Peterbilt announced Wednesday that the Lowndes-based PACCAR engine plant has produced 100,000 of MX-13 truck engines in five years.
Darrin Siver, general manager for Peterbilt and vice president of PACCAR, announced the milestone to assembled plant workers and representatives from the company and other area economic industrial and economic development leaders.
“PACCAR introduced the MX-13 engine to North America in 2010,” Siver said. “It’s quite an achievement to stand here just five years later and celebrate the 100,000th engine to come through this facility going to trucks for so many satisfied customers.”
In the years since its introduction, the MX-13 has claimed 25 percent of the 13-liter engine market in the United States and Canada.
“The other people who’ve got 25 percent have been in the engine business a lot longer than we have in North America,” Siver said. “That speaks to the product, both manufactured and the design engineering. It also speaks to the company behind the engine taking care of the customers.”
PACCAR Engine Plant Manager Scott Blue said the plant has come a long way since it began producing the engine, and still has room to grow.
“We began assembly and shipping engines here in 2010 at a rate of about 25 per day,” Blue said. “We added receiving capabilities the following year and continued to expand our production and capacity. Today we’re shipping nearly six-fold the number of engines as when we started and we still have capacity to grow even more.”
Blue added the introduction of an 11-liter engine will begin at the plant next year and should push the it to record production levels.
Siver said PACCAR is planning several capacity increases for the plant over the next few years as production increases.
The plant, which is located at the Golden Triangle Industrial Park, employs about 500 people.
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