Bandag
Marketing director Danny van Essche and HR director Ron Bloemperk officially left Bandag by mutual agreement on 15 September, Bandag’s vice president Mike Tirona has confirmed to Tyres & Accessories. Tirona said the company was interested in reinforcing its “back to basics” business model. Deploying this model is, from Bandag’s point-of-view, the right thing to do in today’s ever changing and hectic business environment.
Bandag has launched a new tread product for fleets that operate on a wide variety of surfaces. According to Bandag, the new BZY2 achieves high mileage and reliability on very soft ground, sharp and abrasive stones, as well as everything in between. As a result the new tread is positioned as “a major competitor to existing on/off-road tyre products.”
The BZY2 boasts an advanced groove concept. The space between the ribs is wide enough to drain liquids even on spongy ground, resulting in excellent water drainage and grip, says the company. Furthermore, the grooves have a depth of 18 mm, which leaves room for quite some mileage. The tread grooves have also been cleverly designed to expel any embedded object. This feature greatly improves the BZY2’s resistance to penetration.
After 10 years as part of the Bandag organisation, director of marketing for Europe, Danny Van Essche, has left the company. He was also part of the company’s European Leadership Team. Van Essche expressed thanks to his colleagues and partners in the last decades and pointed to the “many successful initiatives realised by Bandag to support the retreading industry in Europe.”
Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., is offering an extended casing warranty on Bandag retreads. Dusseldorf-based Yokohama Europe GmbH, and Brussels-based Bandag NV will undertake the warranty programme as part of a marketing collaboration arrangement between the two companies. A brochure released by the two companies summed up the arrangement like this: “Yokohama has extended the casing warranty of its truck and bus tyres to run for their total lifecycle: First life as a premium Yokohama tyre; Second life as a valuable Bandag retreaded Yokohama tyre.”
(Akron/Tire Review) Fort Smith, Arkansas-based Trans-American Tire announced that its North Little Rock, Arkansas, Bandag retread plant has earned ISO 9001:2000 certification. “We’re joining a North American network of Bandag dealers to offer consistent, quality results to trucking fleets’” says R. Scott Hembree, Trans-American’s chairman. “Implementing the Bandag quality management system and working towards certification has helped my organization to fine tune our operations.
After more than a quarter of a century since the last tyre show in the country, the recent Tyrexpo Africa 2006 held in South Africa was a great success. Based at the Sandton Convention Center in Johannesburg, more than a hundred national and international exhibitors took part, including Michelin, Bandag and Vipal as well as many international wholesalers. The show’s floorspace was sold out. The organisers, ECI, were optimistic about the response to the show and said that the next step is to follow this exhibition with an even bigger event in 2008. The first comments from exhibitors sounded positive. The exact visitor statistics will be published later this week.
(Akron/Tire Review) Bandag has “significantly expanded” its line of Continuum brand OTR retread materials. Launched in 2005, the Continuum line is expanded to include “innovative serpentine tread designs” intended for rigid dump trucks and industrial/container handling applications. Bandag said the Continuum serpentine tread designs offer greater flexibility than other retread application methods and products.
(Akron/Tire Review) Bandag Inc.’s board of directors adopted a shareholder rights plan ”designed to enable shareholders to realize the full long-term value of their investment and to provide for fair and equal treatment for all shareholders in the event that an unsolicited attempt is made to acquire the company,” Bandag said.
BIPAVER, the European Retread Manufacturers Association, has announced that it has taken substantial further steps towards Pan-European co-operation in the retreading industry following the Association’s General Assembly, held in May during the Reifen 2006 exhibition in Essen, Germany.
Bandag, Incorporated reported consolidated net sales for second quarter 2006 of $247.3 million compared to consolidated net sales of $227.3 million in second quarter 2005, an increase of nine percent. Consolidated net sales were positively impacted by approximately $4.1 million due to the effect of translating foreign currency denominated net sales into U.S. dollars. Consolidated net earnings were $10.5 million, or $0.54 per diluted share, for second quarter 2006, compared to second quarter 2005 consolidated net earnings of $12.7 million, or $0.65 per diluted share.
Leading tyre specialist Treadsetters Tyres Ltd. Kenya, which has been a Bandag Dealer for 15 years, has chosen Kisumu, Kenya as the location for its third Bandag retreading shop.
Described as a busy, lively port and road hub on Lake Victoria, Kisumu is Kenya’s third-largest city, after the capital Nairobi and the port of Mombasa on the Indian Ocean. Treadsetters Tyres chose the location because the town is a major centre on the transport corridor between the coast and Uganda.
Until recently, Bandag’s winter traction product range featured five treads. However, changes in winter driving conditions in the north of Europe prompted Bandag to develop a new winter traction tread that would be perfectly suited to the emerging requirements in this region; the BDR-W.
When Bandag was developing its new winter traction tread, it relied extensively on the expert advice of the best consultants in winter tyre technology: the end-users in the Nordic region who battle winter conditions for almost six months a year. In addition, research had highlighted a series of other needs and problems, which were also tackled in the development of the Bandag BDR-W.
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(Akron/Tire Review) Retreader Bergey’s Tire, based in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, has become a Marangoni Ringtread retreader. According to the announcement, Bergey’s will exclusively produce and sell Marangoni retreads, and will not renew its previous franchise deal with Bandag.
This year’s tyre exhibition saw Bandag release quite a lot of news coming from the new product department. But what was most interesting for the international press as well as for customers, was Bandag’s future in the European fleet business after its biggest customer (GE/TIP) left. Although marketing director Danny van Essche confirmed that Bandag is going to remain active in the European fleet business, the company is said to have learned a lesson by GE/TIP’s retreat. This lesson will be used to adapt Bandag’s business strategy in a positive way: “We will not aggressively pursue international fleet business anymore.”
(Akron/Tire Review) Bandag Inc. has introduced a new Trailer Linehaul-Spread Axle (BTL-SA) tread to the North American market. Designed for spread axle and multi-axle trailer applications, the tread “offers tough shoulders for tyres that twist, scrape and scrub as lateral stress is created when trailers corner,” said Bandag. BTL-SA offers a 16/32” tread depth and is now available in 210-, 220- and 230-mm sizes.
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