MAN restructures in SA, Du Plessis returns as executive chair

16th September 2013

By: Irma Venter

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

  

Font size: - +

MAN Truck & Bus South Africa (SA) last week announced the fifth leadership change at the company since 2008, by returning the business to the hands of former CEO Geoff du Plessis.

Du Plessis made his return as executive chairperson, with Bruce Dickson remaining as CEO.

Du Plessis departed in 2008 to take up a series of positions with the German truck and bus manufacturer in Europe. Du Plessis’ successor was German executive Thomas Hemmerich.

A 2010 restructuring process saw Hemmerich leave for Germany, and MAN shrinking its sales regions from 11 to 7.

The new MAN CEO responsible for what was now the Africa and the Middle East region was Markus Geyer. Although spending a lot of time in South Africa, his main office was in Dubai.

At this point, the global MAN group owned the Volkswagen truck brand. However, in 2011, the Volkswagen group gained a majority share in MAN. It remained business as usual, though, for the MAN and Volkswagen passenger car groups in South Africa, with MAN retaining responsibility for the Volkswagen truck and bus brands.

Late in 2012 there was another local shake-up, as MAN Truck & Bus SA changed its management structure to “improve customer proximity through greater decision-making power at the point of sale, effectively improving overall service delivery and customer satisfaction”.

This move saw MAN Truck & Bus SA operate under the executive leadership of two South African CEOs, as opposed to a recent history of European leadership from its German parent company. 

The two new appointees were former MAN Truck & Bus SA deputy CEO Ray Karshagen, who continued to lead the organisation’s bus division, and Dickson, former deputy CEO of the truck business, who continued his leadership of this division.

Both CEOs reported to previous MAN Truck & Bus SA CEO Geyer, who remained chairperson of the board at the local company, and CEO of MAN’s Middle East and Africa sales region.

However, in July this year, Karshagen resigned from his position, with Dickson adding the bus division to his responsibilities.

In the latest boardroom move, Du Plessis took over as executive chairperson in August, with Geyer remaining as head of the Middle East and African region.

Du Plessis said in Johannesburg last week that he would have “overall responsibility” for the South African business.

He added that it was the organisation’s aim to be “number one in commercial vehicles in South Africa”.

He said there was a project under way to “optimise the organisation”, ongoing since November 2012.

“We are busy building the DNA to give us organisational excellence,” said Du Plessis. “We are putting a lot of effort into creating stability and predictability in the organisation.”

He said it was necessary for MAN Truck & Bus SA to tick the boxes of “leadership, clear communication and right people” in order to support the customer.

He hoped that this restructuring process would be completed, with the “DNA stabilised”, in 2014.

Du Plessis added that it was necessary to have someone running the business “hands-on”, and to “be available here, full-time”, as opposed to it happening from Dubai.

“There were too many cooks in the kitchen,” he surmised.

Du Plessis said he hoped to stay in South Africa for a significant period of time.

He emphasised that South Africa remained an important market to the MAN group.

“We believe there is a viable, long-term market for us in South Africa.”

Dickson expected MAN Truck & Bus SA to sell around 1 700 trucks in 2013, and between 450 and 500 buses.

The company sold around 500 buses in 2012, up from 459 in 2011. There was a slight slowdown in its truck business to 1 900 units in 2012, down from 1 919 units in 2011.

Year-to-date total truck sales in South Africa were up 10.2% to end-August, to 20 500 units, compared with the same period in 2012.

Dickson said MAN Truck & Bus SA had experienced supplier problems at its plants earlier this year, losing around 10% of its production output.

“We are now playing catch-up. We are not concerned about our position. August has been a good month.”

Dickson adds that the weakening rand continued to play havoc with pricing.

Truck manufacturers which had acquired stock prior to the rand’s recent steep weakening against the major currencies reaped the benefits, with other manufacturers left to order stock at increased rand-prices.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION