Scania Southeast Asia MD Heba Eltarifi said her immediate focus is to continue the good work that Scania Malaysia has undertaken in the country.
Up Close with Heba Eltarifi
Heba Eltarifi, the new Managing Director of Scania Southeast Asia started her role in January, 2021 amidst the pandemic. 2021 also marks Scania Malaysia celebrating its first 50 years here in Malaysia.
In an interview with Truck & Bus News, Heba shares her immediate focus, business insights and how she intends to make the most of market opportunities.
“As I have just arrived early this year, my immediate focus is to ensure that all the good work that Scania Malaysia has undertaken during their first 50 years in helping customers achieve greater profitability with sustainable transport solutions continues. Especially during these challenging times, we have and will continue to support our customers as we emerge out of the pandemic. The economy and the market look to be gearing-up for growth already as we speak and we will be on this growth journey with our customers,” said Heba.
This year, she said, as they celebrate Scania Malaysia’s first 50 years together with the customer, she intends to see that their customers continue to experience profitability through good and tough times.
In regards to sales performance, she commented, like most businesses, last year was an extremely challenging year for some and extremely dynamic for others. The trend continues into this year.
“Vehicle sales were healthy but they could have been better. As our nationwide workshops continued to stay open during all movement control order (MCO) levels, we were able to support our customers in essential services. This helped keep our services sales stable throughout the year. Customers were looking for solutions on how to make their fleet more efficient given the challenges of inter-district and inter-state restrictions and we delivered. The signs in the market are looking more positive this year.”
Making Inroads into the Urban Segment Gradually
Scania, Heba stressed, has always been and will continue to be strong in the long haulage segment. “We are known for being the best in fuel economy, safety and for lowering carbon emissions in this segment. We are also slowly making inroads into the urban segment, and our XT models designed for tough conditions have been well received by the market.”
To celebrate Scania Malaysia’s first 50 years, Heba shared, the company is running a campaign.
Starting from approximately RM9,888 per month on-the-road, inclusive of repair and maintenance contract, eager customers – especially in the container application – could get their hands on a brand new Scania truck. This campaign, she pointed out, is an affordable way for many to experience profit with Scania, so to say.
The on-going Covid-19 pandemic presents both challenges and opportunities to the industry. Heba noted that the bus and coach industry was going through a turbulent time last year and coming into this year too.
“As we speak, the inter-district and even some inter-state travel is now allowed. This bodes well for the industry – hopefully this sees our bus and coach customers bounce back and recover. We are sure to be by their side as they ramp up their fleet operations. On the flip side, the demand for trucks has increased – through the movement of goods fuelled by local retail consumption – albeit mostly online – and international trade. Classified as essential services, since late last year and going into this year, the need for transportation of goods has increased.”
Scania, she continued, is in a good position to support both new and current customers in this growing economy. After all, when the restrictions started at the same time last year, Scania was first off the blocks to support their customers with Resting Contracts and Easy Pay by Scania Credit Malaysia, Heba astutely pointed out. She also added that Ramp-up Service packages were implemented when their customers came out of restrictions.
“The pandemic opened up many people’s minds to flexibility and different ways to run a business, to conserve business profitability, of course, as well as to conserve the environment and the planet. Taking care of our environment has become even more imperative and Scania continues to work closely with our customers on this. Scania as a world-leading provider of transport solutions, together with our partners and customers, will continue to drive the shift towards a sustainable transport system. This means creating a world of mobility that is better for business, society and the environment.”
Scania Sustainable Ambitious and Targets
Moving forward, Heba stressed, Scania will continue to minimise carbon emission both in the products it designs and in its own business practices. Therefore, she said, Scania became the first major manufacturer of heavy commercial vehicles to have their far-reaching climate targets officially approved by the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) back in April 2020. Scania is committed to achieving the Paris agreement goals of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
“The SBTi approval recognises that Scania’s targets align with the strictest decarbonisation pathway defined to date. The targets that Scania has set include both direct and indirect emissions from its operations, as well as emissions from when the products are in use. Thus, it is only natural for Scania to work in close cooperation with our customers in operating their trucks, buses and engines with less climate impact while their business remains profitable. We will continue the journey with them via Scania Ecolution,” she elaborated.
The Scania Ecolution, she commented, is a tailor-made partnership between Scania and customers that helps to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. This is achieved through vehicle optimisation and agreed fuel and CO2 emissions reduction targets.
“Becoming Scania Ecolution partner allows our customers to build a variety of cost-efficient, low-carbon solutions – choosing from customised and optimised heavy trucks, buses and coaches to optimised services. All options help to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions in their operations. In fact, late last year, despite the challenging times, we hit a milestone with all our Ecolution customers by reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions equivalent to planting approximately 10,000 trees. And the success continues on, “she explained.
On top of this, she added, this success can be further fuelled by Scania Data Driven Services. “This is the new era of logistics. With connectivity in the entire fleet, rich information for vehicle and driver behaviour would help businesses make real-time and informed decisions to maintain uptime and reduced operational costs. I am also looking forward to a future in Malaysia that is more connected, electrified and possibly autonomous! These global industry trends will definitely come here sooner than expected,” she concluded with an enthusiastic nod to the future.
独家专访：斯堪尼亚东南亚区董事经理赫芭●艾尔达里菲
2021年1月，新冠肺炎大流行期间，赫芭●艾尔达里菲（Heba Eltarifi）接任为斯堪尼亚东南亚区董事经理。2021年也是马来西亚斯堪尼亚庆祝在大马营运的首个50年。
赫芭在《卡客车新闻》的专访中分享了她当前的工作重点，商业见解及她将如何利用市场的商机。
赫巴说：“我今年年初才刚到公司。我当前的工作重点是确保马来西亚斯堪尼亚在首个50年里以可持续性运输解决方案，实现更大利润的美好工作能够延续下去。尤其在目前这个充满挑战性的时刻，我们将继续支持客户直到摆脱冠病大流行。就在我们说话的这个当儿，经济与市场有望加速增长，而我们将与客户一起成长。”
她说，今年当马来西亚斯堪尼亚与客户一同庆祝在马来西亚营运的首个50年，她希望客户不论在美好或艰难的时期都能继续体验盈利的能力。
在业绩表现方面，她表示，就如大部分的企业一样，去年对于某些企业来说是极富挑战性的一年，而对于另一些企业而言则是极富活力的一年。这一趋势将持续至今年。
“汽车销售量良好，但本来可以更好。随着我们全国的修车厂在行动管制令（MCO）期间持续营业，我们能够在基本服务方面支援客户，而这将有助于维持我们全年的服务销售稳定性。在禁止跨县跨州的挑战下，客户正在寻找能让他们车队更有效率的解决方案，而我们不负众望。市场的种种迹象显示今年将会有所好转。”
逐步涉足城市领域
赫芭强调，斯堪尼亚在长途运输市场上素来表现强劲，他们将继续保持这个势头。“在这个领域中，我们一向以省油、安全及较低的碳排放而闻名。我们也正在逐步涉足城市领域，我们针对严酷条件而设计的XT款型深获市场好评。”
赫巴分享说，配合马来西亚斯堪尼亚庆祝营运50周年，该公司展开了一个优惠活动。从每月最低9，888令吉上路价，包含修理与养护合约，客户，特别是集装箱业者就能购得一辆全新的斯堪尼亚卡车。她指出，该促销活动让许多人能以负担得起的方式拥有和体验斯堪尼亚卡车如何为他们带来盈利。
冠病大流行的持续将为这个行业带来挑战和商机。她注意到去年的巴士和长途客车行业经历了动荡的一年，今年也是如此。
“就在我们说话的此刻，政府已经允许跨县和某些州属能够跨州。这对我们的巴士和长途客车行业来说是个好兆头，希望乘客的回升能够使该行业复苏起来。我们会在他们加强车队营运时给予支持。另一方面，卡车的需求因本地零售推动货物流动而提升—-尽管大部分来自线上和国际贸易。自去年年底到今年，被列为基本服务的货物运输需求量也相对提高。”
她续说，斯堪尼亚在这个不断发展的经济中处于有利地位，可以为新旧客户提供支持。毕竟，当这些限制在去年同期间开始时，斯堪尼亚是首家排除障碍，透过马来西亚斯堪尼亚信贷（Scania Credit Malaysia） 的休息合同（Resting Contracts）和轻松付款（Easy Pay） 来支援他们的客户。她也补充说，当他们的客户脱离限制后，他们实施了提升服务（Ramp-up Service）配套。
“冠病大流行让许多人不再墨守成规，以灵活和不同的方式经营业务，当然为了保持业务盈利能力，保护环境和地球。保护我们的环境更是当务之急，而斯堪尼亚继续在这方面与客户密切配合。作为世界领先的运输解决方案供应商，斯堪尼亚将与我们的客户和伙伴联手继续推动可持续性运输系统发展。这意味着创造一个更适合企业、社会及环境的移动世界。”
斯堪尼亚的可持续性野心与目标
未来，赫巴强调，斯堪尼亚将继续在其产品设计和业务中将碳排放降至最低。她说，斯堪尼亚具有深远影响的科学碳减排放目标，已在2020年4月正式获得科学碳目标提倡联合体 （SBTI）的批准，成为首家通过该批准的重型商用车制造商。斯堪尼亚立志实践巴黎合约目标， 将全球平均气温升幅控制在工业化前水平以上的1.5°C 之内。
她解释：“科学碳目标提倡联合体认可斯堪尼亚的目标与迄今为止最严格的脱碳定义一致。斯堪尼亚所制定的目标包含直接与非直接排放，以及其产品被运用时的排放。因此，斯堪尼亚与我们的客户在他们卡车、巴士及引擎的操作方面密切合作，在企业盈利的同时降低对气候的影响。我们将继续通过斯堪尼亚Ecolution与他们同行。”
斯堪尼亚Ecolution，她说是一个斯堪尼亚和其伙伴之间量身打造的伙伴关系，协助降低油耗量和碳排放。这可通过车辆的优化和商定的燃油与碳减排放目标来实践。
“成为斯堪尼亚Ecolution伙伴，让我们的客户能够建立一个具有各种成本效益的低碳解决方案—从定制和优化的重型卡车、巴士及长途客车选择到优化的服务。事实上，尽管去年充满挑战，我们与所有的Ecolution客户达到了一个里程碑，降低了油耗量和碳排放，相等于大约种植10，000棵树木。这个成功将继续……”她解释。
除此之外，她补充，斯堪尼亚数据导向服务将进一步推动这一成功。“这是物流业的新世代。有了整个车队的连接性，车辆和驾驶员行为的丰富信息将协助业主做出实时和明智的决定，保持出勤率和降低运营成本。我期待一个更有连接性、电气化及自动化的马来西亚！这些目标和行业趋势将会比预期中更快的到来！”她总结。
