Manufacturing 2023: KOEN KNIPPENBERG

VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER, NEW RIVER VALLEY PLANT, VOLVO TRUCKS, DUBLIN

Published August 30, 2023 by Virginia Business

A longtime Volvo Group employee, Knippenberg moved from his home country of Belgium to become vice president and general manager of the New River Valley Volvo Trucks plant in April 2022. Before that, he was vice president for the company’s plant in Ghent, Belgium, as well as managing director for Volvo Group Belgium for five years. For two years, Knippenberg was director of operations for Volvo Trucks North America at the Dublin plant.

The 1.6 million-square-foot, nearly 300-acre plant in Dublin is Volvo’s largest truck manufacturing facility and employs 3,600 people. It produces all Volvo trucks sold in North America. Knippenberg replaced former Dublin Vice President and General Manager Franky Marchand, who was promoted to senior vice president of international manufacturing of Volvo Group Trucks Operations last year.

NRV builds the Volvo VNR Electric semi-truck, which plays a crucial role in Volvo’s target of achieving 35% of global vehicle sales as fully electric by 2030.

In 2020, Volvo Trucks began accepting customer orders for the initial model of the Volvo VNR Electric, and commercial production started in 2021 at NRV.

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