On the afternoon of April 14, 2021, as the NEW J5P tractor under FAW TRUCKS brand rolled off the assembly line in the Dar es Salaam Industrial Zone, the FAW TRUCKS KD plant in Tanzania celebrated its roll-off ceremony for its 100th truck production.

Since 2013, FAW TRUCKS and its Tanzanian partner has been advancing the KD project since it was first proposed in 2013. Despite all kinds of setbacks in the past eight years, the two sides have never given up on their efforts. Through concerted efforts by the FAW TRUCKS teams based in China and overseas and the local partner, the plant has been eventually completed and put into operation in 2020. The start of the construction was full of difficulties, with the plant design, process layout, and future planning, staff training among other matters all to be guided and implemented by FAW TRUCKS. As there were no KD plants established in Tanzania before and no personnel with relevant working experience were available, the agent had to recruit a large number of domestic or even foreign personnel and then arranged for them to go through intensive training and centralized selection, and finally a unique KD team was set up.

Mr. Ali, the director of FAW TRUCKS Tanzanian partner, said in his speech at the roll-off ceremony that although facing the serious threat posed by COVID-19, the FAW TRUCKS overseas team had successfully demonstrated the professionalism of FAW TRUCKS by delivering instruction through combined remote guidance and on-site teaching. With the joint efforts of the FAW TRUCKS team and local workers, the Tanzanian workers successfully completed the task and realized a breakthrough in the production of 100 trucks. “At first, local customers didn’t even believe that these locally assembled trucks would be of the same quality as those imported directly from China,” he added, “But it turned out that we did it. More than 80 of the trucks sold have passed the test by FAW’s technical team and run well on the road.”

Hiring more than 100 employees and equipped with a series of processes from general assembly, coating, modification to testing, the plant is the most advanced assembly plant in Tanzania and also a leader in the industry across the entire East Africa. The 100th truck rolling off the production line proves that the plant has acquired initial capabilities for mass production. At present, the assembly plant is the first and only truck assembly plant in Tanzania. The completion of the KD plant marks a milestone event in the history of Tanzania. In addition to the great significance to sales, it has also created the Tanzanian KD standard, which helped the Tanzanian industry take a big step forward, and FAW TRUCKS, once again, set a benchmark for the future development of the industry overseas.

The FAW TRUCKS Tanzania team will take the opportunity of the 100th truck production at the new plant to further deepen cooperation with local partners. With boosted confidence in development, it will intensify efforts to improve the total factor capacity and strive to provide more high-quality products for Tanzania and its neighboring countries.