Derek Schroff, Head of MAN of Penske Australia, is a highly experienced member of the trucking world, having worked with Penske for 18 years now.
Canadian-born, he started as a sales representative for Western Star in his native country before making the move down under in 2007.
It’s a different environment to live and work in, weather included, but he couldn’t imagine being anywhere else now.
“Australia does feel like home, and I’ve been here a while,” Derek says.
“When I do look back and you think about it, it seems like it’s gone by very quickly. The original plan was actually to be here for four years before going back. But two years into it, I knew this would be home. The weather first and foremost is fantastic.
“Culture wise, I think there’s a lot of similarities between Canadians and Australians. Even in the trucking market, there’s a lot of similarities too.
“Australia, with some of the conditions that we operate in here, even on highway trucks could be considered a vocational type application with the higher GCMs and the conditions of some of the roads that they operate on..
“It’s very similar, I think, to what we see back where I come from. I think that’s why MAN with the quality brand and the components that they use, tends to hold up quite well here in Australia.”
Celebrating 20 years in the trucking game this year, Derek has seen trends in the industry come and go in his time.
Advancements in not only manufacturing, but the consumer market, have stood out across that time.
“I had the opportunity to come here with the business back in 2007, and the industry has probably seen not only a growth in the industry, but also the offerings,” Derek says.
“And I think between what we’ve seen in the last 10 years and what we’re going to see over the next 10 to 20 years, I’m not sure there’s been such a significant shift in the industry as far as technology and safety offerings go.
“Even the buyers, they’re very well educated and understand their total cost of ownerships and their businesses very well. The presentation and the detail that we get in the trucks is far more comprehensive than you were used to 15 years ago.
“We’re getting down to those Nth degrees on fuel economy and different facets of the trucks, it’s been one of the changes in the market.”
And while he’s still less than a year into his role as Head of MAN, Derek believes that there aren’t many better positions to be in.
“Coming into the new role at the start of the year, the main reason why I took the opportunity was that with the MAN TG3 we’ve got a fantastic quality product that stands up against any other product on the market.”
