MAN Truck and Bus (M) Sdn Bhd (MAN), the Malaysian arm of the European commercial vehicle brand, earlier today announced it has appointed Andrew O’Brooks as its new managing director. Aside from that, the company also announced its new service centre in Port Klang which is scheduled for opening sometime in March 2020 as well as an announcement of their latest strategic initiatives which is in line with the brand's global direction and current motto of ' Simplifying Business'.
Mr. Andrew O’Brooks (above), who is originally from UK, has over 35 years of experience in the commercial vehicle industry. Prior to joining MAN, he was with the Volvo Group, where he had held the positions of Country Managing Director in United Kingdom, Latvia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
O’Brooks will be taking over from Richard Frenz, who will take up a new role in MAN Truck & Bus in Munich. From what we have learnt, Mr Frenz was brought in to conduct research of MAN's overall standing here in Malaysia and what needed to be done to improve the brand's presence here. With the job completed, he is now headed back to Munich. It also seems that the folks at Munich has deemed Malaysia important enough for some changes and a bit more push for the brand here
A first among several strategic initiatives announced by O’Brooks for MAN is the opening of a new service centre in Port Klang which will surely offer fleet operators and customers with more efficient and timelier vehicle care. The new service centre will be situated on a 2-acre of land, is scheduled to be operational by March 2020.
According to MAN, it will come with six service bays and all the necessary equipment to provide the highest level of service and repairs including a MAN Cats III® Diagnostic system and air-conditioning servicing, ample trailers parking space as well as a customer lounge with refreshments and complimentary wi-fi.
When this new satellite service centre becomes operational, it will definitely improve MAN's customer touchpoints. Firstly, Port Klang is where most of the major hauliers are based or have cargo moving in and out. It is the busiest place in Peninsular Malaysia in terms of haulage and with the opening of the new centre, MAN can now service and cater or their customers (and potential customers) right at the heart of the Malaysian logistics industry.
Prior to this, MAN has a presence in Port Klang, albeit in a smaller capacity where one of their three 24 hour mobile service trucks (pictured above) are based at the Port Klang area to cater for their customers in the area. The mobile truck ensures that basic servicing needs are handled almost immediately and customers do not need to head over to Rawang where the MAN Headquarters in based at.
The new facility in Port Klang will be MAN’s fourth service centre on top of its existing centres in Rawang, Prai and Johor Bahru. No longer do MAN trucks in the Port Klang vicinity need to make a 50km drive to the Rawang HQ for small servicing needs.
Dato’ Nazari Hj Akhbar, President of Association of Malaysian Hauliers lauded MAN’s decision in opening the new centre in Port Klang. He stated that as Port Klang is the largest port in Malaysia, it is an important gateway for cross-border logistics for many hauliers and transportation companies.
Andrew O'Brooks had this to say about the importance of having a centre in Port Klang at the event. He said, “One of the main emphasis for us at MAN is always on being closer and more accessible to our customers, on top of providing them with the best solutions for their transportation needs. The Port Klang service centre is the first among many to come. With the various new initiatives we will be implementing this year, I am confident we will be able to continue to provide high quality products and serve our customers faster and better”, said O’Brooks.
From left to right: Andrew O’Brooks, Managing Director of MAN Truck and Bus (M) Sdn Bhd; Richard Frenz, Vice President of MAN Truck and Bus SE; Dato’ Nazari Hj Akhbar, President of Association of Malaysian Hauliers and Thilo Halter, Head of Area, MAN Asia Pacific at the event announcing MAN’s new country leadership and new service centre in Port Klang.
In terms of their other strategic initiatives to expand MAN here in Malaysia as well as welcoming O'Brooks to his new position, Thilo Halter, Head of Area Asia Pacific said, “Simplifying business for our customers – by making business processes easier and more effective for them - is one of MAN’s chief goals. Andrew O’Brooks’ knowledge of the industry, along with his international experience and clear customer focus, makes him a real asset to help us drive this forward for MAN in Malaysia. We are very pleased to welcome him on board in what are exciting times for our company”
MAN Malaysia has essentially started its push to garner more market share. Their ongoing goal is for the brand to be the best in terms of customer service and making things easier for them. They will ensure a more customer-centric approach to things and they are also expanding their network. After all, these days, it is all about ensuring that aftersales support is well taken care of aside from just selling the vehicles.
Port Klang is the first in their plans and over the next few years their expect to grow their presence with more one stop centres in Peninsular Malaysia first before they start focusing on East Malaysia. They currently have one main service centre in Sibu, Sarawak over in East Malaysia but once they settle with their plans for the Peninsular, it is logical that the expand over there as they also are of the opinion that the Tran-Borneo Highway, when completed, could be a catalyst for economic growth over there.
In the meantime, MAN Malaysia is indeed expanding, taking small but noticeable improvements over here. And that new, upcoming Port Klang centre is a good first step to growing the brand here in Malaysia.
Aside from announcing the above, MAN Malaysia also held a small ceremony where they handed over part of a new order for 12 units of MAN Efficient Line TGS 19.360 Prime Movers to Nittsu Transport Service (M) Sdn Bhd. This brings Nitsu's MAN truck fleet to about 50 of so units of MAN Prime Movers.
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