DME Tyres has scooped an accolade by winning the Tyre Recovery Association (TRA)’s Audit Excellence Award for 2006. The award, which recognises and rewards the most professional approach to compliance and best practice in waste tyre collection and reprocessing, was presented to DME’s managing director Ken Plaster and commercial director Bill Clarke at the Rubber Industry Dinner held in Solihull last month.
Hayes Lemmerz has announced that Cynthia Feldmann has been appointed to the Company’s board of directors. With the addition of Ms. Feldmann, the Board now consists of seven members. Ms. Feldmann has also been appointed as the Chairperson of the Audit Committee and a member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee.
Every month InfoRoute Truck Tyre Manager (TTM) processes tyre inspection details for over 8,000 trucks and trailers across the UK. Glyn Cainey, truck tyre director at Dexel Tyre Company, says: “TTM helps staff with no specialist computer knowledge improve service, increase fitter productivity and win more business”. Dexel, one of the larger UK independent tyre companies with nearly 40 truck tyre service vehicles, has used TTM for over two years. A team of three inspectors use TTM to find and organise work, ensuring that fleets are economically and safely managed.
Accuride has appointed Donald T Johnson Jnr and Craig H Mulhauser to its board of directors. Johnson has also been appointed to the board’s audit committee. “I am pleased to Don and Craig to Accuride’s board,” said Jamie Greene, Partner of Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts and Co (KKR) and chairman of Accuride’s board. “Their extensive global transportation knowledge and industry expertise will afford Accuride additional perspective while pursuing its strategic global growth initiatives.”
Only day’s after automotive magazines criticised the quality of British garages and their lack of support for the Kitemark scheme, Unipart Automotive has unveiled the first Unipart Car Care Centre received the accreditation.
Village Motor Company of Wallasey, Merseyside, part of Unipart Automotive’s national network of 1,400 independent garages, has become Britain’s first Unipart Car Care Centre to achieve the BSI Kitemark. As a leading supplier of automotive parts and accessories, Unipart Automotive says it always wanted a clear badge of distinction between the so-called “rip-off” garages and those who provide service motorists can have confidence in.
Amtel-Vredestein has named Antonius (Ton) Tholens, as its new Chief Financial Officer. Tholens, who also serves as a member on AV’s executive board, replaces outgoing CFO, Victor Nekrassov.
“Ton is already one of our group’s most valued executives. We are delighted that he will now be at the financial helm of Amtel-Vredestein NV,” said CEO, Alexei Gurin.
Pirelli Tyres has announced that Mill Tyres, Boston has been awarded Pirelli Performance Centre status. Mill Tyres becomes the 50th centre to achieve this prestigious award since the introduction of the PPC concept in the late 1990s.
Mill Tyres, a family run business, operates out of a single depot in Boston, Lincolnshire. John Sands and his two sons Edward and John have been in business for 15 years and pride themselves on offering a first class service from the moment the consumer walks through the front door into the modern, spacious and well equipped reception area, to the tyres being fitted with the latest equipment and to the highest technical standards.
Following a detailed audit of its training resources and assessment procedures, Omitec Limited has been appointed an approved assessment centre of the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI).
The TRA has announced the introduction of an Audit Excellence Award to recognise its members’ independently regulated standards. This first year’s award will be presented at the Rubber Industry Dinner on 14 October 2005.
“Using a TRA member means that the end of life tyres collected from any designated premises by one of our members are subject to very stringent checks, on licence compliance, full traceability and other general aspects of best practice,” maintains the TRA.
The ‘TRA Audit Excellence Award’ will be decided by an independent audit team, Excelar Ltd, and presented to the member that has made the greatest efforts in the past year.
Ansell Ltd. (Australia/Goodyear’s joint venture partner in South Pacific Tyres) announced the appointment, effective 9 August 2005, of Mr Peter L Barnes as Chairman of the Board of Directors to succeed Dr Edward D Tweddell, who died on 4 August. Mr Barnes has been a Non-executive Director since October 2001. He has been Chairman of Ansell’s Audit Committee and is a member of its Nomination, Remuneration and Evaluation Committee.
The Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) has confirmed that 26,843 visitors attended the 2005 combined Commercial Vehicle Show and Automotive Trade Show in April.
Demographic data, provided by visitor registration company CTS, shows that those 26,843 visitors had more purchasing power this year than at any previous CV Show and ATS says the SMMT. A detailed breakdown of visitors showed that 72.3 per cent were at owner, director or senior manager level.
The SMMT believes that these figures confirm the informal feedback from exhibitors during and after the event, suggesting that visitors and business leads were of a very high quality. Visitors came from across the UK and Ireland, with a further 1,000 from overseas, finding the NEC an ideal place for a business-to-business event of this type.
The 2006 CV Show and ATS will be on 25, 26 and 27 April, in halls 1 to 5 of the NEC.
Bridgestone UK has been awarded the Investors in People (IIP) accreditation, following a detailed audit of the company’s working practices. The IIP standard is a government-led business improvement tool designed to advance an organisation’s performance through its people, and provides strategies for managing people effectively, nurturing talent, and ensuring equal opportunities.
“This award is a ‘pat-on-the-back’ for the company and its employees,” said John McNaught, managing director of Bridgestone UK. “It shows that we are committed to providing our employees with a stimulating and rewarding place to work, communicating effectively, and working hard to provide opportunities for personal development.” The company will now be the subject of three-yearly independent inspections to confirm the maintenance of high standards in order for the IIP accreditation to be retained.
Bridgestone UK’s assessment centre has gained the Institute of Motor Industry (IMI), approval, making it the first tyre company to hold the status for all its training modules.
The award follows a detailed audit by the IMI of Bridgestone UK’s training resources and assessment procedures. It will now mean that a technician qualifying through one of the company’s training schemes will achieve recognition from the IMI via its Quality Assured Awards (QAA) initiative.
Superior Industries has announced that Steven J Borick will become the company’s new president and chief executive officer from the 1 January, 2005. He will succeed Louis Borick, who will remain chairman of the board.
Commenting on the appointment, Louis Borick said: “Steven Borick has demonstrated his ability to effectively manage our complex operation. He has earned the trust and respect of our employees, our entire management team, and our customers. With his leadership and personal commitment to Superior’s success, we are confident that Steven is the right choice to lead this company into the future.”
Steven Borick, has been president and COO of Superior since 2003. He was executive vice president from 2000 to 2002, and has been a director since 1981. Mr Borick is a director and member of the Audit Committee of MDC Holdings, Inc, Colorado, America’s eighth largest homebuilder, and a director of Richmond American Homes, Denver.
With haulage up 45 per cent in the last 20 years, average vehicle journeys up and the pay load being carried by commercial vehicles at a record high, the need for fleet inspections and tyre maintenance is growing in importance, as ‘down-time’ is expensive. An external source can provide a manager with a better view on its fleet’s tyre needs and cost structure and will aim to offer new cost reduction possibilities and more effective means of utilising resources, but more importantly can provide close follow-up on a fleet’s tyre programmes that otherwise might not be maintained. Most fleet management programmes now offer audit and analysis programs that provide a tailor made recommendation according to a fleet’s specific situation, needs and tyre policy.
It is important for tyre management providers to maintain good relationships with fleet managers so that they can make sure they deliver both what the customer wants and needs and that the service isn’t driven by the single desire to sell new tyres. Most tyre management schemes offer a combination of services, regrooving, retreading and tyre replacement as well as follow-up and management systems, management reporting, preventative maintenance and 24 hour roadside assistance.
Tony Stapleton, fleet sales manager CES, believes that fleets need to understand their operating costs more effectively, so that they can exert proper control over them. “Many managers accept fixed cost contracts and the problem is it becomes an unmanned cost, they don’t know if the service provider is making more money by charging a set price per kilometre than they should be.”
Many tyre management providers would like to see the end to a fixed cost approach. “Price per kilometre has often been misused as a way of gaining tyre business by simply quoting a lower rate but this does not lead to sound long-term relationships,” says Continental. The company likes to view its system as an open book, rather than the closed book method of many of its competitors and whilst they offer ppk the company advocates a structure that is appropriate to the fleet’s real costs.
Mr Stapleton admits that there are a varying degree of fleet operators that want to get to know and understand the ins and outs of their tyre costs. The challenge, he explains, is getting to the finer details of the operator’s costs. However, he does believe that most fleet managers would agree that tyre choices are important. Whether they fully understand the ramifications of their choices is another matter.
Fleet operators do not always focus on identifying all of the cost elements concerning their tyres. There is a tendency to concentrate on the price of the tyre alone and to pay insufficient attention to the costs of service and administration. Likewise they don’t analyse the cost of tyre damage, and so find it difficult to rectify any problems.
There is a high expectation that tyre management automatically reduces costs, but this is not guaranteed. Unless an operator is already analysing tyre costs in some detail then the most likely outcome of a tyre management programme is that it will identify the true cost of tyres in the fleet, a sum that is often higher than was previously thought. Tyre management can aid valuable changes within the business through means such as simple casing management and auditing and regular review of a fleet’s performance. But even with the help of an external source it is still often a case of trial and error combined with expertise to get a fleets’ exact requirements right.
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