Mack Inaugurates Drive-Axle Line After $30 Million Plant Investment
HAGERSTOWN, Md. — Mack Trucks inaugurated its new drive-axle line here, the result of a two-year, $30 million investment that is part of the company’s strategy of vertical integration of powertrain components — engines, transmissions and axles.
“Bringing axle production to Hagerstown allows us to oversee the manufacturing process — from design to assembly — and deliver the high-quality components our customers depend on,” Mack President Stephen Roy said at an Oct. 13 plant event. “Building Mack engines, transmissions and now axles under one roof also demonstrates our continued commitment to integrated powertrain design.”
The company’s axles are standard on most of its trucks, although it still offers axles from vendors such as Dana Holding Corp. and Meritor Inc. as options.
The importance of optimizing the interaction between engines and transmissions has been strongly endorsed, by both truck makers and independent component manufacturers such as Cummins Inc. and Eaton Corp. Axles are the next logical step in the chain, Mack marketing manager Stuart Russoli said.
“A lot of this is rear-axle ratios . . . they play a role,” Russoli said. The ratios measure how many turns of the driveshaft out of the transmission are needed to roll the truck’s wheels one complete turn.
The company’s engineers like ratios between 2.6 and 2.8-to-1 for Pinnacle highway tractors, while vocational axles remain above 3-to-1.
The ratios are planned with precision for each application and tractor, Russoli said, adding that the process is easier when all three major powertrain components are designed and built in-house.
The company places a “gold” bulldog hood ornament (actually made of brass) on Macks containing the full proprietary powertrain.
The more efficient the workings of a truck’s powertrain, the better the vehicle’s fuel economy, manufacturers say. Roy said this is especially important because of demands by truck operators for better mileage and because of federal regulations on greenhouse-gas emissions.
Mack, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, is part of the Volvo Group. The plant here, started in 1961 by Mack, assembles engines and transmissions for Mack and its sister company, Volvo Trucks, as well as Mack axles.
Pierre Jenny, the Mack plant’s vice president of operations, said there was no need to extend the building’s footprint. Instead, the company rearranged operations inside to come up with 100,000 square feet for axle work.
Managers said the plant churns out about 110 axles a day and that it hired 100 more employees.
For now, Mack will be the only customer for Hagerstown-made axles. A Volvo spokeswoman said Volvo does not offer a proprietary axle in North America.
Mack is making drive axles for 6x4 trucks and tractors, where both of the vehicle’s rear axles are driven. As with Volvo, the company offers a 6x2/4x2 convertible truck with a lift axle, but in that special case the lift axle is made by Link Manufacturing Ltd., while the drive axle comes from Meritor.
The first axles here were made in April and the company ramped up production, adding new axle models once details on earlier models were worked out.
With the use of state-of-the-art machine tools, some of the parts are machined to tolerances of 0.0001 inch, or one ten-thousandth.
Mack and Volvo are significant consumers of truck transportation as well as providers of vehicles. Jenny said Mack ships about 20 truckloads a day, of engines, transmissions and axles, to the Mack truck assembly plant in Macungie, Pennsylvania.
Volvo ships engines and transmissions to its New River Valley factory in Dublin, Virginia.
Hagerstown is the largest city of Washington County, Maryland. The county helped on the expansion with two types of financing worth $4.2 million, mainly a loan, Jenny said.
Most of the plant’s work is engines. Mack and Volvo power plants come off the same assembly line.
Mack makes 11- and 13-liter engines here, but the 16-liter for the Mack Titan trucks are made in Sweden.
Automated manual transmissions — M-Drive for Mack and I-Shift for Volvo — were added in 2012. Mack also makes a classic manual transmission, the T300, here. Demand is significant enough that the plant is running three shifts a day.
