Daimler Truck CEO Daum says it’s facing enormous supply chain pressure

• Daum said current supply chain squeeze is among worst he has seen in his more than 25-year career

• Inflationary pressures are also weighing heavily on the company’s manufacturing process 

The world’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer Daimler Truck CEO Martin Daum, on Wednesday, said the company is “facing enormous pressure on the supply chain,” and parts shortages are slowing the manufacturing process of thousands of its vehicles.

“I would say it’s one of the worst years ever in my long career in trucking, where we sometimes have to touch a truck three, four times to add the missing parts,” Daum told CNBC.

Although earlier this month, the Mercedes-Benz Truck maker, whose trucks are used for other vital industries such as logistics and construction, said there were signs that a prolonged chip shortage appeared to be easing, Daum’s comment mentions that supply chain disruptions are resulting in significant bottlenecks across the company’s international network of factories.

“We have, in a couple of factories, more than 10,000 trucks where one or two parts are missing, and we desperately search the world for those parts,” Daimler CEO told CNBC.

Inflationary pressures are also weighing heavily on the company’s manufacturing process, as energy and raw materials costs are now significantly higher.

“We are, at the moment, pushing those price increases on the raw materials side through, so we can at least hold our margins in that business,” he said.

However, Daum also noted that Daimler is seeing pent-up demand for some 200,000 trucks in the US alone as the company continues to catch up with supply shortfalls through 2020 and 2021.

“That, in my opinion, makes me optimistic that we will see a not too bad 2023. And not too bad is a German expression for it could be a good 2023,” he said.

Picture Credit: SWR

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