Camso promotes brand, launches new product naming system

Tyre and track supplier launches on-site servicing division in the North America

Off-road tyre and track specialist Camso, formerly known as Camoplast Solideal, is accelerating efforts to phase in Camso branded products while supporting product selection in the complex construction and industrial machinery niche by introducing a new production naming convention.

Since the launch of the Camso brand in July of 2015, the company has added a series of next generation skidsteer, telehandler and wheel loader tires to its construction line-up under the Camso brand. It is now ramping up efforts to complete transitioning the rest of its construction portfolio by the end of 2016.

“It’s been almost a year since we began communicating the Camso brand in our commercial literature. This was a first step in building a strong, coherent brand identity for the company,” says Derek Bradeen, Brand and Communications Global Director at Camso. “We did this to generate awareness of the Camso brand without losing the equity of our legacy brands. It’s now time for all of our construction products to carry the Camso name. After all, this is the most tangible way for end users to connect with the performance features of our products in the niches in which they work,” adds Bradeen.

Facilitating tyre selection

Camso has long claimed it offers the right tyre, for the right application at the lowest operating cost solution, but the important part is communicating this to the buyer and helping them get the most out of their product selection.

“Tyre selection in our industry is more difficult than one would think. For us, helping dealers and end users understand tyre selection is just as important as engineering a great tire,” says David Fleischhauer, executive director, Market Development – Construction at Camso. “As we transitioned products to the Camso brand, we wanted to introduce subtle features to make selling and storing tires easier for our clients. We developed a naming sequence to eliminate the complex equation a user must tackle to match their tyre with the machine they’re running and the job they need to accomplish,” Fleischhauer noted.

Camso’s new naming system identifies the brand and machine type, and provides product details. Subcategories include performance level (top, core, or entry), a surface condition classification (soft, hard, mixed, or severe), tread pattern (R1, L5, L4, etc.) and product type (bias, radial, or solid).

Almost 50 on-site servicing sites in North America

In June Camso launched its independent North American service division Solideal On-Site Service at the end of May to increase its focus on service in North America.

Currently, there are 48 Solideal On-Site Service locations in the US and three locations in Canada. Additionally, Solideal On-Site Service offers mobile services and has employed more than 150 technicians.

“What we are doing is we are launching Solideal On-Site Service as a distinct division in Camso, and the rationale behind this is we see the service business really as something quite unique from a wholesale tyre supply,” Bob Bulger, vice president and general manager of Solideal On-Site Service, told Tyres & Accessories North American editorial partner Tire Review. “Traditionally, the service business has been kind of embedded within our wholesale tyre supply and as we look at the world today, particularly the world our customer lives in, it’s becoming very, very competitive. And certainly they are trying to lean their operations – they’re not carrying excess equipment, they’re not carrying excess costs. What they’re looking for is productivity and efficiency, which is vital to the profitability of their operations. “

Solideal On-Site Service offers full service forklift tyre solutions priced per hour, including on-site tire fitting, wheel exchange, in-depth fleet analyses and tire fill. Prior to the Camso rebranding, Camoplast acquired the Solideal service facilities with the Camoplast/Solideal merger in 2010, and the company has been working on transitioning the Solideal arm to focus on service.

Bulger adds that by dedicating 100 per cent of Solideal On-Site’s resources to service, the company is better positioned to meet customer needs and provide more value to keeping forklifts productive.

With the majority of Solideal On-Site Service locations owned by Camso, and not Camso dealers (one facility is jointly owned by Camso and two other individuals), the company is looking to expand the Camso-owned footprint at this time. Bulger told Tire Review, however, that the company isn’t ruling out the possibility of a future opportunity to develop a franchise model, although there are no plans in place. And the company adds that it is not looking to compete with its tyre and equipment dealers.

“Whether it be equipment dealers or tyre dealers that are doing a good job at servicing customers with a service solution, be it mobile pressing or in-shop pressing, and have built up a nice business, and have nice market share and have really done a nice job for us, we’re not looking to compete with them. We’re looking to provide a service option that helps. We really want to leverage what our dealers take to the market,” Bulger said.

Solideal On-Site Service will also continue to offer dealers education, available electronically, that can help them train service techs on proper and safe service methods as well as finding the right product for certain applications. All Solideal On-Site Service locations are currently operational

Camso reports that it is accelerating efforts to phase-in Camso branded products while making it easier to choose the right tire or track in a sea of complex niche applications in the construction and industrial machine industry.

Since the launch of the Camso brand in July of 2015, the company has added a series of next generation skidsteer, telehandler and wheel loader yires to its construction line-up under the Camso brand. It is now ramping up efforts to complete transitioning the rest of its construction portfolio by the end of 2016.

“It’s been almost a year since we began communicating the Camso brand in our commercial literature. This was a first step in building a strong, coherent brand identity for the company,” says Derek Bradeen, Brand and Communications Global Director at Camso. “We did this to generate awareness of the Camso brand without losing the equity of our legacy brands. It’s now time for all of our construction products to carry the Camso name. After all, this is the most tangible way for end users to connect with the performance features of our products in the niches in which they work,” adds Bradeen.