Early Retirement Offer From Goodyear
In the USA, Goodyear has offered an early retirement package to 700 white collar workers, around 8.5% of the white collar staff. Workers have until the middle of January to decide whether or not to accept the offer.
Continue ReadingInternet Usage Inefficient
According to research from Deloitte & Touche, businesses are not making the best use of Internet trading facilities. Most, they say, concentrate only on the supply chain element of their e-trading. According to the Deloitte & Touche report a full integration of the demand chain and supply chain, from basic supplier to consumer, offers greater shareholder value, increasing profitability by up to 70 percent.
Continue ReadingAcquisition In The Automotive Field Planned By ThyssenKrupp
Last year there were rumours concerning a possible hostile takeover bid for Continental by ThyssenKrupp. However, ThyssenKrupp was not able to bring its steel subsidiary company to the stock exchange as planned and it seemed that the acquisition pressure had been halted. On January 15th, the ThyssenKrupp management mentioned during a press conference that they are planning a bigger acquisition in the automotive field. No further details were made available.
Continue ReadingNo Co-Operation Between Eustex and ETRA
The planned co-operation between the European Scrap Tyre Exchange (Eustex) and the European Tyre Recycling Association (ETRA) will not now take place, said Michael Laasch, Managing Director of Eustex. At the beginning of December, Eustex had shown interest in a costless internet co-operation between the two organisations. Laasch had suggested the provision of an ETRA-News button on the Eustex Webster. In return, ETRA would recommend the use of Eustex to its members.
Continue ReadingVW Sets Aside DM 1bn For ELVD
The European End of Life Vehicle directive (ELVD), due to come into force in 2007, has threatened to be expensive for car manufacturers. Just how expensive is shown by press reports that Volkswagen has announced that it will be setting aside DM 1 bn in order to comply. BMW has already set aside half this figure and Daimler/Chrysler up to DM 400 m. Other manufacturers are expected to wait until next year
Continue ReadingNew Face At Simex Europe
Raof Daud, Managing Director of Simex Europe, is leaving the company after almost nine years in the post. He is going to Lec Refrigeration (like Simex, a member of the Sime Darby group) in a senior sales capacity. Taking over at Simex Europe as General Manager is A. K. Lee, who was previously Export Manager, based in Malaysia.
Continue ReadingFleet Contract For Bridgestone/Firestone UK
Bridgestone/Firestone UK has won the contract for the sole supply of tyres to the BRS commercial vehicle rental fleet. The fleet consists of around 3,000 vehicles, ranging from 3.5 tonnes to 44-tonne tractor units and will now follow a policy of using Bridgestone new and retread tyres. The three-year contract was won against fierce competition and it is the first time that BRS has used a single tyre supplier. The contract will be serviced through Truck Point, the 220-depot organisation of independent tyre dealers established by Bridgestone/Firestone UK.
Continue ReadingTyre Recall Ends In Divorce
As if last years voluntary recall of 6.5 million Firestone tyres in the USA had not caused enough damage, the Japanese-owned tyre manufacturer is facing another crisis. May 21 Bridgestone/Firestone was severing all its business connections with Ford. That was it, the 100-year relationship was over, Bridgestone/Firestone had had enough and this was goodbye. It certainly seemed a drastic step to take, but the reason became apparent the next day, when Ford announced that it was recalling 13 million Firestone tyres; an exercise that would take nine months and cost the company up to $3 billion. This is a cost that Bridgestone cannot afford and the company has indicated that any demand from Ford to help with the costs would receive short shrift. Press reports say that Ford President Jacques Nasser has a statistical study which shows that Firestone Wilderness tyres fail three times more often than the industry average. Bridgestone/Firestone suggests that the Explorer design is to blame; something which Ford strenuously denies, saying that Explorers sold with, for example, Goodyear tyres, have had no tread separations. As far as John Lampe of Bridgestone/Firestone is concerned, the company has no obligation to participate in a further recall. In a statement, he said; No-one cares more about the safety of the people who travel on our tyres than we do. Bridgestone President Shigeo Watanabe gave the reason for splitting from Ford, saying that the new recall, coming on top of last years exercise, would have been a life or death matter for Bridgestone/Firestone. Later on, he played down fears that not supplying Ford would have a marked effect on Bridgestone/Firestone, saying that, at most, the group would lose 1.5% of its sales worldwide. On the plus side, freed from the need to be polite to a major customer, Bridgestone/Firestone can now say what it thinks about the part played by the Explorer in the accidents and defend itself more vigorously against the still-vocal consumer and pressure groups, not to mention the lawyers, of course. John Lampe, who wrote to Jacques Nasser, outlining Bridgestone/Firestones reasons for severing business relations with Ford: Business relationships, like personal ones, are built upon trust and mutual respect. We have come to the conclusion that we can no longer supply tyres to Ford since the basic foundation of our relationship has been seriously eroded.
Continue Reading31st Award For Kwik-Fit Fleet
Kwik-Fit Fleet has picked up its 31st award since the company began in 1987. This latest accolade comes from the Institute of Transport Management, which named the company Best European Fast-Fit. ITM has selected KFF as the UKs best fast-fit for the past six years.
Continue ReadingKorean Tyre Output Hit By Strike
Korean tyre manufacturer Kumhos production at Kwangju and Koksung had been halted by a walkout by 4,000 union members in protest at Government policies blamed for the loss of thousands of jobs throughout South Korea. Originally, a General Strike was planned from 5th July. Kumho representative, Lim Yoon, said the company would have lost $2.7m per day as a result of the strike. But – as Kumho says – further conflicts could be avoided and production is back to normal.
Continue ReadingTyre Pressure Monitoring Company In 3Q Loss
Canadian-based SmarTire Systems has announced a third quarter (ended 30th April) loss of CAN$ 2.1 million. This represents a net loss per share of $0.14 compared to a net income of CAN$9.6 million and a gain of $0.64 per share for the same period in 2000. SmarTire explain that the gain in 2000 was due to a CAN$12.2 million sale of investments, and that revenue for the 2001 third quarter stood 14% higher than in 2000, at CAN$265,463.
Continue ReadingGM Picks Bridgestone/Firestone As Supplier Of The Year
Good news for Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. in North America. GM has chosen the tyre manufacturer once again as their tyre supplier of the year and underlined the quality and performance of these tyres.
Continue ReadingSteel Wheel Contract For Hayes Lemmerz
Hayes Lemmerz International, Inc. has entered into a long-term contract with Skoda to supply steel wheels for the all-new Skoda Felicia. The wheels are currently being produced at the Companys European manufacturing facilities, in Manresa, Spain and Ostrava, Czech Republic.
Continue ReadingAdditional Orders From Ford For Continental
Continental has announced that it has received an additional order from Ford for over 2 million car tyres. Whether or not this is at the expense of Firestone is unclear. Continental now claims to be one of the biggest tyre suppliers for Ford in Europe, if not the biggest. In the US the tyre manufacturer is in dire straits. The Continental General tyre company is facing a loss in the US this year of up to 100 million Euro despite the fact that Continental also took advantage of the Firestone recall on the US replacement market. It is expected that Continental General will make another loss next year of up to 50 million Euro. The company also announced a restructuring program for the North American tyre market, aimed at saving costs of 90 million Dollars within 3 years. Presently Ford is not accepting General tyres as OE in the USA after the NHTSA said that the claim rate of the General Ameri 550 S is much higher than the Firestone tyre, which it replaces.
Continue ReadingPremio Tyre Dealers Annual Meeting
This year’s meeting of the German co-operation of independent tyre dealers under the umbrella of the retail brand premio had as its motto time for take off. Round about 125 outlets are members, with only a few having more than one service station. The downside of the premio network is that the brand premio is not well-known among end users. One reason for this is the fact that the chain is relatively young, about five years old. Of course a brand would be more popular if it were spread all over the country or – as service provider Goodyear would say – if more stations are on the net. But the premio managers are realistic, and it is not possible to grow by leaps and bounds. The competitors among the other groups of tyre dealers have restricted the market. And of course sometimes a member leaves the group after selling his business. Premio is part of the controlled distribution network of Goodyear in Germany which today covers round about 600 outlets. Premio wants one day to be what the group managers call the lighthouse of the market. Because the quantity targets have to be limited, Premio wants to be the best in terms of quality. In all criteria of an independent customer satisfaction analysis Premio performed better and even much better than the competitors – in all but two aspects, that is and these two were brand awareness and prices for endusers. It is hard to become the best in the market, but it is also hard to stay the best. How does it work? The best way is to continue to improve and optimise the modules of the system which the Premio Centre in the Goodyear headquarters makes available for the members. They not only try to develop new modules but also have to decide whether some of the older modules are no longer relevant. With more than 50 (!) modules the Premio offer is a leading player; taking just one of the modules available, the new software solution for the tyre trade called tiresoft II may well be the most modern in the market.
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