Barrelsaver,
In warmer climates, you may not really "need" the 1,000 deg. C temperature generated in each cylinder by your Beru glow plugs, but until each cylinder actually fires your injectors are spraying diesel fuel into those cold cylinders with nothing but the heat of compression to cause the mixture to fire.
This can cause fuel to condense in the cold cylinders and wash down past the compression rings on each cylinder.
This "wash down" breaks the lubricant film on the cylinder wall and can cause abnormal wear on the cylinder and the compression rings on each piston.
So, the momentary 1,000 deg. C glow plug cycle prevents this as when the fuel is injected (at very high pressure in a spray pattern that is more easily ignited) there is a heat source to ensure that it ignites the first time the piston comes up and compresses the fuel/air mixture.
We all probably miss that ~2 second delay once in a while when we are in a hurry, but to do it routinely cannot be good for your engines longevity.
You also need fully functional glow plugs to increase your engine's temperature and ignite the extra rich fuel/air mixture that
occurs when your Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) does it automatic regenerations to burn off accumulated soot in the filter
matrix and turn it to dry ash.
So, you can skip the glow plug cycle when your engine is started up after a cold soak, but you do so at your own peril.
Hope this helps,
Roger
Here's a link to some more information on the temperature/cycle time/overall function of the glow plugs in
you OM-642 3.0 liter V6 engine.
http://www.beru.com/download/produkte/TI04_en.pdf