Scania is ranked among the world’s 100 most sustainable corporations, according to Corporate Knights Global 100 list. The list, which was announced at the Davos World Economic Forum, includes companies from 22 countries encompassing all sectors of the economy.

The Global 100 key performance indicators include energy, carbon, water and waste productivity. Other indicators are leadership diversity, CEO-to-average worker pay, percentage tax paid, safety, innovation, employee turnover and if a senior officer has his/her pay linked to sustainability.

Scania was ranked in place 36, next highest in the auto industry after Toyota. Scania is also the only manufacturer of heavy vehicles among the 100 companies represented.

“This is a clear recognition of the fact that Scania takes sustainability seriously and that our efforts are paying off,” says Erik Ljungberg, Senior Vice President, Corporate Relations. “We are particularly pleased that we rank even higher in the crucial sales to CO2 indicator.”

Scania’s earnings for the full year amounted to SEK 12,398 m. Higher vehicle and service volume was offset by a significantly stronger Swedish krona, a higher cost level and a changed market mix.

Summary of the full year 2011

• Operating income fell to SEK 12,398 m. (12,746), and earnings per share rose to SEK 11.78 (11.38)
• Net sales increased by 12 percent to SEK 87,686 m. (78,168)
• The Board of Directors proposes a dividend of SEK 5.00 (5.00) per share

More information at www.scania.com

Henrik Fagrenius, Managing Director of Scania Commercial Vehicles India.

The facility is being constructed in an industrial area 40 km east of Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka state in southern India. Production is expected to start in early 2013. It is estimated that almost 800 people will be employed at the facility in the longer term.

The industrial operations will consist of final assembly of truck and bus chassis and bodywork and fitting out of complete vehicles. The head office of Scania’s Indian company, complete with a service workshop and a central parts warehouse, is also being built at the same site.

“The manufacturing of complete trucks locally in the country means that we can cut lead times further and broaden our product offering. Our service to customers will also be improved by having a parts depot in the country,” says Henrik Fagrenius, Managing Director of Scania Commercial Vehicles India.

The facility in Bangalore is Scania’s seventh Regional Product Centre. The others are in Russia, Dubai, South Africa, Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan.

Scania has been represented in the Indian market since 2007, when a partnership was initiated with Larsen & Toubro (L&T). L&T has successfully established Scania’s trucks and services and has developed a close partnership with customers in the mining industry. L&T currently operates about 10 Scania service workshops at various mining sites in the country. 

In 2011, Scania established the company Scania Commercial Vehicles India in order to boost its presence through sales to additional segments of the Indian commercial vehicle market.

“There is increasing demand for vehicles and engines of the quality and performance delivered by Scania, together with services that guarantee customers high uptime and low operating cost. We will concentrate on broadening our existing offering of trucks to the mining industry but also in other areas of the construction segment, as well as trucks for heavy special-purpose road transport. In the bus segment we see potential for sales of buses and coaches, both for city traffic and long-distance intercity services,” says Fagrenius.

For further information, please contact Hans-Åke Danielsson, Press Manager, tel. +46 8 553 856 62.

What’s challenging for you? Andreas Söderström, winner of Young European Truck Driver 2010, often reverses his truck between gate posts with only centimetre margins on either side.

“Planning and calmness are important characteristics for anyone who wants to win a driver competition,” says Andreas Söderström, the 2010 Young European Truck Driver champion.

Precision manoeuvring in the daily work

With only centimetres left on each side of the vehicle, Andreas Söderström quickly reverses his huge Scania truck between two stone pillars for a delivery of gravel.

“When it’s really tight it’s better to reverse than to drive forward. I keep an eye on the rear lamps with the rear view mirrors,” he says.

Together with his father, Söderström runs the transport company Göran Söderströms Åkeri in Ingelstad, Sweden. The company fleet consists of four trucks that mainly transport asphalt, gravel and woodchips.

Different challenges

No job is exactly the same. Some mornings Söderström begins his day at an asphalt plant, others in a gravel pit, and others still begin with him taking containers close to felled forests and then transporting woodchips to pulp factories or power and heating plants.

Transporting woodchips on narrow forest roads instilled in Söderström the importance of planning his driving. Forest driving can be unforgiving, and with no help for kilometres; there is no room for mistakes.

“I usually start my work day at five or six o’clock in the morning and don’t return home until between four and seven o’clock in the evening,” he says.

When Söderström signed up for the competition in 2010 he didn’t know much about it, and had almost no experience driving a truck with a semi-trailer. Still he managed to advance from the regional final to win the Swedish final and ultimately the European final.

“The toughest moment in the competition came when I was reversing and trying to stop the vehicle no more than 20 centimetres from a wall,” he says. “In those types of situations it’s extremely important to use the rear view mirrors.”

Grew with the mission

Söderström’s improbable run began with some apprehension, but by applying his maxim of planning and calmness he forged onwards, finally ending up with the championship and a 100,000 euro gift certificate which he promptly converted into a new Scania R 620.

“The truck came in very handy as we had planned to replace a three-axle truck with a new four-axle to cope with the requirements of our big asphalt customer,” Söderström explains.

“If I hadn’t won, I probably would have bought a Scania R 560. Now, with the R 620, I have access to 60 extra horsepower. I didn’t go for an automated gearbox, however, since I have better control over my driving with a manual one,” he says.

Tight margins are not a problem when you know what you’re doing. Skilled drivers have a good chance of making it to the Young European Truck Driver 2012 final to compete for a Scania truck worth 100,000 euros. Andreas Söderström did in 2010. Is 2012 your year?

Söderström also selected winter tyres from Michelin for his new truck, the optimal choice for grip and durability. He’ll use them all year, at least to start with.

Encouraging other drivers

More topically, he has just signed up for this year’s driver competitions.
“The victory has led to much attention and that has been fun,” says Söderström.

Even if he doesn’t win a truck this year, putting one’s skills up against other top drivers in the field is a stimulating experience.

Read more and register below

In November the Tanzania Driver Competition produced a winner: Erasmus Mtui, a 43-year-old driver from petroleum haulage company Super Star Forwarders. The newly crowned Tanzanian Driver of the Year 2011 will go on to compete in the international finals in South Africa in 2012. “I’m ready,” he says.

Mtui’s family was thrilled and proud, and also a little shocked. The prize – 5 million shillings (2,375 euros) – is a lot of money for the family.

Scania is well known in Tanzania – so much so that the brand has become synonymous with the word “truck”.

“Scania Tanzania is very pleased and excited to host the Tanzanian Driver of the Year competition,” Mark Cameron, Managing Director of Scania Tanzania, told the gathering at the November competition, which took place at the Biafra Grounds in Dar es Salaam. “The driver is the most important factor in influencing transport economy, environment and road safety.”

Cameron expressed his respect for the competitors’ skills and invited all Tanzanian drivers in the country to the 2013 Tanzanian Driver of the Year competition, which is already being planned. The ambition is to create a larger event that includes professional truck and bus drivers from all over Tanzania.

Also addressing the crowd were Lennarth Hjelmåker, Sweden’s Ambassador to Tanzania; Seif A Seif, Chairman of the Tanzanian Truck Owners Association; and Mohamed Mpinga, Traffic Police Commander.

The November competition in Dar es Salaam was the grand finale involving the top five contestants from an earlier event where drivers were tested on their driving skills, road safety awareness and driving style for optimising fuel economy. For the finals, the five competitors were required to perform such tasks as “Knock the King”, “Slalom” and “Bull’s Eye” for the large and enthusiastic crowd of spectators.

Do you want to attend Scania Driver Competitions 2012? Register now!

On board the bus, there is an internet connection, coffee and morning papers to make the trip as pleasant and efficient as possible.

200 people – who have thus far purchased the substantially subsidised monthly ticket – are now using the comfortable means of travel on a daily basis, which takes place using Scania Touring and Scania OmniExpress coaches. The alternatives are commuter trains and regular buses, which take a longer time and are sometimes affected by delays.

“Not to be able to get to work quickly enough can be an impediment for a person to accept work in another place, such as Södertälje, for example. We believe that this solution can help to make Scania an even more attractive workplace,” says Erik Ljungberg, Senior Vice President Corporate Relations at Scania in a news feature for Swedish television. 

The investment in the commuter buses provides Scania with more opportunities. For some years, Scania Transport Lab has operated a Scania-owned haulage company for transport of goods between Scania’s production sites, in order to analyse and evaluate road transport by truck; now they are working in the same way with these buses, in order to evaluate performance and new systems in actual service.

“Normally, we sell some 200–225 buses but during 2011 we registered 512 buses. In other words, we sold twice as many as we normally do,” says Leif Nyström, Head of Bus Sales at Scania-Bilar Sverige.

In total, the Swedish bus market increased by one-third while Scania’s sales, as mentioned, doubled. Scania’s long-term efforts to offer comprehensive service solutions, and the broad product programme in biofuels have been decisive growth factors.

In November 2011, Scania receive a major order from the bus operator Nobina for 109 biogas buses to be delivered this year. At the end of December 2011, it was also announced that Scania would deliver 94 RME-fuelled buses to Arriva, which will be in service this summer for Stockholm Transport (SL).

“In Sweden, particularly, biofuel buses have become increasingly popular and will soon constitute one-third of all city buses. It is clear that diesel-fuelled buses are declining. Stockholm Transport, for example, has set a target of 100-percent biofuels by 2018–2020.”

The strong increase in Scania’s bus sales can partly be explained by the fact that several operators, with which Scania has formed partnerships, have been successful in winning tenders. But there are also other explanations.

“Our broad product range is paying off,” says Leif Nyström. “Of a total of 100 double decker buses sold in Sweden last year, Scania delivered 75. The double decker bus has become an attractive choice in regional public transport with a high comfort level and good legroom that can seat 85–86 passengers, which is substantially more than an articulated bus.”

Registered buses in Sweden 2011 (>10 tonnes)

1. Scania 512
2. Volvo 357
3. MAN 202
4. Mercedes-Benz 123
5. Setra 68
6. Solaris 58
7. VDL 50
8. Neoplan 18
9. Irisbus 15
10. Temsa 9

“The order represents a success for our strategy of supplying high quality products and services that contribute to increased efficiency and higher profitability,” says Peter Sjöblom, Managing Director of Scania’s Chinese sales company.

Scania has delivered trucks to Zoomlion since 2008. Zoomlion’s largest mobile concrete pumps, which have a span up to 80 metres, are mounted on Scania’s 4- and 5-axle truck chassis with 6-cylinder 420-470 hp engines. The pumps are used in the construction of high-rise buildings and bridges, for example.

“The order represents a success for our strategy of supplying high quality products and services that contribute to increased efficiency and higher profitability,” says Peter Sjöblom, Managing Director of Scania’s Chinese sales company.

“Our partnership with Zoomlion has great potential and also offers the possibility of delivering trucks to other markets where the company is planning to expand,” says Mr Sjöblom.

To establish trustful and long term cooperation with demanding, professional customers is an important part of Scania’s growth strategy in the Chinese market. Deeper cooperation was thus initiated last year with Zoomlion.

Within the framework of its modular product system, Scania has produced the robust truck chassis that has been customised for Zoomlion’s needs as regards bodywork and operation.

In order to ensure high uptime, Scania China has trained personnel at Zoomlion’s own service workshops and has also established special teams of service technicians who can assist in the event of operational disruptions.

Strict demands as regards uptime and performance are made of a concrete pump of Scania’s magnitude. It works constantly with maximum torque for 14 hours per day.

“Awareness is increasing among customers in the Chinese market of the value of investing in Scania’s products and services, since they contribute to better capacity utilisation and thus higher profitability,” states Mr Sjöblom.

Zoomlion is China’s leading manufacturer of machinery and equipment which is used, for example, in the construction of important national infrastructure. Research and development is also conducted in the group, as well as technology consulting services. Zoomlion was founded in 1992 and today has more than 30,000 employees. The Italian concrete pump manufacturer Cifa has been part of the group since 2008. Today, Zoomlion is the world’s largest concrete machinery manufacturer.

Claudio Magon is a devoted Scania fan. He has a tattoo of a Scania griffin along with the names of his five sons.

Poliservice is the main genset rental company in Brazil. Beside music shows featuring Beyoncé and other celebrities, Poliservice provides power for São Paulo Fashion Week and Rio Fashion and other large-scale events. In fact the company is scheduled to provide power for the 2014 World Cup. The kickoff for that event recently took place at Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro and involved 33 generator sets, each equipped with Scania 6-cylinder engines and supplying 500 kW of power.

Long relationship with ScaniaMagon’s relationship with Scania goes back many years. When Magon was 18, he left his hometown of Itapuí, in rural São Paulo, to work at Scania. His first stop was a small maintenance workshop of generator sets.

 “I slept in a small room in the back of the workshop, and early in the morning I came across a Scania engine to be fixed,” recalls Magon.

Years later, Magon bought a Scania engine that produced 330 kW of power and assembled his own generator set in his garage. Then, 15 years ago, he founded Poliservice. The rest is history.

Over the years, Magon’s passion for Scania engines has deepened. Now 82 percent of Poliservice’s fleet is equipped with Scania engines. 

The delivery consists of Scania intercity buses equipped with 310 hp 9-litre engines and the automated gearchanging system Scania Opticruise. The first 45 units will be delivered before October 2012, and the remaining 45 during 2013.

The body will be built by Cherdchai, one of Thailand’s main bodybuilders.

For Scania, this is a big breakthrough in the country’s bus market. The new buses will improve customers’ business when it comes to uptime, total cost of ownership and safety. Scania’s position in the Thai coach market remains strong with 32 percent market share (October, 2011).

Phuket Transfer supplies a coach to tourist company Pegas Touristic. From left Mr Kubilay, Manager, Pegas Touristic Co.,Ltd. and Mr Anucha Woranatiwong, Managing Director, Phuket Transfer Co.,Ltd.