The path beyond

JOST is presenting its portfolio of products and systems at IAA Transportation. At the exhibition, the company shows their solutions in three categories: Assistance, including sensor solutions and the KKS automatic coupling system; Sustainability, such as weight-optimised products and biodegradable high-performance lubricant; and digitalisation, digital service support, a new product finder and JOST Truck Stop.

JOST CEO, Joachim Dürr, is looking forward to meeting industry at this year’s IAA Transportation event in Hanover, Germany.

“Continuous contact with our customers and partners is very important for us to keep in constant exchange and to really know the needs of the users of our products,” he said. “We are glad to meet again all partners of our industry and to talk about current developments. We are really looking forward to welcoming all international guests on our JOST stand in hall H26, stand D34 and at our outdoor stand D81.”

The equipment specialist’s goal for 2022 and beyond is to consolidate and expand its position as a preferred partner to industry, offering the right solutions for their commercial applications.

“Our powerful innovations and intelligent features support them in the technological transition towards a more efficient and environmentally friendly transport,” said Dürr. “We also want to consistently strengthen our international market position through organic and external growth.”

In terms of strategic long-term goals, JOST is on the right track.

“All markets with the exception of China are currently running quite strong,” said Dürr. “The positive customer feedback we have received demonstrates that our current innovations are being well received by the market. But the journey ahead continues, and while we use IAA Transportation to showcase our latest products. Our research and development team is already working on the next generation of JOST products.”

JOST CEO, Joachim Dürr.

Amid a challenging climate of supply chain disruption, JOST has adapted.

“Our flexibility continues to be the key success factor in this highly volatile market environment,” said Dürr. “We were able to rapidly adjust our production capacity and cost structures to satisfy fluctuating demand. Thanks to our multi-sourcing, we were able to quickly respond to supply bottlenecks and find alternative sources or transport routes in order to reliably deliver to our customers. JOST has been following a ‘local for local’ strategy where we are producing in the region for the region with 22 plants worldwide. This gave us the necessary flexibility and resilience against supply chain challenges.”

With a broad portfolio of road transport equipment and components, there are some new and exciting products on the horizon.

“We are strongly represented in the agricultural sector thanks to our acquisition of Quicke in 2020,” said Dürr. “Our Drawbar Finder by ROCKINGER is a smart solution for the coupling process and increases safety, productivity and comfort. Also, our automatic system KKS is now available in the market und manages the next step to autonomous driving.”

The award-winning push-button trailer coupling system, KKS, has proven to be a winning innovation.

“During the last couple of months, we had a roadshow in many European countries to present our KKS,” said Dürr. “Customers are thrilled to see this modern technology and they realise the advantages concerning efficiency and safety. And, also, truck drivers are amazed to see how KKS makes their day-to-day-work safer, more comfortable and more productive. It radically reduces the risk of accidents and does away with the physically demanding aspects of coupling.”

In recent months JOST has reported it is working on a feasibility study to install solar PV systems at its production plants.

“We have an overall target of cutting our global carbon emissions per production hour by 50 per cent by 2030,” said Dürr. “It is our goal to make our production sites safe and sustainable. Installing solar plants on the roof of our production plants is just one step among many, but we are pleased with the success so far. We already started construction of our PV plant in Portugal and soon Turkey, Hungary and Poland are expected to follow.”

There are other sustainability measures in place as well.

“One important aspect of sustainability is our employees,” said Dürr. “We used Great-Place-to-Work to do a worldwide survey among our employees and are using the feedback to further improve employee satisfaction and our employer branding. Through training in health and safety, we have managed to significantly reduce the numbers of working accidents to 16 per 1,000 employees in a year worldwide. Our aim is to continue to reduce this number further.”

At NUFAM 2021, in addition to KKS, other products including the Drawbar Finder and the JOST ZGA command steer axle were on prominent display. IAA Transportation attendees can expect to be delighted by what JOST is bringing to the show.

“Narrow depots, winding city centres and a 16.5 m long tractor trailer that needs to be steered safely – this is where conventional axle systems reach their limits and the use of a command steer axle is required,” said Dürr. “The new JOST ZGA is convincing in a wide range of applications and can be used with all common steering systems, whether mechanical, hydraulic or electronic. At this year’s IAA, we will present the ZGA with the electronic steering system from TRIDEC and also the ROCKINGER Drawbar Finder: Here the visual guidance in two directions, horizontal and vertical, enables precise coupling, which increases efficiency and helps to avoid accidents. Furthermore, the fair audience can visit live demonstrations of our revolutionary automatic coupling system KKS in the outdoor area.”

As for production milestones, JOST Brasil, for instance, produced its one millionth fifth wheel since commencing operations in 1995.

“This year, we celebrated 70 years of JOST providing value,” said Dürr. “JOST’s history began as a typical post-war success story. In 1952, Neu-Isenburg is home to two real movers and shakers – Hans Breuer and Joseph Steingass. Inspired by the semi-trailer trucks they had seen the American troops use in Frank-furt, they began developing fifth wheel couplings made of cast steel. They filed a patent for their invention in 1955 and received general type approval in 1960.”

Last year, JOST also launched the Truck Stop video series which provide a variety of insights and user tips on JOST World products.

“So far, we have published 23 videos with a focus on very different topics,” said Dürr. “The series covers many product and maintenance videos, exhibition reports from Solutrans or NUFAM or a deeper insight into our brand ROCKINGER.”

In January 2021, JOST Australia received the Safety Innovation Award at the 2020 Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia (HVIA) National Awards for its JSK42-ASW fifth (featuring pneumatic automation).

“Of course, we are very pleased about these successes and it’s a great confirmation for our work to increase safety and productivity for our customers,” said Dürr. “This year, we also received the ‘Best Brand Award’ in Germany for ROCKINGER for the 18th time in a row. At the same time, these awards motivate us to continue to supply our customers worldwide with our versatile products and our individual service in the future.

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