Along with Renault last week and MAN Trucks today, DAF Trucks have reopened three of their European truck factories, including the plant in Leyland, Lancashire, UK.  Joining the Leyland plant are the main factory in Eindhoven (the Netherlands) and the cab plant at Westerlo in Belgium.

DAF Truck Factories Reopen
Face Masks are the new normal at the DAF Truck production plants

Managers at the three plants have been busy during the month of closure. New working practices and revisions to work stations have been implemented in addition to new hygiene and social distancing measures.

DAF president Harry Wolters said:

I am proud of the creativity and dedication displayed by our employees. We can now continue to supply our customers with the best trucks on the market.

Face Masks for all Staff

Measures have been implemented to enable workers to maintain a distance of at least 1.5 metres and cleaning products have been made widely available. As a precaution, production staff are now also wearing face masks.

Wolters is not too worried about performance levels yet:

For the moment we are less concerned about production figures. Instead, the safety of DAF and Leyland Trucks employees is our number one priority. That’s why the production volume is still relatively low. We will only crank it up when it is safe to do so. We are very glad that we are in a position to supply our customers with trucks again because transport plays a vital role in the smooth functioning of society.”

Service Network Unaffected

In addition to all the re-planning of the factories, DAF management have been busy keeping the service ship afloat. All of DAF’s workshops were kept open and the helpdesk was available 24 hours a day. And this will continue to be the case.

Wolters made it clear:

Service is part of our DNA; we will always be there for our customers. All of the staff at DAF are aware that without transport everything will grind to a halt.