from engineering through to the service<br />
package—are supplied by a single source.<br />
Whether set up as a mini power station<br />
in the neighborhood or used as a backup<br />
system for solar and wind power generators:<br />
The good old gas turbine will continue<br />
its powerful spin, adding to the energy mix<br />
of the future.
30<br />
technology<br />
Surge of SavingS<br />
No less than a revolution in marine engine design: The G-type from <strong>MAN</strong> Diesel & Turbo features a longer piston lift<br />
that reduces engine speed and thus supports the use of ship propellers with an even greater diameter.<br />
>>> The concept is rather straightforward:<br />
Slowly rotating ship propellers with a comparatively<br />
high diameter are considerably<br />
more efficient than smaller ones with<br />
greater rotational speed. When it comes to<br />
large-bore two-stroke engines that require<br />
no gears but are driving the propeller directly,<br />
the outcome is obvious: The larger<br />
the propeller, the lower the speed that the<br />
engine must provide. And precisely this<br />
task was accomplished by <strong>MAN</strong> Diesel &<br />
Turbo’s recently developed ultra-longstroke<br />
engine. Its core characteristics allow<br />
for lower engine speeds, larger propeller diameters,<br />
and thereby significant fuel savings,<br />
and correspondingly reduced carbon<br />
dioxide emissions. According to Ole Grøne,<br />
senior vice president for Low-Speed Sales<br />
and Promotions at <strong>MAN</strong> Diesel & Turbo,<br />
the G-type engine represents “the most<br />
revolutionary development in our engine<br />
portfolio over the last decade, ever since<br />
the successful introduction of the electronically<br />
controlled ME drive.”<br />
New ship desigN waNted<br />
Based on further reductions in the engine’s<br />
rotary speed, the G-type engine supports<br />
the use of propellers that can surpass the<br />
previous diameter by up to a meter. This reduces<br />
consumption by 4 to 7 percent in<br />
comparison with <strong>MAN</strong> Diesel & Turbo’s established<br />
S-ME engine series. These S-type<br />
models with a long piston lift and low en-<br />
the past as the principal drive of tankers and<br />
bulk goods freighters. More often designed<br />
for speed, container ships have generally<br />
been fitted with engines of the K-series,<br />
which have a shorter lift and higher engine<br />
speed. Responding to the economic pressures<br />
of recent years, however, shipping<br />
companies have increasingly been favoring<br />
> PoTeNTiAl sAviNGs<br />
Looking at lower cost<br />
The G-type engine’s fuel consumption<br />
(sFoC) is up to seven percent less than<br />
that of traditional two-stroke engines.<br />
Standard operations (S-type)<br />
Part load operations (g-type)<br />
Low load operations (g-type)<br />
170 SfoC g/kWh<br />
160<br />
the S-models—combined with a bigger propeller—for<br />
these goods carriers as well. “The<br />
time was ready for our even more efficient<br />
G-series,” says Ole Grøne, explaining the decision<br />
to introduce the new model in the fall<br />
of 2010. In order to create space for the bigger<br />
propeller, shipyards must now redesign<br />
the layout of ship sterns. This signals a radical<br />
shift in shipbuilding and engine design.<br />
Optimized eNgiNe cONtrOls<br />
Nowadays, customers are primarily focusing<br />
on their operating costs, as the high fuel<br />
prices of recent years have caused those to<br />
just about explode. The optimization of fuel<br />
consumption therefore became a key issue<br />
for engine developers, who are striving to<br />
meet this challenge through a combination<br />
of the most recent process parameters.<br />
These include factors such as low load optimization<br />
options, turbocharger switch-off<br />
mechanisms and variable turbine geometry.<br />
In addition, the implementation of<br />
varying cylinder spacing also results in the<br />
reduction of engine block weight.<br />
Among the first to tap the benefits of<br />
the new generation of two-stroke engines<br />
for its fleet is the Greek shipping company<br />
Thenamaris. Soon after the market launch,<br />
the Athens-based company ordered four Gtype<br />
engines to power four of its container<br />
ships. The first of these goods vessels is<br />
scheduled to leave the shipyard in South<br />
Korea in August 2013, charting the course to<br />
Papsch<br />
150<br />
Christoph<br />
50 60 70 80 90 100<br />
engine torque in percent<br />
gine speed have been traditionally used in the seas of the world. < Photo:
Massive momentum: New ship engines<br />
from <strong>MAN</strong> Diesel & Turbo facilitate the use of<br />
larger propellers, which saves fuel.
32<br />
technology<br />
Groundwork for iron birds<br />
Helicopters must meet the highest standards of reliability,<br />
particularly their gear units. RENK Test System GmbH, a subsidiary of<br />
Augsburg-based Renk AG, offers custom-tailored test beds<br />
that drive them to the utter limit.
Photos: Clip Dealer, Jan Greune<br />
A mechanic gets everything set up<br />
for the assembly of the main rotor<br />
flange, which serves as the mount<br />
for the gears undergoing testing.
34<br />
technology<br />
>>> “In constructing test systems, fixed<br />
standards are no use for us at all. Everything<br />
is customized and designed to meet<br />
the customer’s individual requirements,”<br />
says Mathias Karrer. The managing director<br />
of RENK Test System GmbH (RTS) is conducting<br />
a tour of the test system manufacturer<br />
in Augsburg, where modern factory<br />
workshops alternate with historic brick<br />
buildings. “And so our employees’ job is<br />
never daily routine—instead they are continuously<br />
engaged in ground-breaking<br />
work.” Karrer feels rather enthusiastic about<br />
Software experts check the measuring<br />
technology of a test bed destined for Asia.<br />
the richly varied work. Currently, his staff is<br />
focusing on the construction of test facilities<br />
for helicopters.<br />
This subsidiary of Renk AG, where<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> holds a majority interest, specializes<br />
in turnkey test systems and shares a production<br />
site with the parent company. Some<br />
of the office buildings and workshops date<br />
back to the early 20th century—when today’s<br />
specialized gear systems manufacturer<br />
Renk was a workshop for making cog<br />
wheels. RTS develops and produces test systems<br />
for railed vehicles, wind power plants<br />
and the automotive and aviation industries.<br />
In one of the assembly halls, two helicopter<br />
test beds are under construction. Painted a<br />
bluish gray, these steel juggernauts almost<br />
reach the ceiling. They are surrounded by<br />
what initially looks like chaos: Cabinets<br />
containing electronic power units are set<br />
up in a long line, with a start-up container<br />
stuffed with computers and monitors in<br />
the middle, surrounded by crates filled<br />
with individually customized mechanical<br />
and electronic parts. And yet this apparent<br />
clutter actually has a system. Both test<br />
units will leave the plant before the end of<br />
this year, one headed for the United States,<br />
the other to Asia. To this end, they are first<br />
broken down into assembly modules,<br />
packed into boxes and dispatched to their<br />
destination, where RTS staff will put them<br />
back together according to very detailed assembly<br />
instructions.<br />
TesTs before delivery<br />
“Any test bed always exists for the purpose<br />
of imitating reality for the test object,” explains<br />
Jörg Cordes, who is key account manager<br />
for aviation test systems and managing<br />
director of RENK LABECO Test Systems, the<br />
affiliate in the United States. “The essential<br />
advantage of a test bed as compared with<br />
testing under real conditions lies in the fact<br />
that you can reproduce the parameters in a<br />
controllable and continuable environment.”<br />
In the case of helicopters, test systems are<br />
used in research and development, as well as<br />
for quality assurance in production and the<br />
maintenance of gears. In the research sector,<br />
test beds are used for the optimization of a<br />
prototype, assessing and improving its functionality<br />
and performance. Such testing processes,<br />
which also check wear and tear of test<br />
objects, can last more than 200 hours.<br />
In quality assurance, test beds form<br />
the last link in the production chain: Every<br />
finished gear system is subjected to a test<br />
run in order to check its functionality in the<br />
On the 5.5 meter-high<br />
test bed, helicopter gears<br />
are tested for resistance<br />
to different kinds of stress.
Photos: Jan Greune
36<br />
technology<br />
shortest possible time. This also serves to<br />
meet legal provisions, especially the flight<br />
safety regulations issued by the US Federal<br />
Aviation Administration in the case of helicopters.<br />
Test beds also play a major role<br />
when it comes to the maintenance of helicopters:<br />
Choppers must prove their functionality<br />
in flight at regular intervals. This<br />
includes disassembling the gears and testing<br />
them on the test bed. “The test criteria<br />
for helicopter gears include the rotary speed<br />
of the rotor, the torque, the oil pressure of<br />
the gears and the oil temperature. The gears<br />
are subjected to stress in order to test all<br />
these variables,” explains Jörg Cordes. The<br />
computer technology controlling the test<br />
system is housed in a number of measurement<br />
and control cabinets. To ensure stability<br />
and user friendliness, RTS utilizes not<br />
only commercially available hardware components,<br />
but also operating systems that<br />
are developed in-house.<br />
The key component of these test facilities,<br />
however, is RTS’s own automated RENK<br />
Dynamic Data System (RDDS) for all control,<br />
monitoring and visualization functions.<br />
It puts the gears through a simulation<br />
which imitates reality perfectly. It allows for<br />
conducting virtual flights that simulate extreme<br />
conditions, which could not be performed<br />
for real without considerable risk.<br />
About 80 percent of orders received<br />
by RTS in Augsburg come from abroad. The<br />
In the test workshop of RENK Test System GmbH in Augsburg, the test system is graphically<br />
represented as a hydraulics diagram. This offers a detailed overview of the individual components.<br />
market for test beds is a rather small universe,<br />
with everybody acquainted with everyone<br />
else. “There’s only a limited group<br />
of experts in this particular field, with perhaps<br />
some 50 individuals worldwide,” comments<br />
Cordes. “We have orders coming in<br />
from all over the world because we are wellestablished<br />
on the market and also maintain<br />
a good network.”<br />
In the middle of the shop floor, a software<br />
engineer and a start-up engineer are<br />
currently busy calibrating the measurement<br />
technology of the test bed destined<br />
for Asia. This is a so-called multi-model<br />
gear testing unit, where the gears of different<br />
helicopter models—ranging from 6 to<br />
15 tons in total weight—can be subjected to<br />
trials. There is a designated pallet for every<br />
gear type that helps maneuver the assigned<br />
test object onto the test bed.<br />
Customized teChnology<br />
On average, it takes five to seven years<br />
from drawing up the first development<br />
plans for a helicopter test bed until the<br />
unit is delivered to the customer. And delivery<br />
times actually range between one to<br />
three years. “The manufacturers approach<br />
us with their ideas, or with specifications<br />
they have already drawn up, and we develop<br />
the test systems on that basis,” says<br />
Cordes, explaining the process. In the case<br />
of helicopter manufacturers, the development<br />
phase of gears generally runs parallel<br />
to the construction of the test units. “In<br />
the best-case scenario, our systems will be<br />
finished just in time to test the prototypes.”<br />
But when this ideal can not be<br />
achieved, RTS needs to build its own dummy<br />
gears to ensure that the test bed is precisely<br />
dimensioned for them.<br />
The completion of the development<br />
process and internal commissioning of a<br />
system does certainly not mark the end of<br />
an order for the team in Augsburg. “The assembly<br />
staff working on the test bed at<br />
RENK Test System are the same people who<br />
will set it up and take it into operation onsite<br />
at the customer location,” points out<br />
Mathias Karrer. Among additional services<br />
offered by RTS is the training of the customer’s<br />
own employees. “We work to individually<br />
design everything to meet the<br />
needs of the customer. Custom-tailored<br />
testing technology: That would probably<br />
describe it best.” <<br />
Photos: Jan Greune, Colourbox/Alex Fiodorov
<strong>MAN</strong> employees from R&D,<br />
Aftersales and workshops bring<br />
together their experience to new<br />
product development.
Illustration: Debut Art/James Carey<br />
Looking for the best soLution<br />
Development, central Aftersales and workshops work closely together in <strong>MAN</strong> Truck & Bus<br />
product developments—courtesy of the new Service Engineering department.<br />
The goal: optimized technology over the entire vehicle life cycle and satisfied customers.<br />
>>> Sometimes, the devil is in the detail.<br />
Which would also apply to highly developed<br />
engine technology. When the particle filter<br />
must be removed prior to valve clearance<br />
adjustment in a bus engine, for example,<br />
the resulting extended stay in the workshop<br />
drives up costs for a basically straightforward<br />
service. “And that is not what the inventor<br />
had in mind,” says Georg Pachta-<br />
Reyhofen, Chairman of the <strong>MAN</strong> SE Board<br />
of Directors. “The competitiveness of commercial<br />
vehicles is increasingly decided by<br />
the life-cycle costs. While maintenance<br />
costs play a relatively small role, at less than<br />
20 percent, the manufacturer, in contrast,<br />
yields much control over them.”<br />
AheAd of Their Time<br />
Against this backdrop, the <strong>MAN</strong> Board of<br />
Directors assigned Wolfgang Kuchler, former<br />
head of Information Management at<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> Truck & Bus, to set up a new department<br />
in fall of 2010. This <strong>MAN</strong> Service Engineering<br />
is responsible for working out precise<br />
reliability guidelines in cooperation<br />
with Research and Development, Aftersales<br />
and workshop practitioners, relating optimized<br />
diagnostic methods and bringing in<br />
new insights as early as the product origination<br />
stage. “The costs of repairs and maintenance<br />
always depend on how the aggregates<br />
are structured, which diagnostic possibilities<br />
exist and how their degree of dissection<br />
ProBLem SoLuTioN<br />
A conducted search for errors in the workshop<br />
includes the evaluation of information from<br />
development and Aftersales and results in<br />
competitive problem solving.<br />
and replacement-part logistics look,” explains<br />
Kuchler, who heads the Service Engineering<br />
outfit today. “Unlike troubleshooting,<br />
which is organized in a single unit at<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> Truck & Bus, we in Service Engineering<br />
are not concerned with handling the<br />
finished product. We are more active much<br />
earlier in the product engineering process,<br />
meaning the time when the ‘product DNA’<br />
evolves, if you will.” The service engineers<br />
must therefore always stay a little bit ahead<br />
of their time. “In addition, we’re always<br />
<strong>foru</strong>m 03/2011 39<br />
company<br />
looking at the later application of a new vehicle<br />
or aggregate over the entire life-cycle,”<br />
says Kuchler. In order to accomplish that,<br />
the 42-year-old electronic engineer and his<br />
team are in close dialogue with those in<br />
charge at <strong>MAN</strong> Aftersales, with customer<br />
advisors and workshop foremen. “Our principle<br />
is that of ‘lessons learned‘. We take the<br />
very concrete market needs, the demands<br />
and problems of everyday life on-site, all<br />
the experiences from the Aftersales environment<br />
and integrate them into the creation<br />
of the product.”<br />
The Bigger PicTure<br />
That is not always an easy task, as target<br />
conflicts keep flaming up at the interfaces<br />
between development, production and aftersales.<br />
Are glued or bolted joints better?<br />
How detailed and complex should aggregate<br />
disassembly become? Kuchler’s experience:<br />
“The answers coming from the preassembly<br />
staff are often quite different<br />
from the response in maintenance facilities.”<br />
Production and initial assembly, for<br />
example, might favor a bumper made from<br />
one piece, says Kuchler. In case of damage<br />
or a partial repair, however, the workshop<br />
could please customers with a separable<br />
variant and the advantages in terms of<br />
costs and handling. Looking at the bigger<br />
picture is not a new habit for <strong>MAN</strong>. “It’s<br />
new, however, that we have established a
Joachim Götsche,<br />
Aftersales – Service Engineering<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> Truck & Bus Salzgitter<br />
“Combustion residue from the engine must be removed<br />
from the filter, so that the filter can be used over the<br />
entire life-cycle of the vehicle. ”<br />
system for this process through service engineering.<br />
Individual employees have always<br />
instinctively contributed their experience<br />
to the creation of the product. That<br />
approach now follows a comprehensive<br />
plan,” says Kuchler. The team of Service Engineering<br />
employees reflects the company’s<br />
competence range, from foremen in<br />
the workshops to development engineers<br />
with doctoral degrees, he adds. “It is always<br />
necessary to take an integrative overall<br />
view in order to create added value,” emphasizes<br />
Kuchler. “After all,” he says, “this<br />
is also about the <strong>MAN</strong> customer promise<br />
to provide efficient transport solutions<br />
with immediate repair and maintenance<br />
service to reduce the idle time of vehicles<br />
to a minimum.”<br />
extracting the optimum<br />
The most important accomplishment of every<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> service engineer is the ability to listen<br />
closely. Only then, knows Kuchler, can<br />
problems be transformed into solutions.<br />
“We are meeting the market’s many challenges<br />
with a comprehensive view. That also<br />
always requires flexibility to deliver optimum<br />
service for the customer.” On his flip<br />
chart, Kuchler has drawn two possible connections<br />
between a problem and a solution<br />
with several quick strokes: One long, squiggly<br />
line and another, line which is short and<br />
direct. “Competitive solutions to problems<br />
are possible only when everyone works together<br />
to reduce the complexity of the individual<br />
components in production and process<br />
design, as well as in the customers’ expectations,”<br />
is how Kuchler explains it.<br />
Particle filters provide one example<br />
for this approach. They collect soot particles<br />
from the exhaust which continually<br />
burn at an exhaust temperature of more<br />
than 350 degrees Celsius— without leaving<br />
any residue. The result is a vehicle with the<br />
level of sustainability demanded by both
Illustrations: Debut Art/James Carey<br />
“Innovative customer and service-oriented product<br />
development requires the right information at the right time,<br />
at the right place and of the right kind. ”<br />
customers and legislators, meaning lower<br />
particle and gas emissions with lower consumption<br />
levels of fuel and oil. “Hower,<br />
combustion residue from the engine, socalled<br />
oil ash, makes for a gradual clogging<br />
of the diesel particle filter,” explains<br />
Joachim Götsche of Service Engineering at<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> Truck & Bus in Salzgitter. “Such residue<br />
must be removed from the filter, to<br />
allow for its utilization over the entire lifecycle<br />
of the vehicle.” This is in the interest<br />
of saving costs, protecting resources and<br />
adhering to the required environmental<br />
standards in operation, emphasizes<br />
Götsche. Together with developers and<br />
hands-on staff in the workshops, the team<br />
is now searching for an ideal process<br />
design. “For us, it’s about weighing the advantages<br />
and disadvantages between either<br />
central cleaning and the installation of<br />
exchange parts or cleaning in the respective<br />
workshop and re-installation of the<br />
original part afterwards.”<br />
Curiosity and Love of detaiL<br />
From such considerations and the ongoing<br />
critical observation of different aspects of<br />
solving complex questions, the service engineers<br />
are working out checklists for product<br />
development that meets the requirements<br />
Wolfgang Kuchler,<br />
Aftersales – head of Service Engineering<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> Truck & Bus AG<br />
of Aftersales. “We are information refiners,”<br />
says Kuchler, summing up the task of his department.<br />
“With changes of perspective and<br />
permanent information exchange, we are<br />
systematically expanding our database-supported<br />
treasure of knowledge.”<br />
This flows directly into the requirement<br />
and system specifications book for everyone<br />
participating in the process. Kuchler<br />
is certain: “Innovative customer and serviceoriented<br />
product development requires the<br />
right information at the right time, at the<br />
right place and of the right kind.” He and his<br />
team are working on that every day—with<br />
professional curiosity and love of detail.
42<br />
company<br />
From motor plow<br />
to giant chippers<br />
Nowadays, <strong>MAN</strong> is rarely associated with making engines for<br />
agronomical purposes—even though the company motorizes the<br />
world’s most powerful chippers. And for many years, <strong>MAN</strong> even<br />
manufactured its own range of agricultural machinery.<br />
2011<br />
Krone Big X 1100<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> engines with an output of<br />
up to 1,078 hp power the Krone<br />
agricultural chipper. The top model of<br />
the Big X series is the world’s largest<br />
agricultural machine.
Photos: Holmer, Krone<br />
2009<br />
Holmer Terra Felis 2<br />
Holmer’s 14.5-meter-long Terra Felis 2<br />
is used for harvesting sugar beets.<br />
Its <strong>MAN</strong> diesel engine features an<br />
output of 340 hp.<br />
>>> The home of the superlative is certainly<br />
the United States. Be it Texas, Idaho, Oregon<br />
of Colorado—the western part of the country<br />
is covered by endless rows of corn and<br />
wheat fields stretching along dead-straight<br />
country roads. Upon harvest time, the roads<br />
and fields are taken over by the fleets of the<br />
agricultural contractors. Working around<br />
the clock, gigantic harvesters load up the<br />
lineup of trucks that carry the harvested<br />
crops to their destination. With its big machines,<br />
the northern German manufacturing<br />
company Krone feels right at home here.<br />
<strong>foru</strong>m 03/2011 43<br />
“Meet the Big <strong>MAN</strong>” is the motto of its road<br />
show, which presents the latest generation<br />
of the Big X agricultural chipper to the public.<br />
The convoy will continue to travel the<br />
American West right up to November 2011.<br />
The goal is to demonstrate to dealers and<br />
customers involved in the harvesting business<br />
the powerful performance of the Big X<br />
with its <strong>MAN</strong> V12 engine.<br />
“We make the most powerful agricultural<br />
machine available on the market today,”<br />
says Hartwig Janssen, and with pride in<br />
his voice. Janssen is Krone’s sales manager<br />
for the North American region and part of<br />
the road show’s organizational team. The<br />
machine he refers to is the Big X 1100. Its<br />
chipping gear covers an impressive 14 rows<br />
of corn—more than any other harvester. It is<br />
powered by an <strong>MAN</strong> engine with an output<br />
of 1,078 hp. “To reach this kind of performance,<br />
we previously equipped the giant<br />
chipper with two engines from a competing
44<br />
company<br />
1957<br />
MaN 4 s 2<br />
The innovative and<br />
pioneering 50-hp<br />
four-wheel drive 4 S 2<br />
1953<br />
presents the ultimate<br />
achievement in <strong>MAN</strong>’s<br />
tractor production.<br />
MaN as 542 a<br />
<strong>MAN</strong>’s road tractors<br />
were mainly used for<br />
local goods transport.<br />
company, each with 500 hp. Thanks to <strong>MAN</strong>,<br />
we now achieve the same results with just<br />
one engine,” says Janssen. To improve efficiency<br />
in all operating modes, a power management<br />
system allows for throttling engine<br />
output when engaged in lighter work.<br />
The use of <strong>MAN</strong> engines in agricultural<br />
technology is certainly not new. For<br />
many years, <strong>MAN</strong> actually made its own agricultural<br />
machinery. In 1921, truck production<br />
at the <strong>MAN</strong> works in Nuremberg was<br />
not at full capacity, so the company started<br />
manufacturing motorized plows. In those<br />
days, the motorized plow was a technical innovation—which<br />
was acknowledged with<br />
an award from Germany’s Agricultural Association.<br />
The plant built 300 units before<br />
1955<br />
MaN a 32 H<br />
Equipped with the<br />
recently developed<br />
M-engine, the<br />
Ackerdiesel<br />
models were<br />
quieter and more<br />
economical.<br />
discontinuing production. It was 1937 before<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> would resume the production of<br />
agricultural machinery, with the 50-hp AS<br />
250 farm tractor.<br />
PoPular collectors’ Pieces<br />
<strong>MAN</strong>’s first post-war tractor was the 25-hpstrong<br />
AS 325 model, introduced in 1947. It<br />
came with the option of a two-wheel or<br />
four-wheel drive and was the first tractor to<br />
bear the <strong>MAN</strong> Ackerdiesel (field diesel)<br />
brand name. These tractors enjoyed the<br />
reputation of being powerful, modern and<br />
solidly built—and the four-wheel-drive version<br />
was an especially pioneering one. By<br />
the early 1950s, the export business had<br />
grown to delivering Ackerdiesel units to<br />
60 different countries, generating almost<br />
the same sales revenue as within Germany.<br />
As the rising demand for trucks resulted<br />
in the <strong>MAN</strong> plant in Nuremberg reaching<br />
its limits, production—including tractor<br />
production—was relocated to Munich in<br />
1955. Although <strong>MAN</strong> continued to modernize<br />
its tractor range in the next few years,<br />
production was finally discontinued in 1963.<br />
The company had decided to free up further<br />
capacity for its expanding truck business.<br />
Today, <strong>MAN</strong>’s Ackerdiesel machines are
popular among collectors. About half of the<br />
53,000 tractors once built are thought to<br />
have survived to the present day.<br />
Even though <strong>MAN</strong> ended its own production<br />
of agricultural machinery in 1963,<br />
the company’s diesel engines continue to<br />
be found today in a wide variety of agricultural<br />
applications. <strong>MAN</strong> engines have powered<br />
tractors made by Schlüter and Fendt<br />
for many years and a range of many successive<br />
models. Diesel engines built in the<br />
Nuremberg plant were and still are used in<br />
1948<br />
Man as 325 a<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> was the first<br />
serial manufacturer in<br />
Germany to build an<br />
agricultural tractor with<br />
a four-wheel drive.<br />
massive agricultural machines, such as the<br />
Holmer and Ropa beet lifter.<br />
instant recognition<br />
Engines for agricultural technology are the<br />
focus of the Off-Road department at the Engines<br />
Sales Unit of <strong>MAN</strong> Truck & Bus in<br />
Nuremberg. “The main application areas of<br />
the engines today are big harvesters, such<br />
as agricultural chippers and self-propelled<br />
mowing machines,” says Jürgen Haberland,<br />
head of Off-Road Engine Sales for Industry<br />
<strong>foru</strong>m 03/2011 45<br />
1921<br />
Man Motorpflug<br />
The motorized tractor<br />
was a serial product<br />
and represented<br />
<strong>MAN</strong>’s first venture<br />
into manufacturing<br />
agricultural machinery.<br />
and Agricultural Technology. “Currently,<br />
we are marketing a new generation of industrial<br />
V-engines and other serial engines<br />
to meet the coming legal exhaust requirements.”<br />
He considers the “Meet the Big<br />
<strong>MAN</strong>” road show organized by <strong>MAN</strong>’s business<br />
partner Krone an affirmation of the<br />
company’s strategy. “It is quite a special experience<br />
for us that a customer would place<br />
marketing emphasis on the motorization<br />
with our new V12 engine,” observes <strong>MAN</strong><br />
manager Haberland. Janssen from Krone<br />
agrees: “The joint road show has been beneficial<br />
for both companies. <strong>MAN</strong> hasn’t had<br />
a very high profile in this sector of the US<br />
market in the past. Now all of a sudden everyone<br />
is talking about these engines.”
46<br />
closing words<br />
Jörg Schwitalla,<br />
Chief of Human Resources<br />
officer of <strong>MAN</strong> SE<br />
WINNING smart mINds<br />
To remain an attractive employer for junior employees,<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> is committed in many ways—ranging from professional<br />
training to mentoring programs.<br />
>>> How can we attract motivated talents at an early<br />
stage? Which strategies serve us well in order to retain<br />
young employees at <strong>MAN</strong> over the long term? In these<br />
times of skilled worker shortages, such questions remain<br />
important. In order to prepare for the future,<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> has taken action. We support, for example, individual<br />
mentoring programs at universities, where <strong>MAN</strong><br />
employees accompany students enrolled in technical<br />
degree studies as mentors. As a patron, I feel especially<br />
close to the mentoring program of the Technical University<br />
of Munich (TUM), where supervised students<br />
can discuss their questions about job market entry and<br />
career planning with their mentors. Personal contact<br />
often results in the opportunity of an internship or a<br />
thesis in the company. Other than this, there are internal<br />
mentoring programs at <strong>MAN</strong> subgroups—such as<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> Diesel & Turbo in Augsburg—where currently 10<br />
pairings of students and mentors are learning from<br />
each other.<br />
Alongside university graduates, trainees are a<br />
special focus point at <strong>MAN</strong>. For this reason, the <strong>MAN</strong><br />
Group placed one more trainee than originally planned<br />
at the start of vocational training in September 2011 in<br />
each German training site. We are thereby participating<br />
in an initiative of the metals union IG Metall in<br />
North Rhine-Westphalia. To remain strong in innovation,<br />
we especially need young, creative people with a<br />
lot of enthusiasm for technology. This year, 677 trainees<br />
have started their professional careers in various locations<br />
in Germany.<br />
The fact that <strong>MAN</strong> is perceived as an attractive<br />
employer is not only indicated by the high number of<br />
applications for trainee spots, and the repeated placement<br />
of our enterprise among the “top employers in<br />
Germany,” but also in the rising number of employees<br />
at different Munich locations in 2011. Since January,<br />
1,000 new employees have been supporting central areas<br />
in particular, such as Purchasing and Product Development.<br />
In order to accommodate the strong growth<br />
trend of the <strong>MAN</strong> Group, we shall be opening another<br />
new location in Munich this year. Some areas of the<br />
company headquarters of <strong>MAN</strong> SE will be moving to<br />
Parkstadt Schwabing in the north of Munich in November<br />
2011, in addition to <strong>MAN</strong> Finance International and<br />
<strong>MAN</strong> Truck & Bus Germany.<br />
Be it our mentoring programs or trainee placements—<strong>MAN</strong><br />
is investing over the long term in the<br />
training, continued education and promotion of its qualified<br />
employees. This is especially necessary to secure<br />
the company’s global competitiveness in the future. <<br />
TOPICS IN THE NEXT ISSUE: >FERTILE CONNECTION: How <strong>MAN</strong> STAYS CoMPETITIVE wITH EXTERNAL<br />
CooPERATIoNS >FROM EUROPE TO INdIa: THE LIfE CYCLE of A <strong>MAN</strong> TRuCk >SOUTHaMPTON BOaT SHOw:<br />
NEw SuPER YACHTS wITH <strong>MAN</strong> PowER >PUBLISHEd IN dECEMBER 2011<br />
Photo: mauritius/Alamy
wIn an ExcURsIOn tO thE<br />
wIntER wOndERland lOndOn<br />
FORUM QUIZ<br />
Simply provide the correct answer to this question: The gas turbine newly developed by <strong>MAN</strong> Diesel & Turbo features how many megawatts?<br />
A) 6 B) 8 C) 10<br />
Six years have come and gone between the first drawing on a blank sheet of paper and today’s endurance testing. About 200 people worked continually<br />
on the idea, with many millions invested in the gas turbine that <strong>MAN</strong> Diesel & Turbo designed and developed. The result: Compact, efficient and multifunctional,<br />
the miniature power plant can produce enough electricity for a small town with 13,000 households. Read more from page 24.<br />
Submit your answer by e-mail to <strong>foru</strong>m@man.eu by October 30, 2011, providing your name and e-mail address, and you could win an excursion to<br />
London’s Winter Wonderland. Set up in Hyde Park, the Christmas theme park will delight you: Besides a plethora of carousels, a Ferris Wheel and<br />
roller coaster, there is also a circus and the city’s largest ice rink. Enjoy the romantic mood of the German Christmas market or experience a thrilling ride<br />
on the Power Tower. The world’s tallest transportable free-fall tower travels to London on heavy-goods vehicles made by <strong>MAN</strong>. Look forward to an unforgettable<br />
winter event, including an overnight stay for two.
A view across the Oktoberfest in Munich. The world-famous beer<br />
festival boasts numerous attractions, including huge fairground rides,<br />
which are transported by special <strong>MAN</strong> trucks.