TIA Launch Global Council
The Tire Industry Association launched its Global Council at the Reifen 2004 trade show in Essen. The Council was formed in February 2004 with the intention to “pursue effective solutions for today’s global tyre industry.”
The Tire Industry Association launched its Global Council at the Reifen 2004 trade show in Essen. The Council was formed in February 2004 with the intention to “pursue effective solutions for today’s global tyre industry.”
Bridgestone has invested £250,000 in training and refurbishment within its First Stop network.
The independent tyre dealers have planned a complete upgrade of First Stop outlets in a drive to reinforce the brand across the UK.
The investment will also enable the development of training programmes designed to improve the skills of both tyre technicians and management personnel.
Bridgestone has appointed Steve Howat as technical training manager in a bid to strengthen its training department for First Stop and Truck Point dealerships. Andy Dingley, senior marketing analyst for Bridgestone UK, said: “It’s great that Steve has joined us. His knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm will be of great benefit to both Bridgestone and the members of the First Stop and Truck Point schemes.”
On the truck side, and doubtless on the fleet car side in future, tyre management has become king in controlling ppk and fixed price tyre contracts. The computerised analysis of data is not an uncommon concept and many firms have been utilising computer data management for their tyre contracts for some time. The weak link in the chain has always been at the data collection end of the chain. Fitters or inspectors checking and recording tyre data with clipboards is a slow process, subject to much error and the vagaries of the weather. Once the data is collected it then needs to be keyed into the database, a laborious and tedious process subject to much potential for error. There are systems available where electronic data gathering is made possible with wireless connections from tyre depth gauges to PDAs thence to the computers back at base. However, there is a reluctance to buy into, or use, electronic data gathering equipment. Conventional tyre depth gauges and pressure gauges are still the tool of choice. This leaves the main element (manpower excluded) in data collection the point at which the data is actually collected. InfoRoute had what it believed to be the answer to tyre management software, but time and time again fleet tyre management people would listen keenly and respond to any presentation with the statement that “it is the data collection that is the weak point.”
InfoRoute realised that the challenge to be faced was not so much one of selling the software but creating and perfecting the data collection link to improve the collection and flow of tyre inspection data. This was the challenge InfoRoute faced. Truck Tyre Manager, a powerful tyre management PC program had already been developed but data input had to be automatic with no delays. The traditional data collection route could give information as much as six working days out of date. What was needed was a simple to use, readily accessed, cheap, weatherproof system.
InfoRoute found the ideal solution was already in use by every tyre fitter in the country: a mobile phone. Everyone already knows how to use a mobile phone, so that immediately removes acceptance, training, support and cost issues. One hand operation lets you check tyres and enter details at the same time. InfoRoute calls the system Inspector Link.
InfoRoute developed special programs to receive and send vehicle and inspection details between Truck Tyre Manager on the PC and the phone. Working closely with tyre fitters and managers InfoRoute designed single key input routines to guide the tyre inspector. First of all a vehicle is selected by entering the start of the registration or fleet number. The wheel configuration displays and the speedometer reading is entered. Then the front off side tyre is highlighted. Select the make, enter the depth and if there are no faults move on to the next tyre. If the tyre has a problem simple menus allow the inspector to pick a fault and select the action needed. At any time the inspection can be reviewed and altered. A “view actions” menu highlights vehicles needing attention. At any point the inspection can be completed and details transmitted back to the office. Vehicles not yet checked remain on the phone to be checked later.
The phone operates off line, so there is no connection charge while you are inspecting vehicles and it does not depend on having a signal. Inspector Link can be used anywhere. Protected by a weather proof case, fastened to the inspector wrist by a cord the unit can’t fall to the ground. So far InfoRoute has not had any equipment failures or breakages. It doesn’t need any special computer equipment to transmit data, it is just like sending a text. In about a minute you can send and receive details of hundreds of vehicles.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. has been fined 274,050 dollars for unsafe conditions at its Akron powerhouse after an employee was buried in coal up to his neck while cleaning a coal bunker in September. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said on Tuesday that it had issued six serious and four wilful citations to Goodyear for violating worker-safety procedures. A Goodyear official said the company has taken steps to improve worker training to avoid accidents. The company has also made unspecified physical changes to the powerhouse.
Michelin has been praised for giving Northern Ireland’s manufacturing sector a much-needed lift. The French company, which employs over 1,200 people at a plant in Ballymena, has a long-standing partnership with North-East Institute of Further and Higher Education. But it increased its involvement with the official opening of a new technical training centre at the Ballymena-based institute’s Farm Lodge campus. The centre, which was given the seal of approval by Employment and Learning Minister Jane Kennedy, has been established to act as a focal point for manufacturing and maintenance engineering training and practices. Specific training in engineering maintenance is delivered within the Michelin Technical Training Centre by Michelin staff, complementing the work of institute lecturers.
In its latest move to cut costs, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. has transferred 100 human resources jobs in Akron to a sub contractor. The company has signed a 10-year agreement with Affiliated Computer Services Inc. of Dallas. All employees affected have been offered jobs at similar conditions with ACS. Some human resources functions will stay in house under the agreement, ACS will provide a wide range of human resources services, including payroll, medical benefits administration, training, recruiting and staffing for all Goodyear employees in North America.
Federal-Mogul Corporation has opened a training centre and three satellite learning facilities at manufacturing locations in Germany for aftermarket employees and customers.
Fit4Fleet, the GM-backed network of independent tyre dealers supporting company car fleets, has extended operations to provide coverage in the Republic of Ireland as part of plans to provide customers with extensive coverage throughout the British Isles.
Managing director, Dominic Bateson, believes that the move will also bring a great improvement in the service standards enjoyed by fleet drivers in the country, saying: “Most of the tyre chains that have traditionally serviced fleet drivers are concentrated around the main conurbations, such as Dublin, Cork and Waterford. But what use is that to drivers having a tyre problem out on the road, many miles away from one of those cities? Their needs have to be catered for also. To us, this was an obvious gap in coverage and one of our core objectives has been to establish a comprehensive spread of centres throughout the Republic, so that when a driver has a problem, assistance can be provided promptly.”
Fit4Fleet already has 60 centres in the Republic, with at least one in each of the country’s 26 counties, and personnel at each centre have undergone training to ensure that they are fully able to meet the standards required. This means that the network now numbers more than 900 depots in the UK and the Irish Republic.
Michelin has agreed to purchase up to 1,000 licenses of SolidWorks three-dimensional computer-aided design (3D CAD) software to design new tyre manufacturing machines. Michelin expects SolidWorks to reduce its tyre manufacturing machine design time significantly throughout its global operations. It will also use SolidWorks to convert existing 2D designs to 3D and effectively communicate designs with customers, suppliers, and different departments in the company.
Fred Maguire, president of the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMIF) has openly supported government plans which may lead to garage licensing. He acknowledged that the government’s mystery shopping review of the trade had revealed serious problems which need to be addressed. In that light he was putting the support of the RMIF behind the “Good Garage Scheme”. He also stated, “We can only achieve excellence by concerted efforts and improvement in training. So, as an industry we have to take positive action in the training arena. If RMIF members set this as their priority objective, they will have nothing to fear (from licensing).”
In the middle of February the time has finally come: altogether 30 winners of the national qualification heats that were held in Groß Dölln near Berlin in September 2000 could participate in the final of the third edition of the “Dunlop Drivers Cup”. The event was organised by the German daughter of the tyre producer in co-operation with Toyota, Meier’s Weltreisen, South African Airways and Maier Sports. After Patagonia (1999) and the Southwest of the United States the authorities had chosen South-Africa as the final place for this sporting event that aims to combine driving training and adventure/fun. The 26 males and four females had to face different driving tests of skill with passenger cars, 4×4 vehicles and quads, a kind of a four wheel motorcycle. With this event, Dunlop wants to focus attention on the topic of driving safety and to interest people in motorsports. The rally began in Durban. The 2,280 km long tour passed through the provinces of Kwazulu Natal, Eastern and Western Cape. The finish of the rally was in Cape Town. In the middle of the tour the Landcruiser offroaders had to be changed in Port Elizabeth. The competitors had to carry on with a Toyota Lexus IS 2000 Sport, shod with the Dunlop SP 9000 high performance tyre . The result of the race was in doubt up until the end, a sign of the high standard of driving skills of the qualifying teams. The next Dunlop Drivers Cup will be held in February 2002 in Australia. The scope of the 2002 qualifying sessions will be widened, including a European dimension.
Four companies – SKF, Tenneco Automotive, TRW and Valeo – have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop plans to enhance the services offered to their European automotive aftermarket customers. The companies will investigate opportunities to share skills and resources in the fields of training, technical support services and logistics, especially transportation. The four companies will remain independent. Any alliance between the companies resulting from the initial investigation will be subject to the necessary government approvals.
For companies such as Michelin, motorsport plays a very important role in the development of the tyres eventually sold to the public – even if they are very different from those used on the track. Involvement in motorsport has two obvious benefits; publicity and proving technological superiority. There are other benefits though; it offers an extreme training ground for skilled engineers, developing team skills and experience at the limits of tyre technology, and knowledge which cannot be gained elsewhere. Products developed for the race track will never find their way directly on to road-going vehicles. However, many elements of motorsport tyres have found their way into commercial tyre products – compounds, Kevlar and Aramid fibres – whilst rally events supply information about tread design, puncture resistance, rubber hardness and thermal resistance. Motorsport also offers a test bed for simulation procedures. Development is tried out on the virtual test bed and trial tested in the most extreme conditions imaginable. From a tyre manufacturer’s point of view motorsport is about getting a set of tyres to complete the race and cross the line in first place – the rest of the car is only a means to that end. The tyre must be designed to last for the duration of the race. It therefore can and will have a completely different set of design criteria from a road tyre, which has to undergo 25,000 miles and more of driver abuse, function in many weather and road conditions, and give warning when approaching their limits. The race tyre is designed to carry out a single race at maximum power for the duration of its working life. Read more about this topic in the December issues of NEUE REIFENZEITUNG or TYRES & ACCESSORIES.
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