Celebrating its centennial this year, Paccar, which manufactures heavy-duty, on- and off-road Class 8 trucks sold around the world under the Kenworth, Peterbilt, DAF and Foden nameplates, has earned a profit for 66 consecutive years and paid a dividend every year since 1941. Paccar also manufactures and markets industrial winches under the Braden, Gearmatic and Carco nameplates and competes in the truck parts aftermarket through its dealer network. In the first quarter Paccar Winch introduced an industry-first monitoring system with advanced electronic sensing capability for enhanced safety and data logging.
Tom Plimpton, president, credits Paccar's success to strong commercial vehicle growth and to the excellent long-term supplier partnership that Paccar has developed over the past decades. Strong partnerships, he says, encourage collaboration on "new technologies, manufacturing methods and leading-edge logistic systems, all of which benefit our customers." It doesn't hurt that freight levels are historically high and that the U.S. and Canadian Class 8 industry truck retail sales are projected to be 15% over 2004 levels. The Western European forecast is up 5% over last year.
Special Recognition
In 2005, Paccar was named to the Wall Street Journals' Honor Roll List, which recognizes companies that earned straight-A ratings measured on five-year average compound annual total returns to shareholders through year-end.
IW 50 Best Manufacturing Company
