CLEVELAND — Henning O. Bruns has been named the General Manager for the Daimler Trucks North America truck manufacturing plant in Rowan County.

Bruns joined Daimler in 1991 and has worked in operations functions in passenger car (Bremen, Germany and Tuscaloosa, Alabama) as well as in trucks (Sao Bernardo, Brazil and Mannheim, Germany). From 2001 until 2006, Bruns was responsible for several truck launches as product line manager for Mercedes-Benz Atego and Axor trucks. In 2007, Bruns was appointed general manager and vice president of operations for Detroit Diesel Corporation, a position he held until 2012, where he led the launch of the Detroit’s heavy duty engine family including DD13, DD15, DD16.

Mike McCurry, the former plant manager, left in November to pursue other opportunities after 27 years with the company. Mark Hernandez, plant manager in Mt. Holly, has been serving as interim manager in Cleveland.

Before taking over as plant manager in Cleveland, Bruns has served the last three years as head of product planning and strategy for Daimler Trucks, focusing on new truck markets and supporting Daimler’s China joint venture with Auman Trucks. He received his master’s degree in engineering from Texas Tech University. Bruns will assume his new role May 1.

“I am excited by the opportunity to lead the Cleveland team and return to the South, where my family has many good memories from our years in Alabama,” said Bruns. “During my time in Redford, I visited Cleveland several times and observed firsthand how passionate the Cleveland team is about building the Freightliner flagship Cascadia as the market-leading heavy duty truck in North America. Together with a strong team, I will make every effort to fulfill the increasing demand of our long-term fleet customers.”

“The Cleveland truck manufacturing plant is essential to Daimler Trucks North America’s ability to meet increasing customer demand for Freightliner’s industry-leading Cascadia Evolution and the new Western Star 5700,” said Roger Nielsen, Daimler Trucks North America’s CEO. “We welcome Henning’s extensive background and experience to this key company role.”