In Tyres & Accessories, August 2009:
Winter Tyres
TAFF Awards
Brakes
Safeguard Yourself From the Chill We don’t want to ruin your summer, but we have it on good authority that these balmy months aren’t going to last. Despite a proposed Met Office climatic rescue package, analysts forecast that thermometers will soon begin dipping, and this climatic downturn will most likely show no sign of abating until early next year. But while there seems no way of halting or reversing this slide into single and minus figures, British motorists are again being offered the opportunity to protect themselves from the worst climatic recession experienced since late 2008. Turn to our August winter tyres feature to find out more. TAFF Awards Brityrex has been postponed until 2010 but our industry’s annual award ceremony is still going ahead as planned – as National Tyre Distributors Association director Richard Edy comments, “the dinner and awards evening are a major industry attraction in their own right and will continue to work well for our members.” Arrangements for the 2009 TAFF Awards are in hand and nominations for the September 23 event have been finalised. In August we will review the contenders for TAFF honours in readiness for the annual ceremony. Don’t miss next month’s coverage.
Continue ReadingSchaeffler Taps Houlihan Lokey to Advise on Restructuring
Schaeffler Group, which holds a 90 per cent shareholding in Continental AG, has recruited investment bank Houlihan Lokey to advise it on restructuring its finances. To restructure its finances along with finding a long-term overall solution the Schaeffler group is seeking the advice of a number of experts and has appointed investment bank Houlihan Lokey, a company spokesman told Financial Times Deutschland.
Continue ReadingRuia to Resign from Role with Group Companies
According to Indian media sources, Pawan K Ruia has voiced the intention of stepping down as executive chairman of his group companies. According to a report in the Business Standard financial newspaper, Ruia may relinquish his position and appoint separate professional management to the firms. The Ruia Group, of which PK Ruia is chairman, will remain the enterprises’ holding company.
Continue ReadingFirst Stop Gives Away Free Fuel
In an effort to brighten the lives of the nation’s cash-strapped drivers, the First Stop network of tyre dealerships has chosen to pay for a number of lucky drivers’ fuel. Lisa Chatfield of Stoke-on-Trent was the first prize winner of a year’s supply of free fuel. The second entry to be drawn was Clive Moles of Lincolnshire, who has won enough fuel to keep him motoring for a month. Chatfield was delighted and commented: “I had just been to replace two of my tyres when I entered the competition and was absolutely delighted to find out that I’d won. I’m a busy mum and use my car a lot during the week, as well as getting out and about at the weekend. I had totally forgotten about entering this competition so it was a wonderful surprise to hear that I had won. Combined with the fact that my fiancé has just been made redundant from JCB this prize will be a great financial help.”
Continue ReadingSchaeffler Mechatronics Head Awarded for Innovations
A cause for celebration within the Schaeffler Group came on July 8 when the company’s head of Mechatronics, Bernd Gombert, was awarded the Federal Republic of Germany’s Federal Cross of Merit with Ribbon. Gombert earned this impressive sounding award for being, as the Bavarian State Ministry of Sciences, Research and the Arts, Martin, Zeil noted, amongst the “recognised top performers of our country and [is] among those who set a standard in terms of enthusiasm, motivation and cooperativeness.”
Continue ReadingBandvulc Retreader Best in the Country
A Bandvulc employee has scored the highest mark in the country for Retread Process Workship Practice. Justin Holloway was one of eight from the Ivybridge-based company that successfully completed the City & Guilds course. The eight employees started the course in September 2008 with weekly in-house tuition and self study covering all 12 sections of the syllabus. The course ran until April 2009 and included all areas within the retread process from initial inspection to final inspection, quality, health & safety and rubber technology. Participants in these courses, which Bandvulc has run for the last 15 years, include employees from all areas of the company. As well as classroom tuition time is also spent on factory floor where they get ‘hands on’ experience in activities such as patch repairing a tyre. They also gain a greater understanding of damaged tyres, reasons for removal and load and speed ratings, to name but a few. Even those not directly involved in the retreading process benefit greatly from the course. For example, staff in Bandvulc Tyre Contracts find the knowledge they acquire about narratives and terminology enables them to converse more fully with service providers.
Continue ReadingAutopromotec Review: FASEP Celebrates 40th Anniversary
FASEP has been one of Autopromotec’s most loyal supporters, having participated in the show every time since its first back in 1981. At what the company considers to be the largest garage equipment exhibition, FASEP went to the show with a number of new products designed to help customers increase and develop their business, despite current general economy conditions, by investing in technological improvements and showing that this can be achieved with reasonably priced quality products. During the show, the company also celebrated its 40th anniversary with a gala dinner, at which distributors from all over the world – from Japan to Australia, from Egypt to Sweden, says FASEP – gathered and enjoyed the party in a very friendly atmosphere.
Continue ReadingAutopromotec Review: HPA-Faip Displays Fully Operational Prato Plant
HPA-Faip, a company of Nexion Group, operating in the international market of fitting centres and workshops for over 45 years, displayed its complete range of products alongside news of its new production plant in Prato, Italy. The company’s product display included the B 225 / B 215, a compact wheel balancer; the evolution of the lever-less M 928 Royal tyre changer; a WDK type-approved product as well as the models M 522 and M 624 from the range of products based on what the company terms classic technology. HPA-Faip says that the area of vehicle diagnostics is particularly important for the domestic market, and sees itself with a growing European and international role too.
Continue ReadingLassa: BRISA Partnership Supporting Distribution
Lassa was established in 1974 by the Sabanci Group, of one Turkeys leading industrial conglomerates. In 1988 it significantly increased its capacity and product by becoming joint venture partners with the Bridgestone Corporation. This partnership forms the award-winning BRISA Corporation, enabling the Lassa brand to be supported by enormous resources and investment which, facilitates the production of a quality range of Lassa brand tyres. Now one of Europes largest tyre producers, its integrated plant in Kentsa, Turkey covers over two million square metres and is equipped with state-of-the-art design and production technology and a revolutionary dedicated research and development centre. Customers are offered tyre products of superior quality sustained by outstanding service. BRISA supply Lassa tyres in over 50 countries worldwide through distributors who are specially selected for their location, logistics and experience. An extensive range of passenger tyres, high performance and winter ranges are manufactured, along with 4x4, rally, van and light truck, OTR and agricultural tyres.
Continue ReadingNew Pneumatic Wheel Lifter
Sykes-Pickavant has recently launched a ‘Pneumatic Wheel Lifter’ designed for “efficient, quick, and safe changing of wheels.” According to the manufacturer, using the new product results in a reduction of risk of injury for one man operation. Te Pneumatic Wheel Lifter lifts wheels in less than 10 seconds in one continuous movement. t also has an additional compressed air outlet to connect an air wrench with free access to wheel nuts.
Continue ReadingDeldo Autobanden: “Sales have been Reasonably Good”
Deldo reported having a good Autopromotec with a lot of international visitors to their stand. “Our Italian team were kept extremely busy dealing with enquiries from perspective new and existing customers,” said the companys marketing manager, Rutger Veerman. “Up to now this year for Deldo has not seen the dramatic sales decline that was predicted by many due to weakening of the global economy,” continued Veerman. “In fact, our tyre sales have been reasonably good and there is even a slight improvement over the first months of the previous year. So, we would have to say that we are reasonably satisfied compared to what is happening with the automotive market generally. One obvious result of the international fiscal situation is the increasing demand for budget tyres.” In addition to its premium labels, Deldo offers an attractive package of private brands Minerva and Fortuna and exclusive labels Wanli, Roadstone, Sailun and Rockstone. Each tyre program presents its own specific characteristics and size range which equates to total sales of over 3 million budget tyres annually. With a large sourcing network, daily communication with its many partners and the continuous development of its product portfolio Deldo holds a unique position in the European market. “Important assets for an independent wholesaler are client oriented service, continuous stock and supply, attractive pricing and just-in-time distribution,” said Veerman.
Continue ReadingYokohama’s Dan Guiney Appointed to Tire Society Board
Dan Guiney, Yokohama Tire Corporations director of technical services, has been appointed a member of the Tire Societys advisory board. “the Tire Society is a 29-year-old organization thats widely respected within the tyre industry for its high-level technical and scientific endeavors, said Jim MacMaster, Yokohama executive vice president and chief operating officer. Dans the first Yokohama employee to sit on the board and all of us here congratulate him. He is a consummate professional with unmatched engineering expertise, so his appointment to the board makes perfect sense. The Tire Society, which is based in Akron, Ohio, has 200 members representing the tyre and automotive industries, as well as academia, government agencies, independent research organizations, private consultants, equipment manufacturers and software firms. Its mission is to disseminate knowledge and to stimulate development in the science and technology of tires through seminars, technical meetings and publication of the journal, Tire Science and Technology. The organization will hold its 28th annual meeting and conference, September 15-16, 2009, at the Akron City Centre Hotel.
Continue ReadingCITExpo “a Comprehensive Platform Serving the Tyre Industry”
CITExpo 2009 takes place at the Shanghai Everbright Convention and Exhibition Centre between 9 and 11 September. With much significance attached to numbers in the host nation, and nine considered the luckiest of all the single-digit numerals, September 9, 2009, or 09-09-09, is not only an easy date to remember, it is also a very fortuitous one. The organiser of the CITExpo exhibition in Shanghai, Reliable International Exhibition Services, certainly hopes this will prove to be the case, following a year in which the tyre business, like most global industries, has come under increased financial pressure. However, Wilko Fong – managing director of Reliable – told Tyres & Accessories that the worldwide slump has not overtly affected the running of the show. “It is encouraging that our show has not been affected by the worldwide market shrinking demand,” he said. “At the same moment of last year, this year we have recorded 5 per cent increase in number of exhibitors and 10 per cent increase in sold space. There were 210 exhibitors registered before June 2008, and there are 225 exhibitors registered before June 2009. Also, some exhibitors are feeling that the market is gradually picking up from the bottom already.”
Continue ReadingCooper Introduces New Discoverer 4×4 Generation
Cooper Tire Europe has announced the launch of the second generation of its Discoverer Discoverer range of 4x4 tyres, the UK-built Discoverer M+S2. Replacing the existing Discoverer M+S product, the new tyre is designed to offer superior grip and braking ability, particularly in wet, snowy or icy conditions. With nearly a third of all road accidents happening on wet, snowy or icy road surfaces – a figure provided by the DfT in its 2007 Road Casualties of Great Britain report – having a tyre that grips the road is imperative, says Cooper. The Discoverer M+S2 has a new directional tread pattern to attempt to achieve greater grip in the slippery conditions described. It is also stud-able and the optimised offset stud pattern help maximise grip on icy roads, when studs are fitted.
Continue Reading£6 million Tyre Recycling Plant Approval ‘Likely’
A plan to open a £6 million tyre recycling plant in Clayton-le-Moors (between Blackburn and Burnley) is “likely” to go ahead, local newspapers have reported. According to the Blackburn Citizen, the waste recycling centre, has been recommended for approval subject to a list of conditions from planning officers. A decision is expected tomorrow Wednesday 7 July 2009.
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