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Bridgestone President Honoured with Polish Award

Shoshi Arakawa, chairman of the board, CEO and president of Bridgestone Corporation, has been awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland at an awards ceremony held at the offices of the Polish Foreign Ministry on July 2. The award was presented by Poland’s minister of Foreign Affairs Witold Waszczykowski in the presence of Pawel Wojciechowski, president of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ) and Ryuichi Tanabe, the Japanese ambassador to Poland.

The Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland is one of the most prestigious Polish orders that can be bestowed for economic relations. “The Commander’s Cross you kindly awarded me today, as I understand, is the demonstration of your high evaluation of Bridgestone’s contribution to the economic development of Poland. I can also recognise how high your expectation on Bridgestone is for the future” commented Arakawa. “It makes me more deeply impressed to have this famous and prestigious Commander’s Cross in a special year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic relations between Poland and Japan.”

5th July 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Six Bridgestone Plants Receive RMA SHIP Awards

(Akron/Tire Review) The Rubber Manufacturers Association recently recognised six Bridgestone Americas facilities for outstanding safety performance.

Mark A. Emkes, chairman and CEO of Bridgestone Americas Holding, accepted the honors at the RMA meeting earlier this year. The six plants include Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire facilities in Aiken County, South Caroline, Warren County, Tennessee, and Des Moines, Iowa, as well as Bridgestone Firestone Diversified Products facilities in Kingstree, South Carolina, Prescott, Arkanas, and Noblesville, Indiana.

RMA’s Safety and Health Improvement Program (SHIP) awards, created in 1981, acknowledge enhancements in worker health and safety and reward companies’ dedication to worker health and safety.

28th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Top Technician 2007 Announced

Clive Atthowe has been crowned the UK’s best mechanic after winning the Top Technician 2007 competition. Clive took first prize in the nationwide contest during an awards ceremony at the GEA/Aftermarket Technical Workshop conference on 11 June at the Motor Heritage Centre in Gaydon, Warwickshire. Atthowe, who runs the Clive Atthowe Tuning garage in Norwich, was joined on the winner’s podium by joint runners-up Elliot Waters and David Wagstaff.

Atthowe scooped £2,000 tax free and a range of prizes from sponsors Bosch and Vauxhall Trade Club along with the prestigious title as part of his prize. He hopes the publicity from his win will give his garage a major business boost and help raise awareness among the public of the skills, knowledge and expertise within the motor trade. He achieved the highest score in the competition’s live finals, held as part of the Automotive Trade Show at the NEC in Birmingham, where he competed against 12 of the country’s best technicians in a series of practical tests.

20th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Toyo US Subsidiary Wins Gold Award for Website

Nitto Tire North America Inc. (Toyo’s Nitto Tire sales subsidiary in the US) has won a gold award for its website (http://www.nittotire.com) in the “Consumer Information” category of the Horizon Interactive Awards. The awards are an international competition recognizing outstanding work in the field of interactive media, such as on-line advertising and CD-ROMs.

15th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Leaseplan Award Customer Service Prize to Kwik-Fit

Kwik-Fit Fleet, Britain’s leading fast-fit provider, has been named Management Partner of the Year in the annual customer service awards from vehicle management company LeasePlan UK. The award from LeasePlan, which operates more than 129,000 vehicles in the UK, is the fourth fleet award won in 2007 by Britain’s largest independent fast-fit company. Kwik-Fit Fleet has already won a hat-trick of titles recognising innovation and first-class customer service delivery from industry publications, Fleet News, BusinessCar and Van Fleet World.

Graham Rixon, operations director at vehicle management company LeasePlan UK, said: “There was a lot of competition for the Management Partner of the Year award, so it was by no means a straightforward decision. Throughout the year, however, the Kwik-Fit team showed an incredible amount of dedication and have become a true and trusted partner in many areas of our business. Kwik-Fit Fleet carries out over 7,000 jobs every month for us and has one of the lowest customer query ratios across our entire business – an achievement in itself.

15th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Falken Gets Top Spot in Enthusiast Magazine Survey

(Akron/Tire Review) Falken Tire Corp. was selected as “favourite tyres” in the 2007 People’s Choice Awards conducted by C16, a digital automotive enthusiast magazine. C16 polls its readers each year, asking for their favourite brands in categories such as “Car Care” and “Car Handling.” Last year was the inaugural year of the People’s Choice Awards.

“It is victories like this one that prove that Falken Tire has consistently gained the most brand equity in the last few years,” said Nick Fousekis, Falken’s brand manager.

11th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Kwik-Fit Shows Training Academies to Fleet Customers

Kwik-Fit has thrown open the doors of one of its four UK training academies for the first time to show leading fleet customers the courses its apprentices, fitters and specialist technicians undertake. Representatives of two of the UK’s leading leasing and fleet management companies Masterlease and Carillion went behind the usually closed doors to gain a first-hand insight into the training undertaken by Kwik-Fit’s centre fitters and mobile technicians.

Kwik-Fit employs more than 4,000 people in the UK and the company’s Training Academy, which has operations in Derby, Gloucester, Harlow and Perth, is the foundation for its business success. That success in the fleet industry translates into a dominant market share of the UK fast-fit market with solus or dual supply agreements with almost all of the country’s top 50 contract hire and leasing companies; more than one million vehicles on tyre management programmes and more than 60 industry awards that recognise best practice delivery in the company car and van marketplace.

6th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Sportrac3 Rated a ‘Winning Tyre’ in Auto Express Product Honours

Auto Express magazine has named a Vredestein product as top performer in the tyre segment of the magazine’s Product Honours 2007 awards. The Vredestein Sportrac 3 performed well in the 15-brand tyre test that covered wet cornering, wet handling, dry handling, aquaplaning, wet and dry braking, noise levels and rolling resistance, coming out in the lead in all areas with the exception of dry braking and rolling resistance.

“The Sportrac3 stars on wet surfaces and is a worthy champion. A great tyre at a good price,” said Kim Adams, consumer editor of Auto Express. The report further added that “new Russian owners haven’t stopped the Dutch brand’s ability to produce a winning tyre, as this is Vredestein’s third victory in as many years.”

“Our engineers have once again achieved a remarkable success in producing tyres that are the best in an important and growing segment of the market,” commented Bert Stellinga, managing director of Vredestein UK, who further claimed “Our network of specialist tyre retailers throughout the UK can confidently promote Vredestein car tyres as the very best quality in the market today.”

5th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

‘The Acid Test is Quality’

When Peter Gaster is not acting as NTDA chairman, the other hat he wears is as group managing director of Kings Road Tyres (for details of his first speech in this role see this month’s TAFF awards coverage). On this occasion the conversation focused largely on KRT’s product range, the recent influx of OTR products and why many manufacturers failed to turn out at this year’s event.

With more tyres than any other stand at the show, Kings Road Tyres’ Brityrex exhibit marked itself apart from the rest. The majority of what was on show came from the company’s wide range of quality private and exclusive brand commercial vehicle tyres, but KRT also had selections from its passenger 4×4 ranges (including Cooper products) on show.

31st May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Foot-Pump Wins Auto Express Product Honour

Auto Express, Britain’s largest circulation motoring weekly, has recognised the outstanding quality and value for money of the Michelin Twin-Barrel foot pump with one of its twenty annual Product Honour awards. The Michelin Twin-Barrel pump scored a maximum 5-star Best Buy rating in a multi-brand product test carried out by Auto Express to check the accuracy, pumping power and ease of use.

Whilst the Twin-Barrel foot pump takes the important Product Honour, the Michelin Single-Barrel foot pump took the “Recommended” award in the same group test making it an impressive one-two for Michelin auto accessories range.

The Auto Express Product Honours list is respected throughout the aftermarket industry with retailers and consumers recognising the relevance of the distinctive labels. Tests on the pumps included assessments on how many psi each pump delivered after 30 pumps, the accuracy of the gauge calibration, footplate grip and stability.

30th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Renault Van Takes Fleet World Honours

The Renault Trafic van was voted ‘Best medium van’ for the fifth consecutive year at the Fleet World Honours 2007 awards ceremony in London recently. The awards are presented to manufacturers who, in the opinion of the panel of judges, have achieved the highest levels of excellence in their sector. The judging panel is made up of industry experts, including the editorial team from Fleet World, members the leasing industry, fleet managers and representatives from residual values guides.

18th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Kwik-Fit Fleet Collects Three Van Fleet World Honours

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Kwik-Fit Fleet was also jubilant about its success in winning Best Service Provider and two other awards at this year’s Van Fleet World Honours. The organisation has already won 2007 awards from BusinessCar and Fleet News. Averaging more than three awards per year since Kwik-Fit Fleet was founded as a division of Kwik-Fit in 1987, the latest win means the company has secured a total of 63 fleet industry awards since launch.

The annual Van Fleet World Honours were presented yesterday (Thursday, May 17) at a ceremony at London’s Royal Automobile Club. They are presented to those van manufacturers and service companies who have, in the opinion of the judging panel composed of industry experts, achieved the highest possible level of excellence in their sector.

18th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

New Date for Brityrex as Show Returns in 2009

Positive feedback from May’s Brityrex International exhibition at Manchester’s G-MEX Centre has been followed by confirmation that the UK’s only dedicated tyre show will return to the same venue in 2009. Although Manchester will again act as host city, the show has been rescheduled to a new slot in September, to avoid a crowded exhibition programme that includes two other major aftermarket trade shows in April and May.

“We’re delighted with the overall feedback we’ve received from exhibitors and visitors and believe that we can continue to develop the show further in two years time. Part of that development includes moving to a new slot in September, which we believe will benefit exhibitors and visitors by avoiding clashes with other exhibitions,” said Paul Farrant, managing director of show organiser ECI International.

Paul continued: “The new venue worked well, exhibitors made real efforts to present themselves very professionally and we were pleased that visitor numbers increased compared to the last exhibition in Harrogate, two years ago.”

16th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Viva Brasil, Viva Ringnet

This March, members of the Ringnet, the specialist Europe-wide network of retreaders and resellers of RINGTREAD tyres, met in Brazil to celebrate the first two successful years of activity of the network. The event, organised by Marangoni Retreading Systems and called Viva Brasil Ringnet Tour 2007, saw the participation of the Ringnet members who in 2006 achieved the objectives set as part of an intense marketing campaign for the promotion of Ringtread tyres with the end user.

The Viva Brasil event took place from 16 to 25 March, in Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro, and culminated in the convention held at the Ouro Minas Hotel in Belo Horizonte. The convention was attended not only by the Ringnet Europe member companies, but also by Brazilian retreaders, customers of Marangoni do Brasil, which were invited with the aim of presenting the Ringnet project for the local network.

16th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Awards First Expert Level Dealers

At the end of April Bridgestone UK announced details of its Expert Level Truck Point Dealer Audit Programme, naming the first three recipients. The accreditation scheme is the latest stage in the multi-million-pound total tyre management investment programme Bridgestone has been engaged in for the last three years. A further 46 external “Expert Level” audits were scheduled to have been completed at the end of April. Bridgestone plan to hold an official awards ceremony for the remaining Expert Level dealers at the annual Truck Point conference in October.

Talking to Tyres & Accessories, Bridgestone representatives described how working with Lloyd’s register made their scheme “a first.” As external auditors, LRQA (Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance), a leading management systems assessment body, carry out the necessary checks independently, adding greater value to the validation of the Expert Level dealers.
The objective of the programme is to recognise the high service standards of Expert Level Truck Point dealers, and to further improve the service standards of the entire network. The Expert Level Truck Point Audit Programme audits customer service provision, casing management, health & safety policy, equipment checks, administration, invoicing and training within Truck Point dealers.

14th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors