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Marangoni Road-Show Proves Popular With Group Tyre Members

Throughout October and November Marangoni has been running a series of introductory road-shows designed to launch the brand to all of its member companies. The response to the brand launch and subsequent enthusiasm surrounding the brand promotion plans has exceeded expectations, according to Group Tyre’s Karl Naylor: “The reaction has been amazing – the strength and cohesion of the Group Tyre network was never in doubt – but neither we nor Marangoni anticipated such levels of enthusiasm and interest in the brand. This is an excellent indicator for our plans to build Marangoni into one of the key mid-sector brands in the UK tyre market.”

25th November 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Nokian Begins Lay-off Negotiations

Today Nokian Tyres began the statutory negotiations for the lay-off of some personnel as well as for possible dismissals of around 100 employees, working at the car tyre production facility in Nokia, Finland. The aim of the procedure is to adjust the car tyre production to suit current tyre demand and inventories.

21st November 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Wholesale Changes at Stapletons

For the last 18 months Stapletons has kept pretty quiet about its plans for the UK market and consequently rumours have abounded about the strength of the company’s position. Now, chief executive officer, Kenji Murai has broken silence, announcing efficiency cuts and $25 million of investment designed to set “Stapletons apart from its competitors…into 2006 and beyond.”

On the 11 October Stapletons announced that it plans to close its Dereham tyre distribution centre (TDC), cut around 50 jobs and introduce new stock distribution methods at its Bristol, Coatbridge and Warrington TDCs. Delving deeper, Tyres & Accessories learnt that the cutbacks are the first step in a programme that will see the company’s Japanese backers invest a minimum of $25 million over the next three to five years.

At first glance words like restructuring, redundancies and consultation can paint quite a negative image, but Stapletons representatives insist that the moves are growth driven. While CEO Kenji Murai concedes that cutting jobs and closing sites is a response to the “challenging trading environment that the whole industry is widely acknowledged to be facing,” he also believes it is a positive move.

Taking this into account, it is clear that the events of the last 18 months, and the number of recent top-level personnel changes that have taken place at the company, signal a tide change in the direction of the wholesaler.

Take the recent appointment of Andrew Long as head of marketing. Mr Long comes from a non-tyre background and will have been selected for his knowledge of marketing rather than his in-depth understanding of sizes and fitments. Likewise the appointments of Kenji Murai as CEO and Taro Ikeba as chief financial officer – both moving from previous roles with the Itochu Corporation – also signals how the Stapletons’ Japanese backer is stepping up its involvement in the company. The fact that Mr Murai’s previous role saw him direct formation of Pit100, Itochu’s Japanese tyre retailer, is particularly telling.

However, according to Stapletons executives, Alan Denton’s recent departure had nothing to do with the ongoing plans.

For Stapletons, it’s a question of first things first. And at the moment that means overseeing the closure of the Dereham TDC. One might think that the closure of a distribution centre might make distribution more difficult, but according to Stapletons it has actually been more a question of increasing efficiency. In the future customers that were previous served by the Dereham TDC will now be served by the company’s Letchworth hub.

Confused? You have to understand Kaizen philosophy – the principle of perpetual improvement, Mr Murai explains. For Stapletons, one example of this is reducing the number of stock keeping units (SKUs) the company holds from 3500 to 2500 in order to move with more agility in an oversupplied market. Consequently less physical space is needed. This move will be coupled with “a smarter form of distribution” at the Bristol, Coatbridge and Warrington TDCs.

According to company representatives, all of Stapletons’ retail outlets will continue to operate independently of any changes to the wholesaler operations.

4th November 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Toyo Opens Australian Rubber Mixing Plant

Toyo Tyre & Rubber Australia Limited (TAL) a subsidiary of Toyo Tire & Rubber Co, Ltd, opened its new rubber mixing plant in Australia on the 20 October. Located in Minto, New South Wales, TAL’s new rubber mixing plant employs 61 people and is situated on a 76,900 m2 site.

2nd November 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Bandag ‘Adapts’ its Organisation

Bandag has confirmed the news that more than a dozen staff members, including director of sales Peter De Cabooter, have left its European organisation, as was first published at www.tyrepress.com. According to the international retreading system supplier 16 employees have left the company. These people were said to be mainly operating in South European and CIS countries although some Brussels based personnel were also affected.

“Some call this restructuring, we prefer to describe this as right sizing for our future business model and allocating resources where they should be,” Bandag said in its statement. “Most of the job losses were part of a longer process of fine-tuning our organisation for future developments.

27th October 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Reorganises Top-Level Personnel

Hervé Coyco, Michelin Group Executive Council member responsible for worldwide car sales, will takeover responsibility for the running of Michelin’s Asia Pacific operations from Jean-Marc Francois. Francois is taking a year out to complete an MBA course before returning to the company in order to pursue other leadership positions.

18th October 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Wholesale Changes at Stapletons

For the last 18 months Stapletons has kept pretty quiet about its plans for the UK market and consequently rumours have abounded about the strength of the company’s position. Now, chief executive officer, Kenji Murai has broken silence, announcing efficiency cuts and $25 million of investment designed to set “Stapletons apart from its competitors…into 2006 and beyond.”

On the 11 October Stapletons announced that it plans to close its Dereham tyre distribution centre (TDC), cut around 50 jobs and introduce new stock distribution methods at its Bristol, Coatbridge and Warrington TDCs. Delving deeper, Tyres & Accessories learnt that the cutbacks are the first step in programme that will see the company’s Japanese backers invest a minimum of $25 million over the next three to five years.

14th October 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Raising the Bar

The Aftermarket Show, is putting some “never-before-seen” initiatives into place to attract more exhibitors to the event.

The 2006 show will feature a series of seminars which will tackle various issues for the numerous industry sectors it caters for, including: Accessory retailers, motor factors, distributors, independent garages, fast-fits, body shops and franchises.

29th September 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Nokian Officially Opens Russian Factory

The official inauguration of Nokian Tyres’ new tyre plant will take place today in Vsevolozhsk, Russia. The plant is already in operation, and the first tyres were manufactured in June 2005. Invitations to the ceremony have been sent to Finnish and Russian high-ranking authorities, partners in the construction project, customers, media representatives and the company’s own personnel.

22nd September 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Smarten Up Your Corporate Image

Corporate image and brand awareness have always been regarded as important by those involved in marketing. In the fiercely competitive automotive industry getting potential customers to instantly recognise a company’s products and services is a key factor to securing more business.

31st August 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

South China Tire & Rubber – New Kid on the Block

The global tyre industry is littered with famous names, with some companies proudly boasting traditions that go back decades – in some cases over a century.
However, the industry is a dynamic one, with new names appearing all the time. This is especially true in today’s emerging industrial economies, of which the most visible example is that of China, which is rapidly climbing the list of major consumers of commodities such as steel and rubber.

One of the many companies in our industry contributing to this phenomenon is South China Tire & Rubber (SCTR), which was established in 1988 and began production four years later. SCTR claims to be the first modern enterprise in the Chinese tyre industry to have bought in internationally advanced technology to manufacture radial tyres. The main production and testing machines come from the USA, Japan and Europe, with many building machines sourced from VMI in The Netherlands. As well as equipment, SCTR has recruited expertise and personnel from internationally famous tyre manufacturers.

15th August 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

IT&T Signs Exclusive Firenza Truck Tyre Deal

Oldbury-based tyre wholesaler International Tyres & Trading Ltd. (IT&T) has recently been appointed the sole UK and Ireland distributor for Firenza truck tyres; a brand new to the market.

IT&T was founded in 1991 by directors Mike Bolton and Paul Jackson. Both men had considerable experience of the tyre industry – Bolton in retreading and Jackson in wholesaling – and they set up IT&T to supply retailers, rather than end users, with tyres. From Day 1 the business concentrated on truck tyres and built up a reputation as a supplier of premium, leading brand names. “We were not known as a budget brand provider” said Mr. Bolton. Even today, truck tyres account for around 90 per cent of the company’s business but in the past couple of months, IT&T has taken a different direction by taking on the Firenza franchise.

15th August 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Training Team Receives Boost

Bridgestone has appointed Paul Turner to the role of technical training manager in the UK, replacing Steve Howat who has taken up a similar role at Bridgestone Europe. Paul Turner has more than 21 years’ experience in the tyre industry, and has worked for Bridgestone UK for more than a decade in a variety of roles ranging from sales office supervisor to technical engineer, where he ran the company’s RFT (run-flat technology) dealership certifying courses.

11th August 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Conti Board Member to Join VW?

Continental AG personnel director, Thomas Sattelberger, has been named as a potential candidate to replace Peter Hartz at Volkswagen. Mr Hartz resigned amid allegations that his department was involved in Indian bribery scandal. Mr Sattelberger is reported to be one of the top candidates, Dow Jones Newswires has reported. His experience and that fact that he is not a Volkwagen insider are both likely to count in his favour. Continental spokesman Hannes Boekhoff made no comment. Mr Sattelberger has been part of Continental executive committee since July 2003. Before that he worked for Lufthansa and DaimlerChrysler.

Meanwhile ThyssenKrupp rejected reports that director Ralph Labonte was another possible succesor. A ThyssenKrupp spokesperson said that Labonte is not available to fill that position.

20th July 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Snap-on Celebrates 40 Years

Snap-on Tools is celebrating its 40th anniversary of the opening of its UK operation this year.

“Today we are clear brand leaders in the UK automotive tools market, with a commanding market share,” said Terry Barcham, Snap-on Tools UK managing director, at a recent press conference.

29th June 2005/by Tyrepress Editors