It is now two years since Starco’s solid tyre factory in Sri Lanka entered operation. The first product line manufactured there was the premium Tusker range, and this was joined by the Unicorn standard line-up this year. Starco reports that the complete Unicorn range is now in stock within its Central Warehouse in Germany and available for next-day delivery to many locations.
To mark the completion of Swiss company Gebrüder Schaad into the Starco organisation, the new entity Starco GS held a distributor day earlier this month at the company’s facility in Sübingen, Switzerland.
Starco has introduced a further enhancement to its new website, publishing a series of videos about the company and its activities and products. “Continuing to grow and become a global company is exciting, but it also presents many new challenges”, explains Group marketing manager Brian Lorentzen.
July turned out to be gloriously warm and dry, yet some European farmers may still find themselves harvesting in the wet – especially in Northern Europe where the harvest is traditionally later. Whilst a few days of dry and windy weather can render the crop itself harvestable, the soil below remains wet and whereas the small combines of yesteryear could usually operate on wet terrain, modern, heavier machinery often becomes bogged down in the mud, reducing efficiency and causing potentially expensive delays in what could be a short window of opportunity for the year’s harvest.
Starco reports that its Russia-based business, Starco Eastern Group, has moved into new and larger facilities in St. Petersburg. The operation’s new central warehouse has been established on a greenfield site within ten minutes drive from the St. Petersburg ring road; Starco says the move has brought its supply chain closer to its customers, and the new warehouse will simplify compliance with import procedures.
On 1 July, the EU family grew with the addition of more than four million Croatians. Starco has welcomed its colleagues in Croatia into the European Union and says that time has proven the wisdom its decision to invest in the country.
As of today, Starco says its starco.com website will be quite different. The Danish company has revealed its new online identity – which it says introduces a ‘new era’ for Starco.
To mark the continued integration of GS Schaad into the Starco group, the Swiss company launched its new image at the recent Agrama trade show, which ran in Bern between 22 and 26 November. Agrama is the largest Swiss agricultural exhibition and has been a regular promotional venue for Schaad over many years.
Starco reports the introduction of six new sizes in the Kenda Turf505 range. These tyres are predominantly used in municipal service, but are also suited to domestic garden and landscape gardening applications.
The nature of business communication has changed profoundly over the half century since Starco was founded, both in terms of technology and how the workplace as a whole has evolved. Like many long-established businesses, Starco has progressed from the world of the typewriter and the fax to a world in which communication and the availability of information has become the most essential business operating parameter. During the last few years the company has operated legacy systems dedicated to separate administrative, communication and sales functions, but now Starco says it has recognised that implementing a unified online IT platform is essential for the company’s global development.
From humble beginnings on their father’s farm, Fritz and Rudi Schaad began the manufacture of what is now recognised as one of – if not the best – dual wheel systems on the market. Now, After 50 years in the business, Fritz Schaad has announced his retirement from daily management from the Swiss company, where he had been responsible for sales and marketing for many years. Despite his retirement Fritz will, along with brother Rudolph, continue to support the company, which has been part of the Starco Group for the last five years. Rudolph has announced plans to retire in 2014, and leadership of Starco Schaad is now in the hands of Sven Holmes, who has been who has been working at the Schaad factory for nine months in preparation for assuming responsibility of the company established by the Schaad brothers.
Five months after its foundation stone was laid in December 2011, Starco’s new central warehouse in Winsen, 30 kilometres south of the German city of Hamburg, is virtually ready for business. The company reports that the relocation of staff and stocks from its previous warehouse in nearby Lüneburg is almost complete, and Starco is set to benefit from the major expansion in capacity the new central warehouse delivers; the Winsen facility offers 11,400 square metres of indoor storage with 12 metres headroom (a doubling of the previous six metre headroom) giving space for 20,000 euro pallets. A further expansion that will bring capacity up to 30,000 euro pallets is already being planned, and the location can handle additional expansion when the need arises.
As of 2 January, Olaf Sandeck has taken on the new role of sales manager, Agricultural products, at Starco’s German operation. Sandeck is based at the Starco GmbH regional headquarters in Germany – close to many of the major European agricultural businesses. His main priority will be to support and develop the sales of Starco agricultural. Sandeck will also participate in the introduction and development of the company’s new online catalogue and ordering system.
Starco reports having laid the foundation stone for its new central warehouse complex in Winsen, about 30 kilometres south of the German city of Hamburg. The new complex is expected to enter operation by 1 May 2012 and will serve as the central warehouse for the supply of wheels, tyres and associated products to both Starco’s OEM and aftermarket customers in Western Europe.
Starting with its partnership with tyre maker Giti and later through its own production of wheels, over the past decade Starco has developed a strong presence as a supplier of wheels to OEM customers in the European trailer and caravan sector. To service this sector Starco has opted, despite having its own established distribution and logistics network, to renew its long-standing cooperation with Germany’s Otto Just. The German wheel systems supplier and distributor serves the German-speaking and Nordic caravan and trailer markets
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