Trax – All in the Design

Leading balancing weight producer Trax, received much positive feedback about its lead-free weight design during the Essen show. This was at least partly due to the company’s excellent position in hall one, but was also because the 2006 exhibition was the first Reifen Show since the lead weight ban came into place last July. Since 2004 the company has ramped up production by some 15 per cent to 100 million units a year and anticipates signing an OE deal with at a large French car manufacturer soon.

According to managing director, John Halle, another direct result of producing quality non-lead weights is that the clip design has become more critical than ever before. Halle is confident that the hard work his company has put into developing its new lead-free products solves this problem. And Trax must have got something right. For the first time in 26 years Trax now has three distributors in Italy, for example, which were won purely on product performance rather than price, says Halle.

In addition, during the course of the show, a number of German outlets switched Trax weights apparently on the basis of quality. For Halle these development solidify Trax’ position as the number two weight manufacturer in Europe. The company is number one in the UK.

The only difficulty the company is facing at the moment (and it is challenging one) is the increased raw material prices that have been forced on it by speculative commodity purchasing by Chinese manufacturers. “It’s turbulent times for commodity buyers,” observes Halle, explaining that in one week in May, the price of Zinc rocketed 20 per cent. As a result Trax’ prices have inevitably had to increase too.