Jetyres acquisition part of a wider growth strategy at Universal Tyres
Universal’s Greenwich location was the first site to be upgraded during an earlier investment round in 2016
Following on from the purchase of Jetyres at the end of last month, the company has shared further details of its recent growth and investment.
Universal Tyre & Autocentres is now a third and fourth generation family business with a trading history of 93 years. The company services tyre needs from cars right through to earthmovers. Latterly the company has upgraded it service offering within the car sector, as Wright explained:
“During the past 10 years we have been committed to growing our autocentre market segment with investment in to MOT bays, servicing and mechanical repairs. The goal has been to upgrade our branch portfolio into state of the art premises to dramatically improve the customer’s buying experience and to give outstanding customer service.”
The first site Universal developed was its Greenwich location. Following the success of Greenwich the company developed its site in Staines, converting the old petrol station depot Universal took over from Kennings into a purpose built tyre and autocentre where the business has grown dramatically.
“After the acquisition of the Akehurst Tyres business in December 2014 we were able to site our commercial work along with the Akehurst commercial and agricultural business in to a new location at Rettendon and then to completely re-developed our own site in Chelmsford into a purpose built retail tyre and autocentre, which opened for business in August 2015 and has been going from strength to strength”, Wright continued.
This branch is proud to be a Michelin Certified Centre – with a score of 91.08 per cent putting it in the premier league of tyre dealers.
With this in mind, Universal has entered both Greenwich and Chelmsford in to the “NTDA’s tyre retail centre of the year” award. Both sites have been short listed.
Training and personnel investment key
As part of its commitment to staff development, Universal Tyres maintains a dedicated training programme, designed to ensure its technicians can continually sharpen their skills, and work towards their future with the company. To this end, the site’s staff are all trained and assessed in-house by Universal Tyres’ Health and Safety, Quality and Training Manager.
In addition, “we have committed ourselves to the NTDA backed REACT program and 100 per cent of our roadside technicians have their REACT cards”, Wright explained.
Each employee’s progress is detailed in a training record, allowing branch managers to better tailor their continuing education in all-things-automotive.
Evidence of Universal’s commitment to Training and Personal Development can be seen in the fact that company holds a Investors in People Gold award.
The latest news is that in July 2016 Universal passed its latest ISO9001:2008 audit, an award we the company obtained in 2013.
Comments