Detlef Jurack drives the special “20 Years of Actros” anniversary model

One more pull on the lever of the tensioning strap – and the last pallet is secured. Detlef Jurack climbs down from the semitrailer. The tightly secured transmission shafts glisten in the sun. It's important that they are not damaged during transport. Detlef wipes some beads of sweat from his forehead. On the way to the cab, he takes off his gloves. He opens the door – above the steps a sign is illuminated. “Isn't that cool?” he asks and points to the anniversary monogram. His Actros is a very special one. 

20 years after the Actros was first introduced, Mercedes-Benz has produced an anniversary model of which only 200 trucks have been built. Detlef's company Dirostahl in Remscheid managed to obtain one of them. “The best truck which I have ever sat in!” says Detlef. He also made sure he was the one to pick it up from the factory. The 59 year-old took his son and his brother with him for the trip to the factory in Wörth. “When I saw it for the first time, both of them had big smiles on their faces. The truck was parked behind a glass pane. I was pacing up and down in front of it like a little kid,” explains Detlef, while he checks the papers and then can't stifle a grin himself. His enthusiasm hasn't waned since.

A smell of fire and metal.

Dirostahl has been making high-quality forged parts for generations. The company has grown to become a leading family-run business in the field of open die forging and ring rolling. The near 500 staff use cutting-edge technology to produce forged parts up to 15 metres in length and seamlessly rolled rings up to 3.5 metres in diameter. The largest shafts and rods can easily weigh up to 35 tonnes. In the forge, the smell of fire and metal rises up into one's nostrils. At the edge of shop floor, there are unmachined parts measuring several metres. The steel has stopped glowing but, even at several metres distance, you can sense that it is still hot enough to pick up some serious burns: during the forging process, the steel is heated to up to 1200 degrees centigrade.

The real action, though, is happening at the centre of the shop floor. That's where the men of Dirostahl are in the process of working on a 12-tonne block made of yellow-orange glowing steel. Four flanged shafts will come out of the hydraulic forged press. Again and again, glowing parts fly off into the air from the enormous block. The men take every opportunity they can to put some distance between themselves and the heat.