Transport World Africa got a taste of MAN South Africa’s ProfiDrive at Pretoria’s Gerotek vehicle testing facility last week.

ProfiDrive is the umbrella brand name that MAN Truck & Bus gives to its professional driving academy worldwide. It is touted as driver training by professionals, for professionals.

“It’s very important to have a strong connection between man and machine,” says Dave van Graan, head of the truck sales division at MAN South Africa. “Through ProfiDrive, we want to showcase the industry proudly and demonstrate its value to the economy.”

For training purposes, the company uses a fully-laden interlink with a combination mass of 56 tonnes. MAN South Africa also offers training services to bus operators and services the sub-equatorial Africa region from Johannesburg. Classroom sessions are provided for generic ProfiDrive training.

“When we get asked to go and do specific driver training intervention for safety and economy in a fleet, we focus on the product of that particular fleet. And then it becomes more fleet-product specific of that target customer,” van Graan explains.

Drivers from a handful of transport companies had to complete a series of preventative maintenance checks, familiarising themselves with the rigs they’d be operating over the two days, before moving onto more physical evaluations.

Van Graan was quick to point out the value of pre-trip inspections. “In certain operations in South Africa we have what we call PBS (Performance Based Standards) units, which run at 65 tons combination mass. These are big machines. A very important part of the start of every journey is to do an upfront vehicle walk around assessment,” he pointed out.

This assessment, the vehicle walk around – was done under the watchful eye of industry veteran, Dave Scott. This was followed by a physical assessment evaluated by truck industry legends Jim Campbell and Pierre Sanson, and performed on the nearby ride and handling track.

Stakes were raised on day two as a more hands-on type experience employed. A physical assessment was given on the economical driving techniques used in vehicles that were under load. A panel verdict was then given as to how drivers operated their machines, in lieu of having completed the first day’s training.

“This event is a demonstration of MAN’s recognition of the hardworking drivers in the industry and raises awareness of our driver development programme,” explained van Graan.

“The idea is to provide a sample of what we are aiming to do in future. Today we want to tangibly demonstrate the learning experience and benefits – in practice – by giving everyone that participates in these two days some valuable ProfiDrive takeaways. It’s about optimising man’s performance and behaviour with their machines, to get maximum productivity and efficiency out of our rigs, and to improve the image of the trucking industry in South Africa.”

MAN South Africa chairman, Geoff du Plessis, took time out of his schedule, lending his expertise to the event. “There is so much that engineers can do but, at the end of the day, it’s the guys behind the wheel that really bring that technology to life and exploit it to the benefit of operators.

“How a driver drives and how he anticipates and avoids dangerous situations is vital to having a safe journey and getting the load to its destination. Roadcraft is a big part of it. As engineers, we can do 95% of the job, but the 5% to really make it happen lies in the hands of drivers. Economical driving, tyre and brake life, the load on the vehicle and the load on the trailer, are all in the hands of drivers. I have great respect for that,” he said.

South Africa has a fully-accredited ProfiDrive driver trainer and train the trainer in the form of MAN South Africa product engineer, Dean Temlett, who was schooled on ProfiDrive in Germany. In South Africa, ProfiDrive is comprised of three courses:

The Basics Course outlines vehicle controls and warning light functions and explains what various technologies do.

The Economy Course focuses on fuel consumption and productivity. “We try to demystify fuel consumption,” says Temlett. “Everyone has a different theory on how to save fuel, but a common language was needed and so direction in this regard was provided by our German colleagues.”

The Hill and Low Maintenance Course is a uniquely South African course that teaches drivers how to reduce wear and tear on items like brake pads and tyres.

“The total cost of ownership of trucks and trailers lies in the driver’s hands,” motivates Tremlett.

MAN South Africa is able to offer customised training courses for special applications – such as off-road driving. “We educate drivers about where and when to use diff-locks, when to engage all-wheel drive, how to manoeuvre on difficult terrain.” RAC, meanwhile, provides specialised roll-over training. “We’re looking to expand our offerings and add value in different areas. We approach companies on the basis that their drivers know how to drive their vehicles. But we want to take it to the next level,” Tremlett concludes.

Adventurer Riaan Manser is part of ProfiDrive ambassadorial programme and will assist in rolling out of what van Graan describes as “a fun-filled, educational knowledge transfer programme” going forward.