Putting tyre service at the centre: Bridgestone North region commercial director on truck tyres, webfleet and Hotread

18 months ago, David Almazan joined the Bridgestone North Region as commercial business unit director. During that time the commercial vehicle sector in general as well as the UK fleet business proved their resilience and creativity and the market has experienced a number of shifts. Tyres & Accessories caught up with Almazan at the company’s relatively recently refurbished Warwickshire headquarters in order to find out more about how the leading tyremaker’s commercial vehicle strategy is evolving.

Prior to joining North Region, Almazan had seven years’ experience in a similar role within Bridgestone EMIA’s South West region, a term that basically refers to the Iberian markets. For its part, the North Region is comprised of the UK and Eire and hasn’t included the chilly and logistically complex Nordic markets for a few years now. So, weather aside, on the face of it, the North and South West regions appear to be similar. However, there are a number of key differences.

Describing his time in the Bridgestone South West region as a “really positive experience”, Almazan explained that greater than 65 per cent of truck tyre business is done through Bridgestone’s own “family” of distribution channels. Whereas in the UK, something like 80 per cent of truck tyres are sold through independent channels. In other words, the two markets require quite different approaches. And that’s where, Bridgestone North region’s renewed focus on fleet comes in, something for which Almazan’s years of experience as a finance manager and then sales director of truckmaker MAN in Spain is appropriate.

The North region has long had a good reputation as one of the leading fleet markets in Europe, but the same is also true across Bridgestone’s much wider EMIA (Europe, Middle East, India and Africa) area. Indeed, the North region is said to be “by far the strongest fleet amongst all Bridgestone regions in EMIA”.

Nevertheless, despite the strong starting point inherited from his Bridgestone predecessors, Almazan reports that his team have been “growing business in a sustainable way”. The renewal of the large Stagecoach bus and coach tyre contract is one example, but there are others as well.

Almazan’s approach is to target customer fleets with a proposition that helps their businesses. To be more specific, Almazan’s years of experience in the truck business have taught him that fuel cost efficiency performance is a key way of winning over fleets. The argument is that the right tyres and tyre maintenance will have a very significantly positive impact on fuel consumption costs and therefore the bottom line. Indeed, short of marked drop in oil prices, the only other way to make that kind of impact on fuel consumption is in the behaviour of truck drivers. And for that Bridgestone’s integrated WebFleet technology, which has evolved out of the company’s acquisition of TomTom, has a contribution to make. Together, Alamazan argues, Bridgestone tyres and WebFleet technology are best-placed to help fleets achieve their goals.

‘Competition should be seen as an opportunity’ – Almazan

There’s not doubt that integrated tyre and technology solutions are increasingly required to win over big fleets, but the North region’s UK market in particular is also extremely competitive. In the past it was something of two horse race between Bridgestone and the only other real contender for world number one. For the last 10 years however, it has really been more of a five-horse race between five quality opponents. And the recent rise of Halfords – in relation to which Bridgestone is both a supplier and a competitor – further complicates the picture (see separate articles on both these point for additional details).

Nevertheless, competition should be seen as an opportunity, according to David Almazan, who added: “Once you explain [the benefits of Bridgestone tyres and WebFleet technology], customers understand. We all want to succeed in providing good service to the fleets.”

The difference between commercial vehicle tyres and car tyres, Almazan continued, is that fleet tyres are an “investment product” rather than a distress purchase of desired item.

But Bridgestone’s competitive position in the wider market combined with the complexity of its multi-faceted relationship with large tyre service providers such as Halfords is challenging. Then there’s the impact of direct fleet tyre deals on Bridgestone’s relationships with independents. “We have enough business to share with everybody”, Almazan explained, adding: “Our job is to keep growing and provide additional business”.

So, does that mean that Bridgestone could return to the heady days when the UK truck tyre market was something of a two-horse and when Bridgestone commercial vehicle tyre market shares hit as much as 30 per cent by some measurements? “We have to make the market sustainable”, Almazan explained pointing to Bridgestone’s E8 and continuing: “it is about engagement with fleets not just units”.

Ultimately Almazan is comfortable running in a five-horse race because his fleet-centric strategy is “not just about being the biggest horse, but the preferred horse.”

Bridgestone invests millions in equipping Bulldog factory for Hotread

Towards the end of May, Bridgestone introduced the Bandag Hotread range. In short, that meant the establishment of a parallel range of Bandag-branded mould-cure retreads alongside the precured products for which Bandag has always been known. Back in May, that announcement was described as “a significant development building on the retreading brand’s pre-cure heritage”. However, the news that Bridgestone-owned Bandag is expanding its portfolio of mould-cured retread activities with the launch of Bandag Hotread, might more frankly be described as a tectonic shift away from Bandag’s historic long-term strategy.

Bridgestone has since confirmed that the company has invested a “multi-million-pound” figure in upgrading its range, which will further expand its manufacturing processes and lead to more ‘hot’ products being produced than ever before from its Bourne Lincolnshire factory, which has historically been known as the Bulldog operation.

The two announcements are linked by the fact that the advent of Hotread has directly resulted in the upgrade of the Bourne factory. According to Bridgestone representatives, operating under the new ‘Bandag Hotread’ name, the goal is to make Bridgestone’s retread solutions “some of the most advanced in the UK”. And that specifically means the 17 new products being manufactured at the Bourne-based Bulldog plant.

Bridgestone North Region vice president Andrea Manenti; chief financial officer, Astrid Rahn; and chief sales officer, Daniel Giroud, at the recently-upgraded Bridgstone Bulldog retreading factory in Bourne, Lincolnshire (Photo: Bridgestone)

Of course, any investment of this scale and scope represents something of a boost to both UK retreading as well as the wider manufacturing sector. It will also mean more choice for the commercial transport industry since Bandag Hotread will cover the HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle), bus and coach markets. It will also see a “shift in emphasis from cold to hot-cure products,” according to Bridgestone representatives, something that reportedly comes “in response to demand from commercial customers”. However, Tyres  & Accessories understands that, Bulldog-aside, there is no immediate pressure for the North Region’s three other Bandag franchises to invest in the necessary equipment make Hotread.

While no specific figures have been released, the “significant” multi-million-pound investment will result in the installation of “new state-of-the-art machinery” into the Bridgestone Bulldog Factory in Bourne, Lincolnshire and will transform Bridgestone’s retread offering. That in turn is designed to positively impact the UK retreading sector, which currently accounts for around 24 per cent of commercial tyres sold in the UK per year, according to 2022 Europool data.

And any investment in retreading is necessarily an investment in the sustainability of the wider tyre sector. In 2022 alone, Bridgestone’s Bulldog Factory recycled 520 tonnes rubber dust and 4,400 tonnes’ worth of scrap tyres. This equated to savings of 4 million litres of oil, 2,000 tonnes rubber and 900 tonnes of steel and close to 4000 tonnes of saved CO2 emissions versus equivalent production of new tyres (based on figures calculated according to BTMA information).

And what’s more retread tyres use less than one-third the amount of raw materials used in new tyres and enables the reuse of other tyre components, most importantly, the casing (calculation based on 275/80 R22.5 general TBR tyres, according to “Tyre LCCO2 Calculation Guidelines Ver. 3.0.1” Japan Automobile Tyre Manufacturers Association  December 2021 guidelines). Therefore, retreading significantly contributes to the reduction of discarded tyres as well as the reduction of waste in communities.

Commenting at the time, David Almazán, Bridgestone’s Commercial Business Unit Director, Bridgestone North Region, said: “There is a move towards the lowest total cost of ownership of product, combined with increasing awareness of the need for a more sustainable and circular economy where recycling is standard.

“[It’s] not just about being the biggest horse, but the preferred horse.” – David Almazan, Bridgestone North Region commercial business unit director

“Bridgestone is fully committed in this regard, which is why we have made such a significant expansion of our retread range. A sustainable future fits with our company ethos, and retread is economically good for the customer and takes a central role in our commitment to develop sustainable tyre technologies and solutions that preserve the environment for future generations.”

Bridgestone also operates a nationwide casing collection service so casings are “swiftly collected from customer locations in a safe and compliant fashion with full traceability”. That, in turn, helps ensure maximum value is extracted from this key asset, according to Bridgestone.

All retreaded tyres produced at Bridgestone’s Bulldog Factory as well as at Bandag franchisees are described as “not only a safe and reliable alternative to a new set of tyres”, but also “a solution for reducing fleets’ tyre related costs per kilometre”. According to Bridgestone, this proposition applies to retreads made from both Bridgestone and Firestone tyre casings: for Bandag, retreadability is 100 per cent guaranteed.

The investment also fits into Bridgestone global strategy. Specifically, Bridgestone’s retread investment represents “a major part” of its mission to continue to provide social and customer value as a sustainable solutions company toward 2050. Again, retreading also relates to Bridgestone’s E8 Commitment – a set of eight areas (Energy, Ecology, Efficiency, Extension, Economy, Emotion, Ease, Empowerment) which guide Bridgestone’s approach to sustainability.

(Photo: Bridgestone)