Trelleborg to Pursue Service Goals through Dealership Network in 2011

Having taken the reins of Trelleborg Wheel Systems UK in September 2010, managing director John Westwood believes there is an important job to do in the distribution of agricultural tyres at the dealer level. As a whole, Westwood explains that TWS’s philosophy has undergone a “change of focus”, altering the emphasis “from products to solutions”. The implication of this attitude is that TWS will try to find ways to show the value of choosing its self-professed premium products, which often include the mounts in addition to the tyres. When Tyres & Accessories met with Westwood at the company’s Ashby de la Zouch office, he looked back on the successes Trelleborg has experienced with original equipment partnerships, such as that with New Holland Agriculture and AGCO, the company behind Challenger, Fendt, Massey-Ferguson and Valtra tractors, while explaining that the next step forward would be to forge partnerships with “progressive tyre dealers” who want to engage in technical conversations with end users, creating a “premium dealership network” to deliver “solutions rather than just products”. As well as what the dealers can offer Trelleborg, Westwood explained that the company would seek to “become proactive in helping dealers sell out”, a fact underlined by the company’s commitment to spending four per cent of its annual turnover on communications.