Awards
Jojo the boxer has unfortunately failed to bring a tyre connection into the winner’s circle at this year’s Hambone awards. The three year old dog from Jacksonville, Florida was nominated for the distinction after catching the large UPS delivery truck he was chasing by biting into its tyre.
Entrants to the final category in the 2010 NTDA Tyre and Fast Fit Awards – the Innovation Award – have been announced. As you would expect the eight entrants this year represent a complete cross section of the tyre industry with companies from the manufacturer/supplier (Continental, GITI and Michelin), garage equipment (Pro-Align), retail (HiQ) workshop consumables (Apaseal) and tyre recovery (Vellco Tyre Control) sectors represented.
Bridgestone has only now reported that in June it was awarded the prestigious title of Volvo Premium Supplier. The Swedish carmaker’s annual Premium Supplier Awards ceremony has been held for five years and recognises suppliers who book the best measured performance in the areas of quality, safety, environmental performance, cost, logistics and corporate responsibility. Close attention is also paid to the supplier’s capacity to work with Volvo’s teams in the spirit of continuous improvement. A total of nine awards were presented for 2009, including Bridgestone’s – the first ever awarded to a tyre manufacturer. Bridgestone supplier truck and bus tyres to Volvo.
Following the second Maxxis Rewards quarterly prize draw of 2010, 13 tyre retailers have each won either M&S or High Street vouchers to the value of £250. All Tyres Fitted, Craven Arms Tyre Services, Easy Car Care, Farmer Autocare, George Fegan Tyres, JR Motors Ltd, NL Autos, Northwich Tyre and Autocare, Quick Fix, Roper’s Farnborough Ltd, Sutton Service Centre Ltd, W W Wheels & Tyres and G Williamson (Garages) Ltd were all winners in the quarterly prize draw. Entries into the draw were based on their purchases of Maxxis car, van and 4×4 tyres and the winners were presented with their prizes by their local Grouptyre member.
Bandvulc Tyre Contracts (BTC), the well-known independent retreader’s tyre management arm, has celebrated the authorisation of its 1 millionth order number. The firm celebrated the significant milestone alongside BTC’s 10th anniversary in July.
“BTC’s success bears testimony to the commitment and hard work of the in-house team and also our service providers. We would like to express our thanks for their continued support and collaboration. At the rate we’re going we should reach our 2 millionth order number in half the time – somewhere in 2015,” Kevin McPherson, BTC Manager, commented.
Beissbarth GmbH, a Bosch Group company, has announced plans to present its “New Generation of wheel service equipment,” at Brityrex in October. The company, which reports that “three out of four [tyre] retails choose Beissbarth” says it technical sales team will be available to answer questions and give demonstrations on tyre changers, wheel balancers and aligners as well as the new A/Ccellence air conditioning service units.
In this final category only two companies – Credential Environmental and DME Tyres – survive from last year's finalists and they are joined by previous winners Kingpin Tyres, Envirotyre and Hardings Vans, a company providing a localised service. I said final category, however, it is worth noting that the NTDA's "Innovation Award" will be presented on awards night too. But seeing as the nominations for this haven't been published yet, the Environment Awards counts for the last category in our coverage. Click more for the nominations.
This category reminds us that it is not all about round, black, rubbery objects; tyre shops need the consumables, tools and machinery to demount, repair, balance and align wheels and tyres. Three of last year's nominees have made it again – Apaseal, Auto4 and Rema Tip Top – and are joined by Harvie Tyres and Pro-Align, who won last year's Innovation Award.
It seems logical that the bigger companies have more money to spend on advertising and indeed, four of the finalists are from the top six tyre manufacturers. They are joined this year by a new name – Maxxis International – who have been very active on the marketing front. Without any further ado, here are the nominations:
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This is always a hard-fought category and four of last year's nominees are in the running for the 2010 award. The question is whether the four will be shaken or stirred by new kid on the block (at least as far as the TAFF Awards are concerned) Bond International?
Wednesday 6 October is the date when the winners of 2010 Tyre and Fast-Fit (TAFF) Awards – the sixth year of the awards – will be revealed at the NTDA's Annual Dinner. But there's a long way to go before then, as the list of nominated companies has only recently been published, with voting forms appearing in last month's and this issue of Tyres & Accessories. Once again, we are the media partner for the TAFF Awards and are sponsoring the "Industry Advertising Campaign" category.
As in previous years, customers are invited to choose a company from each of five short lists in the following categories: Tyre Manufacturer of the Year, Wholesaler of the Year, Industry Advertising Campaign, Tyre & Aftermarket Equipment Supplier of the Year and the Environmental category. Look out for articles detailing each of the categories in our e-Newsletter over the next few days and a complete run-down of the nominations in the August issue of the magazine. First off – Tyre Manufacturer of the Year.
Federal Tires was chosen as an official sponsor of tires for the US Legends Million held at Charlotte Motor Speedway, North Carolina, over the weekend of 15-17 July. In a fierce battle, Kannapolis, N.C., native Daniel Hemric won the inaugural contest, the largest grassroots race in history, taking home $250,000 with the victory. Doug Stevens held on to finish second, followed by Steven Cantrell, David Ragan, and Tyler Green.
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On 21 July a Federal judge upheld a jury's verdict to award Jordan Fishman $26 million in damages in a case naming Shandong Linglong Rubber Company, Ltd of China and Al Dobowi Tyre Company, LLC. According, to Fishman’s lawyers, the ruling results from “the illegal copying of Mr. Fishman's blueprints for unique asymmetrical underground mining tyres.” However, sources close to the defence case said they dispute this and that defendants Al Dobowi are going to appeal.
Tyre e-tail operation Tyre Shopper (www.tyre-shopper.co.uk), which is linked to National Tyres parent company Axle Group Holdings, has been recognised as one of the top 10 most popular websites in its category in the UK Online Performance Awards 2009. The UK Online Performance Awards from Experian Hitwise celebrate the most successful UK websites across 60 key industries, based on market share of UK visits received throughout 2009. Hitwise monitors the internet usage of over eight million online consumers in the UK to gather this information.
The ninth Podio Ferrari awards – the annual awards recognising Ferrari's global partners and suppliers, took place on July 14. In total five awards – Ferrari Technology, Ferrari Innovation, Italian Excellence and the President’s Award together with a Special Award for Sustainable Energy – were presented to companies that distinguished themselves for their technical and technological excellence, innovation and product development in partnership with Ferrari. The ceremony was attended by Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo, CEO, Amedeo Felisa and the Scuderia Ferrari drivers, Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella.
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