Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) is adding a second shift at its Freightliner Truck manufacturing plant in Cleveland, N.C., in part to help work through backorders nearly six months long for Cascadia Class 8 highway tractor. The ramp-up will nearly double the daily production rates at the Cleveland plant by October this year, the company noted.
By the end of this year, DTNA said it expects to add 1,100 new jobs at the N.C. plant, including approximately 1,072 shop employees and an additional 29 engineering and support positions to facilitate increased production.
The company noted that a majority of those positions will be filled with recalled workers who were laid off in 2009.
In conjunction with the ramp-up at the Cleveland plant, DTNA said it also plans hire 100 employees at its nearby components and logistics plant in Gastonia, N.C. The 90 new hourly employees in the factory and 10 salaried and hourly office employees primarily will staff a second and third shift.
DTNA noted that it expects to begin hiring new employees in early February, with its new production shift at the Cleveland N.C. plant slated to be at full capacity by September.
