Volvo Trucks North America announced it will add a second shift at its New River Valley plant in Dublin, Va., beginning May 17.

The company expects to add about 300 jobs as a result.
The New River plant currently has about 2,200 people who produce 79 Volvo trucks and 36 Mack trucks a day. The additional shift will affect only the Volvo assembly line.
The second shift will increase production of Volvo VNs from 73 per day to 112 per day. Volvo VHD production will remain at six units per day.
Scott Kress, senior vice president of sales & marketing, said, "The decision to increase production at New River Valley is due to strong customer demand for the Volvo VN, both from current and new on-highway customers.
Volvo Trucks increased its deliveries during January by 19%, compared with the year-earlier period. The increase is attributable primarily to very strong deliveries in North and South America.
"Our orders have been very robust over the last several months, including February, and we expect this will continue. Orders from our dealers to replenish their stocks have also been excellent. Their demand for stock trucks means Volvo Truck dealers see a need for inventory on the ground to satisfy the needs of owner-operators and small fleets, both of which are starting to buy again."
Kress said the demand is being driven by rising fleet utilization, which is putting a lot of stress on the older trucks many fleets are running. The average age of trucks in service is now about 7.3 years, he said.
"By increasing our production, we are also letting our customers know that Volvo intends to deliver trucks in a timely way, avoiding the excessive delivery times the industry experienced during the late 1990," he said.