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PROFILE FIVE MINUTES WITH Per Backteman, Scania USA Even in a rough economy, Scania USA expands its presence in North America. Scania USA is seemingly going where many others cannot: market expansion in a down economy. While still relatively new to the U.S. workboat market, Scania USA has made waves. Per Backteman, President of Scania USA, explains. Can you tell us about your background in the marine market? What was the impetus to expand the Scania brand to the U.S. Maritime Market? PB Before I became President of Scania USA Inc., I was the sales director for engines at the Scania factory in Sweden. As sales director, I had the responsibility for the sales and service worldwide, excluding Latin America. Latin America is handled from our factory in Sao Paulo Brazil. I have been in the engine business since 2002, which is when I started at Scania. Before I came to Scania, I had nearly 11 years of international experience in the hydraulic industry. I have also worked in the IT sector during my career. I have a mechanical engineering degree and after graduation I worked as a design engineer. Scania is a relatively new brand for the U.S. Maritime Market. Can you tell us what you see as the strength of your engines and organization? The reason to why we decided to expand in the U.S. is because it is a huge engine market. Not only for marine, but also for industrial applications. It is difficult to get a picture of the total market, but my estimation is that the U.S. market is probably close to 20% of the world market in our power range. We feel that our engines match up with the high demands in the U.S. as well as in Europe. In countries where Scania sells many buses and trucks, for example in Europe and Latin America, Scania is a well-known brand and all the buses and trucks are recognized as rolling advertisements. The challenge for Scania in the U.S. is for us it to make our brand as well known and recognized as the other major manufacturers. What are the biggest challenge(s) to building a sales and service network in the U.S.? Scania produced its first marine engine in 1902, so we have quite a long history and experience in the marine sector. We have been present on the marine side in the U.S. since 2000, but at the time the main focus was on the lobster fishing market, primarily on the east coast. Scania has been very successful due to its high quality, high power to weight ratio and its modular system. The Scania 12 and 16 liter engines share the same cylinder chamber. The advantage with this is that you need to keep fewer parts in stock, and it simplifies repair procedures. If you are trained on maintaining and repairing our 12 liter engine, you can also work on our 16 liter engine with great ease. The Scania organization is quite impressive. When we have visitors to our factory in Sweden, they are amazed by the quality and by the production systems used. Last year we produced approximately 90,000 engines for our three segments; trucks, buses, and industrial and marine engine markets. We produce all three segments at the factories in Sodertalje (just outside Stockholm), and also in Sao Paulo, Brazil. We know that service is the key to success. Without a well functioning service network you can only manage to sell the product once. We know that our customers must be able to get top quality service during the engine life cycle, and therefore we put great effort into developing our network. Today, we have five distributors and a number of dealers around the coastline of the U.S. We offer them frequent training and we can also offer a very high service level on parts. From our parts warehouse in Indiana we can ship to most destinations within the U.S. within 24 hours. It is a key issue for us not to let our customers down, and that is why we constantly work to further develop our network. What types of vessels/installations are you targeting in the U.S.? We focus on commercial marine applications today. A typical application for Scania would be all types of fishing boats, ferries, pilot boats, tug boats, and various naval applications. So far, we have been successful in all these segments. Left: The Scania 12 and 16 liter engines share the same cylinder chamber. The advantage with this is that you need to keep fewer parts in stock, and it simplifies repair procedures. Maritime Reporter & Engineering News 24