SHAPING THE FUTURE OF LOGISTICS AND TRANSPORTATION
A TRUCKLOAD OF INNOVATION
Daimler Truck AG has decades of experience in the automotive and trucking industry and has maintained its strong position.”
A subsidiary of the global automotive pioneer, Daimler Truck North America (DTNA) designs, engineers, manufactures, and markets medium and heavy-duty trucks, school buses, vehicle chassis, and their associated technologies and components under the Freightliner, Western Star, Thomas Built Buses,
Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp, and Detroit brands.
“Our brands cater to a wide variety of needs, from long-haul logistics to vocational and school buses,” continues CIO, Lutz Beck.
“The breadth of this unmatched product portfolio allows us to meet the specific requirements of our diverse client base, which ranges from logistics companies to municipal fleets.”
Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, the company also has manufacturing
Lutz Beck, CIO
Lutz Beck, CIO, outlines how Daimler Truck North America is shaping the future of logistics and transportation through the development of cutting-edge technology solutions
Writer: Jack Salter | Project Manager: Michael Sommerfield
plants in Cleveland, Gastonia, and High Point (North Carolina), Mount Holly and Gaffney (South Carolina), and Redford (Michigan), as well as Saltillo and Santiago (Mexico).
These facilities also house cuttingedge engineering and testing centers that drive innovation in every aspect of DTNA’s vehicles.
“We operate state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and robust supply chains to ensure operational efficiency and high-quality production,” Beck explains.
“DTNA also has unparalleled aftermarket support through expansive parts distribution centers and service networks.”
AT THE FOREFRONT OF INNOVATION
The North American truck manufacturing sector is at a pivotal moment as it undergoes a seismic shift toward sustainability, electrification, autonomous driving, connectivity solutions, and more. DTNA is at the forefront of
these industry innovations as the company strongly invests in R&D to develop cutting-edge solutions and technologies.
“We’re not just building trucks; we’re shaping the future of logistics and transportation,” acclaims Beck.
One such innovation is the fifthgeneration Cascadia, which DTNA unveiled in October 2024.
The newest addition to the Freightliner family builds on its legacy as the industry’s preferred on-highway truck with advanced safety features,
increased aerodynamic efficiency, and the addition of new business intelligence tools to benefit profitability.
The vehicle also features active safety systems as part of DTNA’s Detroit Assurance suite of safety systems, including Active Brake Assist 6 (ABA 6), which mitigates potential collisions by calculating the truck’s speed and distance to stationary and moving objects to determine if a
warning or braking action is needed and automatically activates partial and full braking if necessary.
“Lane Departure Warning alerts the driver if the truck deviates from its lane without a turning signal, while Adaptive Cruise Control to 0mph maintains a safe following distance and adjusts the speed automatically,” adds Beck.
The driver-assist functions are part
of the Cascadia’s automated driving capabilities, where the vehicle can control both steering as well as acceleration and deceleration under certain circumstances while a human driver remains actively engaged at all times. DTNA is deeply invested in developing autonomous driving solutions in the trucking industry with the goal to make roads safer and help customers boost productivity.
“WE’RE NOT JUST BUILDING TRUCKS; WE’RE SHAPING THE FUTURE OF LOGISTICS AND TRANSPORTATION”
–
LUTZ BECK, CIO, DAIMLER TRUCK NORTH AMERICA
CONNECTIVITY, E-COMMERCE, AND AUGMENTED REALITY
The Cascadia is additionally equipped with Detroit Connect® services, offering real-time tracking and data insights, remote diagnostics, and performance monitoring to optimize fleet operations.
Detroit Connect® forms part of DTNA’s strong portfolio of connectivity services.
“Our trucks are becoming increasingly connected, enabling predictive maintenance and enhanced operational efficiency for fleet owners,” informs Beck.
“To drive business performance and innovation, IT and business functions need to work closely together and collaborate as IT is
increasingly embedded in products, services, and business processes. We maintain a strong project pipeline to continuously improve IT operations, support our various business functions, and develop new technology solutions.”
One such solution is Excelerator, DTNA’s next-generation e-commerce platform which launched in 2020.
Excelerator connects DTNA customers to its distribution network, allowing them to get the right part at the right place and time, which significantly reduces vehicle repair times. In early 2023, Excelerator online retail sales reached $1 billion for DTNA parts.
“Excelerator is a great example of how IT supports DTNA by building
Harnessing technology for a competitive edge
A strategic imperative
In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, aligning IT with business objectives has proven invaluable, but is this alignment creating a competitive edge? The answer to this question is more critical than ever. As manufacturing environments grow increasingly complex, forward-looking manufacturers are leveraging data to meet new market realities, balance competing priorities, and advance competitive advantage in the market. Strategic alignment is about transforming data into actionable insights that drive smart, sustainable, and resilient manufacturing operations, thus creating lasting competitive advantage.
The role of data-driven manufacturing
Data-driven manufacturing (DDM) is a unique approach that aligns business objectives with data strategies and solutions to transform data into actionable insights. This approach helps implement a digital continuum that enables highly productive teams, processes, and systems built to adapt and evolve. Manufacturers can implement and advance industrial IoT, cloud, and automation initiatives by acting as a unified organization across the entire business value chain and the broader ecosystem while fostering better innovation and communication within their teams.
Strategic and operational insights
Manufacturers who use data for strategic and operational insights are outpacing their peers in
competitive advantage and operational effectiveness. They optimize operations through enhanced monitoring, collaboration, and innovation, taking preemptive action to future-proof against additional changes. This positions them better to realize their strategic objectives and balance growth with sustainability through insight-led innovation.
The shift to Industry 5.0
With Industry 5.0 taking shape, stakeholders are pushing manufacturers to evolve beyond using technology solely for profit. They are expected to become responsible leaders for the future, addressing current economic conditions, geopolitical disruptions, and a scarce supply of modern skills and talent. This shift has accelerated the need for transformation, making it imperative for manufacturers to leverage data across their value chains to guide decision-making.
Building a data strategy aligned with business value
Manufacturers can unlock the transformative power of data by building and executing a comprehensive data strategy aligned with their values and business objectives. This strategy should accelerate outcomes by strategically aligning initiatives to business value, enabling data and analytics to adapt as business and customer priorities change. It should also identify the maximum value with the minimum scope to deliver initiatives that result in a return on investment (ROI).
Managing data as a strategic asset
Data must be managed as an asset, ensuring it is fit for purpose and aligned with business objectives. This requires an informed approach across the complete data life cycle—from creation to end-oflife. Manufacturers can shift from reactive decisionmaking to proactive planning based on forecasts and predictions by collecting, processing, and analyzing critical data.
Raising enterprise intelligence
Enterprise intelligence is the ability to turn contextrelevant data into actionable insights that drive business value, whether it’s new growth opportunities, better customer experiences, or lower costs. By applying increasingly complex analytics and AI, manufacturers can gain powerful insights that help reduce waste, improve efficiency, and enhance the customer experience.
Ensuring organizational readiness
A data-first mindset is critical to building trust and ensuring ROI on data investments. Whether it’s a small initiative or an extensive transformation program, a structured approach helps effectively manage the human side of change. Initiatives underpinned by a data-first culture and excellent change management strategies have a higher chance of meeting their objectives and supporting transformation.
Benefits of transforming into a datadriven enterprise
Becoming more data-driven allows a manufacturer to make decisions based on facts rather than intuition alone. This drives a more unified organization across the entire business value chain and the wider ecosystem. Specific benefits include:
• Build highly productive teams that work from the most insightful and supportive data in real-time— enabling true innovation and cross-pollination.
• Move beyond just optimizing operations to preempting change and responding proactively with strong business and IT alignment.
• Gain true insight across vast data stores to create new services, products and ways of doing business.
• Connect with external ecosystems and enjoy win-win benefits with new and sometimes unlikely partners.
• Reflect, learn and continuously improve to realize your vision and demonstrate measurable results.
• Embrace responsible and transparent practices and processes and adopt enabling technologies
that unearth the relevant data required to take measurable action and demonstrate sustainability progress.
• Retain and attract new talent by offering employees a career with purpose.
Conclusion
As manufacturing becomes more unified, transforming data into actionable business insights will be critical to addressing new market realities and driving smart, sustainable, and resilient operations. By aligning technology with business objectives, manufacturers will confidently navigate the future, leveraging data to create a competitive edge and achieve their strategic goals.
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AN ESTABLISHED CAREER
Having grown up in Stuttgart, Germany, which has a rich automotive history and is the home of Daimler AG, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche, Beck has always been interested in truck manufacturing.
Before becoming CIO at DTNA, Beck was CIO at Daimler Truck Asia (Mitsubishi Fuso Truck in Japan and Bharat Benz in India).
In Asia, Beck was responsible for the overarching IT strategy as well as the entire development, delivery, and governance of IT. Under his leadership, connectivity and big data analytics were initiated, developed, and successfully established within Daimler Truck Asia.
Before moving to Japan, Beck held various management positions within Daimler AG, eventually working his way up to the role of IT Director for Finance and Controlling, Procurement, and Business Intelligence.
Prior to joining Daimler AG, he worked at a large consultancy firm, focusing on the implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and SAP template implementations, as well as other IT projects.
Beck gained work experience in numerous countries as a consultant, including Singapore, South Africa, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, China, South Korea, and Malaysia.
new business models and driving revenue,” states Beck.
Another example is HoloLens, a cutting-edge augmented reality platform from Microsoft that DTNA has piloted as a virtual collaboration tool with dealers and customers.
In testing, DTNA leveraged a combination of Microsoft technologies, including the HoloLens 2 platform, Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, and Teams.
This enabled service technicians to connect directly to DTNA subject matter experts across the organization, who were able to project service manuals, schematics, and other documentation across their field of vision while troubleshooting vehicle repairs.
“DTNA WORKS CLOSELY WITH A NETWORK OF STRATEGIC PARTNERS, INCLUDING TECHNOLOGY PROVIDERS, LOGISTICS COMPANIES, AND FLEET OPERATORS, ALL OF WHICH ARE KEY TO OUR BUSINESS”
– LUTZ BECK, CIO, DAIMLER TRUCK NORTH AMERICA
FUTURE FRONTIERS
DTNA’s initiatives also include community engagement programs, employee development opportunities, and partnerships that foster sustainable practices throughout its supply chain.
For 2025, meanwhile, DTNA’s top priorities are to advance autonomous
driving technologies, expand its digital services, and continue to innovate within its products and operations, at the heart of which are its 20,000+ employees across North America.
“We invest heavily in talent recruitment, retention, and development through training
programs, upskilling initiatives, and various career opportunities,” concludes Beck, emphasizing the human element of DTNA’s work.
“Behind every truck we build are the people whose dedication and ingenuity make it all possible. Our focus on innovation is matched by our commitment to fostering a supportive and empowering environment for our employees.”
Tel: 503.745.8000
northamerica.daimlertruck.com