Manufacturing Council
Roger Nielsen
Roger Nielsen
COO, Daimler Trucks North America, Daimler
In his role as Chief Operating Officer, Roger Nielsen is responsible for the entire Daimler Trucks North America manufacturing network, as well as all levels of operations in Quality, Supplier Management, Logistics, and Customer Application Engineering. In addition, he oversees Thomas Built Buses, Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation and DTNA's continuous improvement programs. He was appointed COO in May 2001.
Mr. Nielsen joined DTNA (at the time, Freightliner Corporation) in 1986 as an Industrial Engineer. In the early years of his 30 year manufacturing career, he served as the Corporation's Industrial Engineering Manager then moved into operations as the Plant Manager of the Gastonia North Carolina Parts Manufacturing Plant, followed by assignments as the General Manager, Materials and Manufacturing Operations. In 1998, Mr. Nielsen transferred to Daimler in Germany where he served as Director, Production Network Planning within Daimler's Commercial Vehicles Division. In January 2001, Mr. Nielsen was promoted to President, Freightliner Specialty Vehicles Group, responsible for the American LaFrance, Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation, Orion Bus and Thomas Built Buses business units.
Under his leadership, DTNA's factories have been named by both Quality Magazine and Assembly Magazine as "The Plant of the Year". In addition, DTNA's factories have all achieved landfill-free status.
Mr. Nielsen earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Oregon State University and is a registered Professional Engineer. He is active in economic development organizations in the Carolinas and Oregon, serving on the boards of several organizations focused on regional business growth and workforce development.
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