Executive Realignment
Daimler Truck reshuffles plant leadership across Germany
Four leadership transitions across three of Mercedes-Benz Trucks' most strategically significant German plants signal a deliberate recalibration of the manufacturing hierarchy as the electric transition accelerates.
There is a particular discipline to how large industrial companies rotate their leadership. Rarely are such moves merely administrative. When Daimler Truck recently announced, that it was simultaneously reshuffling the heads of its Mercedes-Benz plants in Wörth am Rhein, Gaggenau, and Mannheim, the adjustments touched facilities that together form the spine of the group's European production and powertrain strategy. Taken together, the three announcements constitute something more revealing than a standard round of appointments.
Changing of the guard at Wörth
The largest single move concerns the Mercedes-Benz plant in Wörth am Rhein, the biggest truck assembly facility in the Mercedes-Benz Trucks network. With approximately 10,000 employees and some 4.4 million trucks built since its founding in 1963, Wörth is not merely symbolic. It is where the Actros, Arocs, and Atego roll off the lines, and where, more recently, the eActros 300/400 and the eActros 600 for long-haul transport have entered series production, the latter from the end of 2024.
Effective 1st April 2026, Thomas Twork will take over as head of the plant and as Head of Production for Mercedes-Benz Trucks. He succeeds Dr. Andreas Bachhofer, who moves into a new cross-functional executive position of significant entrepreneurial scope, the precise nature of which has yet to be publicly disclosed.
Jürgen Distl, Head of Operations Mercedes-Benz Trucks, framed the transition in carefully measured terms: "I sincerely thank Andreas Bachhofer for his outstanding commitment and successful work as Head of Production Mercedes-Benz Trucks and head of the Wörth site. He has strategically advanced the production organization in Europe, enhanced efficiency with fundamentally new approaches, and shaped the Wörth site with great dedication. I wish him every success in his new role, which will be announced in the near future."
On his incoming successor, Distl was no less pointed: "I am equally pleased that we have secured Thomas Twork, a highly experienced production and operations expert, as his successor. His many years of leadership experience within the powertrain production network and his current responsibility for our Gaggenau site provide an excellent foundation for successfully developing Wörth and the Mercedes-Benz production plants in Europe."
Bachhofer's career at Daimler stretches back to 1995, when he joined as a doctoral candidate in Sindelfingen after completing his master's degree at RWTH Aachen University. His trajectory encompassed quality management, life cycle management at Mercedes-Benz Trucks, and the leadership of the production and development site in Aksaray, Turkey, before he assumed overall responsibility at Wörth in August 2021.
Twork brings an equally substantial portfolio. After 12 years in the German Armed Forces and a degree in aerospace engineering, he joined Daimler AG in 2003, developing deep expertise across axle component production, light alloy foundry operations, and production planning at Hamburg, before moving to Mannheim in 2015 and later to Gaggenau in 2019, where he has since overseen the site's strategic repositioning.
A domino falls in Gaggenau
Twork's departure from Gaggenau, of course, requires filling. The plant is no ordinary site. Founded in 1894 as Bergmann's Industriewerke, it is the oldest automotive plant in the world, a distinction that lends it an almost archaeological significance within the industry.
Today it manufactures transmissions, planetary and portal axles, and passenger car components including torque converters, while evolving into a centre of competence for electric powertrain components and hydrogen fuel cell assembly. With some 4,600 employees, it is also the largest employer in the city of Gaggenau.
Jürgen Betz, currently Head of Manufacturing Engineering Global Powersystems, will step into the Gaggenau role from 1st April 2026. Yaris Pürsün, Head of Global Powersystems Operation at Daimler Truck, expressed appreciation for his predecessor's stewardship whilst setting out clearly what Betz brings: "I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Thomas Twork for his exceptional contribution at the Gaggenau plant.
"During his time as plant manager, he has strategically and economically advanced the site as the heart of the global transmission network and positioned it as a centre of competence for electric powertrain components and hydrogen fuel cell assembly.
"At the same time, I am delighted to welcome Jürgen Betz, a strong team player with deep strategic insight and extensive experience in the global production network for powertrain components, as head of the Gaggenau site."
Betz's background is notable for its strategic rather than purely operational emphasis. Having begun his career at McKinsey & Company in 1997 after completing a degree in business administration in Mannheim, he moved into Daimler AG's procurement division in 2007, then into cost engineering in 2012, before taking responsibility in 2016 for production and network planning across the global powertrain network, with a particular focus on the electric powertrain. His profile suggests Gaggenau is being prepared for further structural transformation, not just steady-state management.
An auditor walks onto the factory floor in Mannheim
The most striking appointment of the three is arguably that at Mannheim. The plant, founded in 1908 in the Mannheim-Waldhof district, employs more than 4,600 people. It produces engines and associated components for commercial vehicles, operates one of the world's leading iron vehicle casting foundries, and houses a Battery Technology Center with its own pilot line for prototype battery cell production, placing it firmly at the intersection of Daimler Truck's combustion legacy and its electrified future.
Its outgoing head, Andreas Moch, is departing at his own request after more than 33 years at the company, including 13 years running the Mannheim site, a tenure that saw him develop the plant into what the company describes as a high-performance centre of competence for battery and high-voltage systems. He will leave at the end of July 2026. His successor, effective 1st July 2026, is Gerald Tropper, currently Head of Corporate Audit at Daimler Truck.
The oldest automotive plant in the world, the largest truck assembly plant in the Mercedes-Benz Trucks network, and one of the group's most advanced battery technology centres are all, from April and July 2026 respectively, under new stewardship
Pürsün's tribute to the outgoing plant manager was fulsome: "I would like to sincerely thank Andreas Moch for his outstanding commitment. He has significantly shaped the orientation and culture of the site and strengthened the future viability of engine production in Mannheim. He has also developed the plant into a high-performance center of competence for battery and high-voltage systems. At the same time, I am pleased to welcome Gerald Tropper to the powertrain team and the Mannheim plant. With his strategic expertise and international experience, he will lead the site successfully and continue its consistent development."
Tropper's route to plant management is unconventional in the best sense. He began his career in 1993 as an automotive mechanic apprentice at a Mercedes-Benz branch in Munich, took a degree in industrial engineering, and returned to Daimler in 2003 in roles spanning aftersales, human resources, and corporate audit. A posting to Beijing in 2014 saw him head Corporate Audit for Greater China before moving into finance and controlling roles, eventually becoming Co-CFO at the Beijing Foton Daimler Automotive (BFDA) joint venture. Since 2023, he has led Corporate Audit at Daimler Truck. His appointment signals a belief at group level that a rigorous cross-functional perspective, rather than a purely manufacturing one, is now what Mannheim needs.
The deeper logic of the reshuffle
Across all three plants, a consistent theme emerges. Each site is at some point of inflection in its strategic journey: Wörth scaling electric truck production; Gaggenau repositioning as a hub for EV powertrains and hydrogen fuel cell assembly; Mannheim deepening its mastery of high-voltage systems alongside its traditional engine competencies. The leadership choices reflect this. Twork at Wörth brings powertrain depth and a digitisation track record. Betz at Gaggenau brings strategic network planning experience with an electric powertrain bias. Tropper at Mannheim brings a financial and auditing rigour that may prove as valuable as any production engineering credential when navigating the cost pressures and capital allocation decisions that define the electric transition.
None of these appointments is the result of crisis; they read, instead, as the deliberate preparation of a manufacturing network for a decade that will test its adaptability as much as its operational excellence. The oldest automotive plant in the world, the largest truck assembly plant in the Mercedes-Benz Trucks network, and one of the group's most advanced battery technology centres are all, from April and July 2026 respectively, under new stewardship.
