Imerys Trial Michelin XZM Tyres

St Austell-based Imerys Minerals Ltd has entered into a preferred supplier agreement with Michelin and ATS Euromaster, for the supply and fitment of Michelin XZM radial tyres across its fleet of 50 forklift trucks.

Imerys has been a long term Michelin customer for over 25 years, but the start of a new contract hire agreement in 2006 saw a number of new forklifts delivered with a mixture of solid and pneumatic tyres fitted from a range of manufacturers, providing the customer with an opportunity to undertake its own extensive tyre tests.

“The trial allowed us to benchmark the Michelin XZM tyres against a number of other brands which were fitted as original equipment to trucks supplied by Barloworld Hire,” explains Steve Truscott, Engineering Manager – Mobile Plant, at Imerys Minerals.

“We have always leaned towards the Michelin XZM tyres in the past due to their proven resistance to cuts and damage, combined with strong wear characteristics. We’ve run other trials in the past to ensure the Michelin tyres provided good cost-per-hour benefits, but this recent delivery gave us the chance to conduct a much broader test involving four different makes of tyre,” he adds.

The Imerys fleet consists mainly of 2.5 tonne counterbalance forklift trucks, which are used to transport raw materials and operate across a number of sites throughout the South West of England. This sees the trucks working in a mixture of light duty and aggressive environments, with approximately 30 per cent of the fleet operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

All tyres supplied to Imerys are fitted by ATS Euromaster, which provides a complete on-site tyre service solution using a fleet of mobile service vans. In addition to offering a long tyre life, Michelin XZM tyres offer high levels of traction combined with low rolling resistance. They also offer significantly improved driver comfort in comparison with solid tyres, thanks to better shock and vibration absorption, which ensures better load protection, reduced machine wear and fewer shocks being transmitted through the driver’s body, which in turn helps to reduce fatigue and back-ache.