{"id":11770,"date":"2016-11-04T16:17:06","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T20:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/keep-on-trucking-an-overlooked-lever-for-sustainability\/"},"modified":"2016-11-04T16:17:06","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T20:17:06","slug":"keep-on-trucking-an-overlooked-lever-for-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/keep-on-trucking-an-overlooked-lever-for-sustainability\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep on trucking: An overlooked lever for sustainability"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meet Daimler Trucks<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As consumer attention sharpens on inefficient passenger cars as the villain of climate change and Tesla as the hero, we overlook a different culprit: heavy-duty trucks, the vehicle category that constitutes 5% of wheels on the road, but accounts for 20% of vehicle emissions [1].<\/p>\n

Daimler Trucks (\u201cDT\u201d) is establishing itself as an alternative hero in this overlooked category through technical innovation, but the road is long, and more progress is needed, particularly in R&D investments and realizing network efficiencies through technology.<\/p>\n

Climate pressures on a complex system<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

DT is a powerhouse in trucking, supplying 40%+ of heavy-duty trucks in the US [2].\u00a0 Through a capital-intensive manufacturing process involving 86,000+ global employees, DT transforms raw materials and parts from thousands of suppliers into 500,000+ of the most sophisticated trucks in the world every year [3].\u00a0 This complex global operating model is vulnerable to climate change effects on a variety of dimensions.<\/p>\n

At the simplest level, DT is heavily exposed to regulatory risk resulting from climate change pressures, particularly newly legislated emissions targets in the US.\u00a0 These pressures necessitate changes in R&D and DT\u2019s innovation engine that will strain budgets and margins.<\/p>\n

In August 2016, the US EPA passed legislation requiring improvements in fuel efficiency projected to yield 1.1 billion metrics tons in CO2 reduction through 2027, and $230 billion in \u201cnet benefits to society\u201d [4].\u00a0 DT will be forced to incorporate expensive technologies into its trucks to meet these targets, and also to ramp up its innovation capabilities to meet future, more stringent targets.\u00a0 In practice this will mean an expansion of its already robust $1.44 billion R&D budget [3], additional PP&E investments, and development of new types of human capital and production processes.<\/p>\n

Less obvious are the ramifications of exogenous changes such as extreme weather and political instability on the environment in which the DT supply chain operates.\u00a0 Both extreme weather and political instability can be interpreted as additional sources of variability in a complex and lean production system.\u00a0 DT factories and offices are located around the world and in many emerging markets (e.g. Brazil, India) [3], and the diaspora of their supply chain actors \u2013 suppliers, distributors \u2013 is even greater.\u00a0 Extreme weather events and political unrest that starve the system of components and introduce variability have the same ramifications in the DT supply chain as they do in a factory line: reduced output and increased unit costs.<\/p>\n

Innovating the problem away?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Not one to sit on its laurels, DT is embracing the challenges posed by climate change through R&D investment and technology innovation.\u00a0 In July 2016, DT unveiled \u201cMercedes-Benz Urban eTruck\u201d, the first working prototype of an all-electric big rig in the world, just one year after developing the \u201cInspiration\u201d a self-driving Freightliner truck [5,6].\u00a0 Taken together, these innovations hold the potential to leapfrog existing regulatory requirements and to make trucking networks vastly more efficient, but they are years or decades from commercial viability.\u00a0 In the nearer term, DT regularly develops product improvements that result in efficiency gains such as improved drive trains and body designs.\u00a0 Importantly, while innovation and R&D may be the answer to climate change regulation for DT, that is a direct result of the premium margins they\u2019ve been able to sustain through their success to date, and not every OEM will be able to fund the R&D journey needed to address climate change with technology.<\/p>\n

A more generalizable solution to climate-change-induced supply chain challenges is DT\u2019s moves towards reducing coordination costs between supply chain actors, and enforcing sustainable practices in the operations of its partners through \u201cSupplier Sustainability Standards\u201d.\u00a0 A major strategic pillar of DT\u2019s sustainability strategy is to increase local procurement \u2013 for example from 60% to 80% local content in Beijing [7].\u00a0 Operationally, this reduces reliance on single suppliers that can be \u201ctaken down\u201d by exogenous events such as extreme weather or political unrest, decreasing the risk in the system.<\/p>\n

Hitting the gas pedal<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

DT is at a crossroads, and to succeed, it needs to accelerate its current technology bets, and expand its role beyond a traditional OEM.\u00a0 While DT\u2019s technical innovations in electric and self-driving trucks are impressive, they are far from commercialization.\u00a0 To embrace a future of zero-emission trucks, DT needs to make a Tesla-Gigafactory-sized bet and invest to commercialize these products.\u00a0 It also needs to think more broadly about how it can make the entire trucking ecosystem more sustainable \u2013 for example, by backing innovative startups like FR8 Revolution, which is using algorithms to more effectively load and route trucks, leading to lower costs and emissions for trucking companies [8].<\/p>\n

Climate change looms large, and a truckload of change is needed to address it \u2013 but DT is ready for the challenge.<\/p>\n

(773 words)<\/p>\n

\n

[1] The New York Times, New Rules Require Heavy Duty Trucks to Reduce Emissions by 25%, August 17, 2016, http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/08\/17\/business\/energy-environment\/epa-truck-emission-standards.html?_r=0<\/p>\n

[2] Statista, Class 8 Truck Manufacturers Market Share in the United States as of July 2016, https:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/274937\/market-share-of-truck-manufacturers-in-the-united-states\/<\/p>\n

[3] Daimler, Daimler Trucks at a Glance Edition 2016, March 2016, https:\/\/www.daimler.com\/documents\/company\/business-units\/daimler-trucks-ataglance-2016-en.pdf<\/p>\n

[4] Environmental Protection Agency, EPA and DOT Finalize Greenhouse Gas and Fuel Efficiency Standards for Heavy Duty Trucks, August 16, 2016, https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/newsreleases\/heavydutyaug162016<\/p>\n

[5] TechCrunch, Mercedes-Benz Shows Off The First Fully Eletric Heavy Urban Transport Truck, July 27, 2016,\u00a0https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2016\/07\/27\/mercedes-benz-shows-off-the-first-fully-electric-heavy-urban-transport-truck\/<\/p>\n

[6] Bloomberg Businessweek, Daimler Veers Into Maximum Overdrive, May 14, 2015,\u00a0http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2015-05-14\/daimler-s-freightliner-tests-self-driving-truck-in-nevada<\/p>\n

[7] Daimler, Sustainability Report 2015,\u00a0https:\/\/www.daimler.com\/documents\/sustainability\/other\/daimler-sustainability-report-2015.pdf<\/p>\n

[8] The Wall Street Journal, Funding Snapshot: Trucking Software Startup FR8 Revolution Raises $8.5m Series A,\u00a0http:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/funding-snapshot-trucking-software-startup-fr8-revolution-raises-8-5m-series-a-1464713857<\/p>\n

Images courtesy of Mercedes-Benz and FirstPost<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your friendly neighborhood 18-wheeler may hold the key to battling climate change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1940,"featured_media":11910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[1802,1622,1804,1803,1805,17,14,1353],"class_list":["post-11770","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-autonomous-vehicles","category-climate","category-daimler","category-electric-trucks","category-mercedes-benz","category-supply-chain","category-sustainability","category-trucking"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/climate-change-challenge-2016\/","yoast_head":"\nKeep on trucking: An overlooked lever for sustainability - Technology and Operations Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/keep-on-trucking-an-overlooked-lever-for-sustainability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Keep on trucking: An overlooked lever for sustainability - 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