Monday, November 13, 2017

Truck & Bus News: Scania Malaysia Hosts Half Day Safety Driving Session For The Asian Trucker Drivers Club

I was invited to join a short session on safe driving techniques organised by the Asian Trucker Drivers Club at Scania Malaysia's main office in Shah Alam last Saturday. It was a different start to the weekend as I got the opportunity to spend some time with the people from Asian Trucker, participating members of their Asian Trucker Drivers Club as well as the folks from Scania Malaysia. 


The half-day session was an opportunity for the participating members to experience part of Scania’s Driver Training and knowledge sharing which teaches and remind them on sustainable transportation, proper driving techniques and skills that will help them become better drivers during their trips.


Training such as today’s session served as a reminder for the drivers to continuously practice good driving habits to not only keep them and other road users safe, but to also reduce wear and tear, stress and fuel consumption of the trucks (more uptime, more productivity obviously). It was divided into a 'classroom' session at Scania Malaysia's cafeteria and then a hands on driving session with some Scania Prime Movers outside the premises. There were bus and truck drivers, which I think is also a nice experience for the bus drivers present on that date.

Now although the focus was on helping the drivers to upgrade their driving techniques, it was also an opportunity for the Asian Trucker Driver Club members to catch up with one another over 'makan' and have some fun playing with the Scania driving simulators.

Stefan Pertz, Editor of Asian Trucker giving a short speech at the start of the session

The Asian Trucker Drivers Club is an initiative by Asian Trucker, who is the leading Truck magazine in the region. Aside fromt he magazine and online content, they also organise seminars and shows related to the trucking and commercial vehicle industry. In terms of the Driver's Club, it was started as a platform to help elevate the drivers' profession and image by providing suitable training, skills improvement and personal development seminars and workshops. Drivers are the most important asset in any transport company and it is good that there is an initiative like this to provide support in some sort of way.

Of course, this short session would not have been held without Scania Malaysia, who were such gracious hosts to everyone (including Yours Truly). Food and drinks aside, they provided all the teaching material for the session from an introduction to sustainable transport solutions, a refresher course on their trucks / buses and the technology inside them as well as safety tips too. Let's also not forget the trucks which they allowed to use too. The participants were thrilled to get to try out the latest Scania truck which is loaded with the latest toys inside it.

Personally, as I said, it was a slightly different weekend for me and I did enjoy it. It was also a hectic week for me as I was at Perodua for the announcement of their All-New Myvi (new logo and booking but not the car itself), then a round of food poisoning and then the launch of the Malaysia Autoshow 2017 on Thursday. Friday required some R&R before this slightly different motoring event. Yes, it wasn't a launch or anything, but it is about the people involved in the industry.

The people are the real gems in any industry. Even one filled with nice buses, cars, motorcycles and trucks!



Truck Simulator Winners - yes, the safest drivers win something from Scania (above & down below)





PRESS RELEASE

Scania Hosts Safety Driving Session For Asian Truckers Drivers Club



Ian Tan, Business Development Director of Scania Southeast Asia at the start of the session.

Bukit Jelutong, 11th November 2017 – Scania Malaysia hosted the Asian
Trucker Drivers Club today for a session on safe driving techniques, in line
with its intention of leading the shift towards enhancing lives through
sustainable transport solutions.

(You can see me standing at the back - the chap in a different coloured shirt). 

The Asian Trucker Drivers Club is an initiative by Asian Trucker which serves
as a platform to help elevate the drivers' profession and image by providing
suitable training, skills improvement and personal development seminars and
workshops.

The half-day session was an opportunity for the drivers to experience Scania’s
Driver Training which teaches driving techniques and skills that will help them
to be safe during their long arduous journey along the highways. Training such
as today’s session served as a reminder for the drivers to continuously
practice good driving habits to not only keep them and other road users safe,
but to also reduce wear and tear, stress and fuel consumption of the trucks.
Although the focus was on helping the drivers to upgrade their techniques, it
was also an opportunity for the drivers to catch up with their peers over a good
meal and have some fun playing with the Scania driving simulators before
heading off to up and down the highways again.

“Truck drivers are the single most important asset for any operator in the
logistics industry. They contribute to the highest standards of safe, fuelefficient
and environmentally-friendly driving. So it was good to catch-up with
them and also to help them continuously improve their driving skills,” said Ian
Tan, Business Development Director of Scania Southeast Asia.

Scania will continue to take lead in driving the shift in the industry towards a
more fuel-efficient, environmentally-friendly, safe and smarter transportation
system. The key approaches towards these goals were discussed with the
drivers.

“It was also a good opportunity to share with them our vision of a sustainable
future. We showed them the prospects of semi-autonomous platooning truck
technology which can help increase safety, efficiency and productivity. We
hope to inspire everyone about the future of transportation that is already
changing,” added Ian.

Scania is a world leading provider of transport solutions, including trucks and buses
for heavy transport applications combined with an extensive service offering. Scania
is also a leading provider of marine, industrial and power generation engines.
Our strategic focus is on customer profitability by being in the forefront of sustainable
transport solutions. Scania has the broadest range of alternative fuel and technology
solutions; from natural gas, HVO, bioethanol, biogas, biodiesel to hybrid drivetrains,
platooning and autonomous vehicle technology.

Scania employs some 47,000 people and operates in about 100 countries. Research
and development activities are concentrated in Sweden, while production takes
place in Europe and South America, with facilities for global interchange of both
components and complete vehicles. Our assembly, Regional Product Centres are in
various countries including Thailand and Malaysia for local markets. Asia Parts
Centre supports the region from Singapore.

In Southeast Asia, we employ over 380 people in sales and service branches, mobile
workshops and Scania Assistance standby service vans; covering Malaysia,
Singapore, Myanmar, Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei. Since the early 1970’s, Scania
has been in the region supporting the logistics, construction and public service
sectors, commuting people and goods every day.

You can follow this story at www.scania.com.my, www.scania.com.sg,
www.facebook.com/scania.malaysia.sdn.bhd,
www.facebook.com/scania.singapore.pte.ltd, www.linkedin.com/company/scania,
www.linkedin.com/company/scaniamalaysia