Schmitz Cargobull has reached an important milestone, producing its two millionth axle at its plant in Altenberge, Germany.
Since the Schmitz Cargobull axle was launched in 2004, the company has continued to invest in the optimisation and automation of its axle production facilities. Dr Günter Schweitzer, Board Member Operations at Schmitz Cargobull, took the opportunity to thank and congratulate the team on the axle production line in person.
“The fact that we have produced as many as two million of our own axles over the past 20 years highlights the quality and reliability of our technology and demonstrates that our axles meet our customers’ high standards and deliver an impressive performance,” Schweitzer said. “This is also reflected in the results of the recent reader survey conducted by ETM publishers, which saw the Schmitz Cargobull axle being voted number one by readers and users.”
The axle plays a key role in determining a trailer’s running costs and economic efficiency. A key milestone in this process was the creation of a fully automated, digitally controlled axle production process, which was implemented at Altenberge in 2023 as part of the strategy to transform Schmitz Cargobull plants into “smart factories”.
The axles produced in Altenberge also supply the company’s production sites in Vreden and Gotha in Germany, Panevėžys, Lithuania, Adapazarı, Turkey, Zaragoza, Spain and Manchester, UK. Around 95 per cent of all trailers from Altenberge and more than 90 per cent of vehicles across the Group are equipped with Schmitz Cargobull’s in-house axle.
In other news, FedEx has transported six giant pandas between the United States and China.