personnel Archives - Page 85 of 93 - Tyrepress

PERSONNEL

Posts

Colwayski

It was back in the early days of 2002 when Gary Oliver and Peter Morris formed the company called C-Tyres and purchased the assets of retreaders Colway and Motorway from the Official Receiver. Since then, the demise of car tyre retreading in the UK has been well documented and, it has to be said, one or two quizzical eyebrows were raised when Oliver and Morris announced that C-Tyres would be making retreads.

At the end of January the Colway brand and equipment owned by County Durham-based C-Tyres was bought by Polish retread company, Mark Gum. No details of how much Mark Gum paid were made available. C-Tyres managing director Gary Oliver had previously spoken of his hope that a British company would take ownership of the assets, allowing tyre production to start up again from within C-Tyres leased premises in Langley Moor.

15th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Advanced ID Announces Several New Innovations

The UK based subsidiary of Advanced ID Corporation, Pneu-Logic Ltd., has ventured further into the tyre industry through its signing of an initial contract to supply data capture tools to French firm Electronic Data Process (EDP). The initial 2008 contract, valued at US$150,000, will see the data capture tools integrated with EDP’s tyre management software in order to provide what Advanced ID is calling a “complete tyre management solution.”

EDP managing director, Mr. Jean-Luc Giusti, commented: “We continue to experience strong growth in European sales of our Fleet Check software solutions and Pneu-Logic tools. Based on this progress, we plan for EDP to expand its presence into the United States in 2008 in an effort to market our combined tyre products offering to the many large global tyre manufacturers and service providers located in the country.” Quoting statistics released by Tire Review magazine, Advanced ID reports that the US market for all medium and light trucks in 2006 was in excess of 77 million units. The total US and European market approaches $10 billion annually.

14th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Conti Automotive Systems NA to Cut Management, Admin Jobs

Redundancies affective US based Continental AG employees will mainly take place amongst executive and administrative personnel, said William Kozyra, president and CEO of Continental Automotive Systems’ NAFTA business. He said that engineers will be largely spared the cuts that are taking place subsequent to the Siemens VDO acquisition late last year.

30th January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin NA Chairman and President Micali to Retire

Jim Micali’s three-decade career with Michelin will draw to a close later this year. The company has announced the impending retirement of the Michelin North America chairman and president, who will hand over the reins to Richard (Dick) Wilkerson on August 15.

Joining the company in 1977, four years after graduating in law from Boston College Law School, Micali’s early career with Michelin saw him serve in a number of positions within the company’s legal department, including two assignments in France. In 1985 he was named general counsel and secretary for Michelin North America, and in 1990 he moved on to become executive vice president of the North American legal and finance functions. Micali has served in his current role since 1996. Following his retirement, Micali will act as a consultant for Michelin North America and for several companies based in South Carolina.

23rd January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Beru Appoints New Communications Head

Beru AG has announced personnel changes at its German head office’s Corporate Communication and Investor Relations department. Sabrina Knorr will take over the position of head of department on February 1, replacing Stephanie Konrad, who leaves the company at the end of January after six years with the department.

Sabrina Knorr joined the department as a junior manager in 2005. She had already gained experience in various aspects of corporate communication in the automotive industry during her business administration and engineering studies, some of which she completed in Australia. In her new role, Sabrina Knorr will report directly to the Executive Board chairman.

16th January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Maha UK Presents New Management Team

Following the retirement of Gus Gregory from Maha UK Ltd, Neil Ebbs has been appointed as managing director from 1 January 2008. Ebbs, who is 45, has been in the garage equipment industry for more than 20 years. He joined Maha in 2004 to start a new project department which has been very successful and has expanded to keep up with demand from customers. Kevin Howard, who has been with Maha UK since the start in 1997, has taken on a new role as business development manager and will be responsible for expanding the customer base, product range and continued Dynamometer sales.

Catherine Gregory and Louis Tunmore, also both founder members of Maha UK, will continue to manage their successful roles and are key members to the success of the company. Catherine Gregory will now be in charge of all the financial and personnel aspects of MAHA. Tunmore, as after sales manager, now controls the 25 engineers and 5 office staff-strong service department.

14th January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Toyo Releases Findings of Compliance Reporting Investigation

On January 8 Toyo Tire & Rubber issued its findings from an internal investigation into the company’s urethane-based heat-resistant building construction material business, and announced an action plan to ensure future compliance with all laws, regulations, company policies and rules. The compliance reporting issue in question was made public in November 2007, and its rectification will cost the company as much as £17.52 million.

The investigation was performed by an internal fact-finding committee with oversight by a panel of independent, third party experts. The committee first determined the causes and circumstances that led to this compliance issue, and made recommendations to management on an action plan to eliminate the likelihood of its recurrence. On December 26, the committee made its report to Toyo’s Board of Directors, and to Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

10th January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Twice as much in half the time – Giti’s plan to penetrate European tyre market in five years

International News, Product News

Goodyear and Michelin penetration into Europe took a few decades, Bridgestone more than halved that, Hankook and Kumho did it in about 12 years, Giti Tire want to do it in five. The largest Chinese manufacturers are growing quickly, they have their sights set breaking into the US and Europe, and what’s more they plan to do it quicker than any company has before. Speaking to Tyres & Accessories, Dr Enki Tan predicted that Giti Tire will soon be known as the manufacturer to emerge from China. Giti is already a global scale operation, with 2007 sales totalling the best part of $2 billion. And while the fact that the group’s holding company is registered in Singapore means it can’t be officially be called a Chinese domiciled manufacturer, semantics can’t stop Giti from being the largest manufacturer of tyres in China.

The company’s biggest production base is in Hefei, Anhui province (not a long way from where Continental recently announced it will build a Greenfield site of its own). The manufacturing complex here employs around 6400 staff and covers some 1.11 million square metres – only 350,000 m2 of which is currently covered. At the end of 2007 production totalled 34,000 passenger/light truck, 6500 truck and bus, and 4000 bias tyres per day.

18th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

New Pirelli Deal to Benefit Romanian UHP Tyre Plant Town

It is nine months since Pirelli opened its UHP tyre manufacturing facility in the Romanian town of Slatina, and the Italian company’s commitment to the community has been reflected in a program of social initiatives. The latest of these is the signing of an agreement on December 10 between the tyremaker and Niguarda Cà Granda Hospital of Milan and the Hospital of Slatina to provide for the continuing education of Romanian medical and nursing personnel at the Milan hospital. In addition, Pirelli will donate modern hospital equipment to the Slatina hospital for diagnostics and emergency surgery.

11th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin an OE Supplier for Student Ingenuity in Dundee

As part of its practice of contributing to the communities in which it is represented, Michelin has entered into a three-year tyre sponsorship deal with a group from Dundee University who have unveiled plans to build a car inspired by Formula One technology. The Dundee University Race Innovation and Vehicle Engineering (DRIVE) team, comprised of students from the university’s engineering and mechatronics faculties, has entered into the national Formula Student competition to build a performance car. Next July the team, along with other entrants, must present their vehicle at the Silverstone race circuit and put it through a series of performance and reliability tests.

27th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Maha Reports a Successful Year with the Trade Group

Maha UK reports that 2007 has proven to be a very successful year in terms of its relationship with the Trade Group, and has increased the partnership sales to the Group’s garage equipment arm by at least 50 per cent over 2006. The Cambridgeshire based dealer sells most of its MOT and ATL bays through the Trade Group and their car brake testers. The Trade Group, a national organisation of garage equipment specialists and installers, have premises positioned throughout the UK, providing the advantage of a personalised local service combined with a countrywide sales and service network.

Maha UK is proud of its success over the past decade and beyond in offering a quality product and back up facilities it believes to be second to none; this is also true for the Trade Group. The partnership between the two began in 1998 and has steadily grown over the years to become a strong force in the UK garage equipment industry. Gus Gregory, managing director of Maha UK, says, “The success of Maha UK is not only due to the quality of the product but the also the excellence of the personnel in the Trade Group.”

21st November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Supplier for Australian GT Championship

Management of the exotic sports car series the Australian GT Championship made public on November 14 news that it has selected Michelin as official tyre supplier for this race and the Porsche Drivers Challenge for the next five seasons. “The Australian GT Championship is delighted to have reached agreement to extend its already long term relationship with Michelin to the end of the 2012 season with this new five year deal,” Australian GT Sportscar Group director Rachael Wagg said.

“The plan is for a partnership with Michelin not only as a tyre supplier but also to develop marketing and promotional opportunities for both parties,” she added. “The Australian GT Championship together with the Porsche Drivers Challenge has shown outstanding growth over the past two seasons and our highly competitive, prestigious category fits perfectly with a legendary company like Michelin.”

20th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Sales Appointments at Bandvulc Tyres

Plymouth-based retreader Bandvulc Tyres has added four key personnel to its Sales division; two of these operating as Regional and National Sales respectfully and two appointments to its fleet support department.

Sales Director, Philip West comments: “We have had a stable growth period of sales over recent years and need to allow for further growth with the addition of key people to our sales team”.

The appointments of Richard Crummack and Simon Arnold to the Sales team bring experience to the organisation, Richard having worked with Michelin previously and Simon with Pirelli.

15th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper Partners Corporación de Occidente in Mexican Tyre JV

Cooper Tire & Rubber Company has announced the formation of a 50:50 joint venture company in Mexico. The new company, Cooper Tire & Rubber Company de Mexico SA de CV (Cooper Mexico) will be responsible for the marketing, sales and distribution of the Cooper and Pneustone brands, as well as all other associate brand tyres marketed by the two partner companies. Tyre production is expected to begin in the fourth quarter 2007.

Currently, the Pneustone brand is the house brand of Corporación de Occidente, a subsidiary company of Grupo Dexel, a Mexican holding corporation with entities involved in transportation, LP gas distribution, auto parts, and construction equipment.

“This is a great opportunity to grow the Cooper brands in Mexico,” said Phil Caris, vice president, Sales and Marketing, for Cooper Tire’s North American Tire Division. “By partnering with Occidente, we gain access to retail channels in Mexico and leverage existing relationships that Pneustone Brand has established with dealers throughout that country. Our existing customers in Mexico will benefit with the localized warehousing and increased focus on that market.”

2nd October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

New First Stop Website

Bridgestone UK has launched a new first stop web site. The site, www.firststoppartners.co.uk, has been designed to cater for the growing number of independent tyre retailers signing up to the First Stop network – the loyalty programme of Bridgestone UK. It offers a host of interactive features, including downloadable brochures and guides, latest news, contact details for key First Stop personnel, and an online shop selling promotional products.

The site also boasts access to marketing tools, answers to technical questions, information on Bridgestone UK’s safety campaigns, and details of the company’s training and investment programs – as well as outlining all the benefits of being a First Stop member.

24th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors