The Logistics Driver Apprentices and their mentors visited the DAF Truck Assembly plant in Leyland to see how our trucks are designed, tested and built. The 710,000 sq ft assembly plant employs circa. 1,000 people with a capacity to produce over 12 trucks an hour for delivery in UK and Europe.

The CEMEX team had educational talks from the manufacturing, engineering and design teams explaining the advanced technologies now used to produce modern trucks with the latest emission and safety features.

A full guided tour of the factory was given and they were shown a truck being assembled from parts arriving at one end to driving off the line in about an hour, and it was great to see how closely the teams had to work on the line to achieve the continuous flow along the moving line and the quality control involved.  A tour of the huge on-site parts facility and logistics was also given which stocks and distributes parts across the UK with a 24/7 delivery service with 150 staff.  More than 2 million parts are sent out per year!

The visit is part of the wider development of the Apprentices as they work their way through the training scheme. The Apprentices are currently in the process of passing their HGV license tests and beginning on road training. The team at DAF were impressed with CEMEX’s commitment to train young drivers and we have had great feedback from our guys on how informative and enjoyable the experience had been.