Associations
Off The Road Tyre Mart Inc. of the Philippines has joined TRIB, reports Tire Review. The new member is a well-established tyre distributor and is considering adding a medium truck radial retreading facility in the Philippines, TRIB said.
Two more international companies have joined TRIB, reports Tire Review. Nino Llantas S.A. is a large, well-established retreader with many locations throughout Honduras, joined the association. The company was founded in 1974. International tyre import/export form Resources International Network Inc., based locally in Florida but with headquarters in Germany, also joined. “We continue to add members as more and more companies in the new tyre and retread industries throughout the world realise that TRIB is the only international retread industry association representing new tyre manufacturers, retreaders, tyre dealers, suppliers to the retread industry and tyre repair companies,” said Harvey Brodsky, TRIB’s managing director.
Executives from The Tire Industry Association and the Specialty Equipment Marketing Association have met to discuss ways they can heighten the SEMA Show’s value amongst tyre manufacturers. At a press conference, representatives from the TIA and SEMA pledged to work together more closely, outlining plans for focus groups and meetings with tyre companies in order to help maximise the show’s Tires, Wheels & Equipment (TWE) section.
When former BEN chief executive Geoffrey Atkinson OBE and his wife Tina leapt out of an aircraft at a height of 15,000 feet on October 17, they were aiming to raise £15,000 for the automotive and related industries’ charity. As it turns out, they should have commenced their skydive a thousand feet higher – as to date the pair have raised an impressive £16,000 for BEN.
The Chinese Ministry of Finance and Commerce (known as Mofcom) continued its ongoing campaign against what it describe as the Obama administration’s politically motivated implementation of anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese-produced passenger car tyres imported into the US. Speaking to Tyres & Accessories after Mofcom’s presentation during the Tire Tech seminar series at the Reifen China in Shanghai, Wang Xin (Mofcom Bureau of Fair Trade representative) said Chinese tyre companies along with industry associations should seek a review of the 35 per cent import tariff brought in September. This approach would be based on the US government’s own standard policy of reviewing trade sanctions after six months. Washington DC firm Squire Sanders Dempsey is providing legal representation in the matter.
In the five years Tyres & Accessories/Tyrepress.com has been publishing a dedicated e-Commerce feature, one of the most common themes has been the real need for an integrated approach to selling tyres online. Now this need is being answered with the introduction of the EDIWheel eBusiness standard into the UK, linking and automating the whole approach from stock availability through to invoicing.
The online tyre market is estimated to occupy a 4 per cent market share across Europe, however, the true potential for eBusiness in the UK tyre industry is yet to be fully realised for two main reasons. Firstly the amount of ordering websites that are not integrated with the dealer’s order processing systems or processes. And secondly, the absence of an agreed industry wide eBusiness standard for core business processes such as ordering and invoicing.
According to the group of collaborating tyre manufacturers involved, these issues are being addressed by key members of the tyre industry with EDIWheel (Electronic Data Interchange Wheel – wheel representing the distribution cycle and not a physical wheel) eBusiness standard which enables the automation of stock availability checking, ordering, order confirmation, dispatch advice and invoicing. Specifically, a forum hosted by TIF about EDIWheel for tyre manufacturers, software developers, dealers and wholesalers has been scheduled for mid-November.
Continental AG’s Commercial Vehicle Tires division has confirmed reports that it has revived its collaboration with Modi tyres Company Private Ltd. (New Delhi). According to the company, Modi will initially produce around 1 million Continental-branded cross-ply truck tyres for the Indian market. As a result of the move, the company has secured access to the 12 million commercial vehicle tyre-strong Indian market, which has been projected to grow at around 7 per cent. Production already began at the start of June 2009.
The collaboration includes a technical cooperation agreement and a license agreement for Continental brand bias tyres. The Continental bias tyres will be distributed via a revived Modi sales network. “For us, this new agreement represents an extremely useful revival of our activities in India, a market, which we know will grow significantly over the coming years,” Continental project manager Christian Sass explained. Bias products still account for over 90 per cent of the Indian market.
Amtel-Vredestein N.V. formally changed its name to Amtel N.V. at an Extraordinary General Meeting held in Enschede yesterday (2 September), freeing the newly re-merged Apollo-Vredestein from its previous associations with the Russian company. The execution of the deed of amendment through which the actual name change will take place as well as corresponding changes to the company’s website, corporate materials etc. will reportedly take place “as soon as possible.” The meeting also agreed proposals to dismiss Petr Zolotarev and Vadim Pesochinsky from the executive board and to appoint Alexander Fayn as sole member of the board. According to a statement detailing the meeting, Fayn gave a broad outline of the company’s restructuring plan.
Indian tyre manufacturer Modi Tyres has “re-forged” the Modi Continental technical and brand partnership it made with Continental AG in 2001. According to local news sources, the tyres manufactured under the agreement will now be marketed under the Continental brand only, rather than Modi Continental. The new partnership will reportedly be called Modi Tyre Company (MTC) and is described as “only technical in nature and does not involve any investment from the German tyre company.” According to the reports Modi Tyres is aiming to roll out 1.1 million truck tyres and tubes annually and expects to expand its network of dealers from 500 to 2,000. Continental already has a technical agreement with JK Tyres and the reports speculate that this deal may now end.
The United Steelworkers (USW) union wants make its case for restricting Chinese tyre imports and has requested an appearance before the US Trade Representative (USTR) public hearing scheduled 7 August. The USW advocates strong enforcement of a US trade law. Last month, a majority vote of the ITC reportedly found that “tariff relief was needed to urgently reduce tire imports,” say the steelworkers. However, trade associations including the TIA have questioned the effectiveness of such measures.
USW President Leo W. Gerard said: “Our nation’s job loss numbers at tyre factories dramatically understate the impact China’s flooding imports have caused in the communities where our represented workers live. The consequences of lost tyre production jobs have extended to many thousands of other jobs in supporting industries and suppliers that have also been lost.”
I had to say it, didn’t I? I should have known better than to put proverbial pen to paper and write “unless there is an unlikely 11th hour stay of execution at the European parliament.” I should have known better because no sooner had these words gone to print then exactly this happened. I am, of course, referring to the wonderful s-mark legislation (also known as regulation 2001/43), which has become the subject of so much coverage in Tyres & Accessories recently. Apparently, tyres won’t necessarily need an s-mark to comply with regulation 2001/43 and, er, be s-marked.
However, it doesn’t end there. The latest from the Department for Transport is that there has been a “delay in putting into place the statutory instrument which is required for the new s-marking regulations to become law.” In short, there won’t be any means of enforcing the new law in the UK until March 2010. This fact doesn’t affect the other European markets, which will all have to comply by the original 1 October 2009 deadline.
Certain tyre industry players have suggested that the green shoots of recovery are already visible in the North American off-road and construction markets (see elsewhere in this feature for more on this) meaning recovery in some markets could begin as soon as this year. However, CECE (European Committee of Site Machinery Manufacturers Associations) figures show that the OE side of the business isn’t really expecting growth to return until 2011. According to the CECE, the machinery market peaked in 2007 with a record year, while 2008 – despite still being worth 30 billion euros across Europe – is characterised as “a crisis year.” Projections for 2009 suggest there will be a drop in orders of around 30 per cent on a European scale compared to the previous – some companies hit lows of 60 per cent in February 2009.
Now, you may be thinking that as far as the infrastructure/construction part of the OTR tyre business is concerned, much of the annual market volume is purchased through the replacement market. However, while these figures only relate directly to the original equipment part of the tyre business, the OEM business can also be seen as a barometer of confidence in the industry as a whole. After all, OEM sales are determined by general economic output and construction demand and if there is no construction work taking place, this will affect both OE and replacement tyre sales.
A new channel forecast predicts US aftermarket sales to increase 4.5 per cent in 2010. The study was funded jointly by three major automotive aftermarket trade associations and is included in the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA) Digital Factbook 2010.
Taking the US economy into account with widely fluctuating gasoline prices, reduced miles driven, tightening credit markets and growing unemployment, total US motor vehicle aftermarket sales in 2008 were about even with the previous year rising only 0.2 per cent.
As the recession continues to hold down consumer spending, a decline of 1.3 per cent is anticipated for the 2009 calendar year followed by a rebound of 4.5 per cent in 2010, the forecast said. The model was created AAIA, the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association (AASA) and the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA). (Tire Review/Akron)
The first-ever Virtual Aftermarket eForum is set for 30 September. The eForum is an educational symposium focused exclusively on e-commerce and business technology in the automotive aftermarket. The planners chose to apply the latest web conferencing and virtual event technology to the eForum this year as a way of delivering the same content with significant savings to attendees and vendor participants. The eForum will be conducted completely on the web through a virtual event portal powered by ON24 of San Francisco, www.on24.com. The ON24 technology will provide a scalable and seamless experience for participants from the moment they register until the conference shuts down in March 2010.
30 September will kick off the eForum with four streaming keynote presentations on leading technology topics with online interaction and Q&A with the presenters. Registered attendees will have access to download exclusive white papers, videos and other presentations from the eForum archive, which will be available for six months. Attendees can network and participate in discussion chats in the eForum lounge. Individuals will be able to search for others with similar interests and start discussion threads about the presentations or other topics. (Tire Review/Akron)
Peter Taylor the Tyre Recycling Association’s secretary general and long time director of the Imported Tyre Manufacturers Association (ITMA) has been awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in a move which is seen as honouring the UK tyre industry’s pioneering work in developing a ground breaking tyre recovery and recycling programme.
“I am absolutely delighted to receive this important honour,” said Peter Taylor: “However without the help and support of other members of the tyre industry and its various trade associations we would not have been able to establish the Responsible Recycler Scheme and make it work as effectively as it does. I am happy to accept this honour on behalf of the UK tyre industry.”
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