Over 140 Exhibitors Prepare for Bumper Tyrexpo Africa

Visitors to Tyrexpo Africa in Johannesburg in early March will have more than 140 exhibitors to talk business with as they look to take advantage of exclusive brand opportunities with tyre suppliers and improve the efficiency of their businesses with the latest workshop equipment, consumables and services. According to the show’s organisers, the third staging of Tyrexpo Africa (4, 5 and 6 March 2010 at the Sandton Convention Centre (SCC), Johannesburg) has experienced a late surge of exhibitor bookings taking the show to near stand space capacity.

Paul Farrant, managing director for exhibition organiser ECI International, said the stage is set for a very positive show: “Tyrexpo Africa will have something to interest visitors from all sectors of the tyre and fast fit aftermarket, especially those looking for new and exclusive tyre brands to distribute or retail, and business owners looking to upgrade or replace their workshop equipment and consumables. There has been very healthy interest in the exhibition from domestic southern African companies as well as from international suppliers, particularly Chinese tyre manufacturers, who see great export potential in South Africa and neighbouring countries.”

”This is the only exhibition in South Africa that caters exclusively for the tyre and associated industries so it’s a great opportunity for the trade to take time out to see what’s new in their business and to meet like-minded people,” he added.

Among the many tyre companies present in the Sandton Convention Centre will be Stamford Tyres (Africa) Pty, who will be using the event to build on their increasing presence in the tyre and wheel markets of South Africa. The main focus of attention on the company’s stand will be an extensive selection of tyres for the PCR, LTR, TBR, OTR, ORR and wheel sectors of the market.

Wee Kok Wah, president of the Stamford Tyres Corporation commented: “Our presence in South Africa continues to gather momentum with established bases in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town and we welcome all visitors to our stand at the show to discover the excellence of our products.”

The message from Dereck Knight of Beissbarth, a Bosch Group company, is similarly upbeat: “We’ve invested in a major presence at Tyrexpo Africa to showcase for our latest ranges of wheel alignment, tyre changers, wheel balancers, brake testers, air-conditioning testing and vehicle test lane equipment.
“I’m confident that garage and workshop owners will be impressed by the sophistication, accuracy and ease of use of our equipment. More importantly, it can save them time and improve labour-related profitability which is extremely important in a highly competitive tyre and wheel market place.”

Conference to run in parallel

For the first time, Tyrexpo Africa will feature a high profile tyre industry conference alongside the main exhibition. Among the well-known speakers recruited by ECI International are Georg Schramm, head of marketing for Apollo SA (Dunlop), who will present a paper on the macro-economic impact of the BRIC economies on the South African tyre business environment.

Sir Tom Farmer, CVO CBE KCSG DL the founder and former chief executive of the Kwik-Fit retail empire, will explain the Kwik-Fit success story and cover the challenges facing today’s tyre retailers, while Francois Ehlers from Imperial Logistics will oversee an interactive panel dialogue on the issues facing South Africa’s fleets, with special focus on roads, diesel and tyre costs, the importance of tyre maintenance and how the tyre sector can assist them in achieving their business goals.

Other speakers include David Wilson of the UK Retread Manufacturers Association, who will speak about Chinese tyres and their impact on the retreading sector and Dr. Etienne Human, Lead Consultant of South Africa’s National Waste Tyre Project and CEO SATRP, who will provide an overview of the waste tyre situation in South Africa and announce world-class plans to address the challenges being faced.

The one-day conference will take place on the middle day of the exhibition, Friday 5 March.

ECI has sought to make it easy for visitors to attend the show after working hours, with 5 March designated for extended opening hours up to 8.00 pm. The company believes that Saturday opening will also appeal to office-based workers who find it difficult to take time out Monday to Friday.  

Paul Farrant explains further: “We’ve listened to previous visitors and consulted with many of our local exhibitors in coming up with these opening times. We’ve been as flexible as we can and hope that the late-night on Friday as well as Saturday opening will draw in the visitors who would otherwise have struggled to make it to the show.”