Global news
The Engineering department - constantly focussed on innovation and improvement
Terberg Special Vehicles has an Engineering department with a staff of approximately 70. Many of them are automotive engineers, but there are also mechanical engineers, software developers and testers and other specialists. The department supports the production plants in the Netherlands, Malaysia and the USA as well as after-market third line support. We are in the transition to a Global Engineering department with the Benschop site as a knowledge centre.
In the past my department mostly dealt with just engineering. Nowadays the products are so complex that you have to spend more time thinking about what you develop and what our customers expect. You have to gather lots of information, and the earlier in the process you do that, the better. Basically, good engineering means that when our products reach the market they perform as expected, without teething problems which need modifications. For CTO projects the Sales department defines the request based on a customer enquiry. We then decide if we can do it and if it is a modification which might also be relevant to other customers. An interesting example is a recent request for a TT222 with a shorter wheelbase, because the customer needs a tight turning circle to work in tunnels.
Ronald van Zoelen, Director Engineering, explained how the department operates “We have an engineering roadmap, which defines larger projects and our strategy. That covers New Product Development (NPD), i.e. the development of new vehicles, re-engineering existing vehicles for different drivelines (electric, LPG or H 2 ), and product updates. The NPD projects start with a detailed project plan defining the scope, resources and responsibilities. Because the products are getting more complex, production volumes
are higher and we want to develop a high- quality product, it is becoming increasingly important to look two to three years ahead. Getting the correct information from the market is essential. We also deal with smaller projects, mostly customer-specific modifications. Those Customise to Order (CTO) projects include special hydraulic systems for trailers, chassis modifications for unusual loads, and much more.
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TERBERG SPECIAL VEHICLES MAGAZINE 2023/2024
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