Alan Hunt, joint MD for sales and service at Schmitz Cargobull UK and Ireland, was on hand at the ITT Hub and happy to talk about the giant German trailer builder’s plans for its new UK factory that will build 2,000 vehicles a year when at full capacity.
Hunt, pictured, says the company actually planned a UK plant in 2016 shortly after he was made MD but Brexit put this move on hold until last year when a strategic review confirmed that, to maximise sales in the UK, products better suited to the market were needed.
So a site has been acquired in Wythenshawe to the south of Manchester, only four miles from the now defunct Cartwright Group manufacturing site in Altrincham. The factory will be run by joint MD for operations Paul Avery whose CV includes Cartwright, Transdek and Montracon.
“We were interested in making an acquisition but there was nothing in the UK suitable for Schmitz’s unique production line manufacturing system,” says Hunt. “We needed to build our own plant in an area where there are high levels of skilled people.”
This year the plant will employ an extra 50 people on top of Schmitz’s existing UK workforce of 20 and this will grow to 100 next year. Orders being taken now will be delivered in Q1 2022.
When production hits the 40 units per week target, Hunt says this will double Schmitz’s UK sales and increase them by 50% in Ireland. “There is space in the UK market because of the recent closure but we do intend to increase our market share,” says Hunt. “We already do well in the refrigerated market here.”
After a fast start on the 80,000sq ft new factory, prototypes will start to roll off the line in August, using chassis fabricated in Schmitz’s home town Altenberge. Initial production will focus on dry freight trailers for the booming home delivery market and will include 4.2m and 4.6m freepost curtainsiders and a new lightweight fuel-saving box van.
UK operators are well known for their penchant for small runs of highly bespoke product, something not ideal for Schmitz’s production techniques. While the UK factory will be more flexible in terms of specification than Germany – drum brakes will be an option alongside Schmitz’s standard discs, for example – it is looking for large orders of fairly standardised equipment, implying it will be targeting the larger parcel carriers.
“We will choose what we make and we sell to,” confirms Hunt. “We are volume driven and need to produce a certain number of vehicles per hour. We will evaluate the opportunities but we will need volume orders.”
The aim is not however to chase volume by cutting prices and the Schmitz product “will continue to carry a premium” according to Hunt.
Looking further ahead, Hunt says the UK factory will offer longer semi-trailers and could look at making doubledeck and even variable height trailers. Next year it will introduce the Schmitz S.KOe refrigerated box trailer with an electric refrigeration unit and generator axle which is now being tested on the continent by TIP and supermarket chain Albert Heijn.
