Sweden’s Trelleborg AB has reported a 5.8 per cent increase in net sales in the third quarter of 2013, with acquired business contributing some two per cent towards this result. Company president and CEO Peter Nilsson commented that Trelleborg “achieved these healthy earnings despite weaker market trends for several market segments and thus a slight fall-off in organic growth.”
Trelleborg has extended its digital portfolio with the launch of the ‘Tire Efficiency’ app for use on iPad and Android tablets. Based on the concept of total cost of ownership, the app measures the benefits provided by a set of Trelleborg tyres for one axle both in terms of cost savings and reduced working time.
Liverpool-based wholesaler Kirkby Tyres & Wheels has expanded to become one of the biggest – if not the biggest – wholesalers of agricultural tyres and wheels in the UK and Ireland during its 60-plus year history. The distributor now boasts a range of more than 6,000 different product lines, with sole distributorship deals on Alliance, Double Coin, Longmarch, Malhotra and Sailun brands within certain segments. It was also appointed as the wholesale distributor for Trelleborg’s premium agricultural tyre products, alongside Trelleborg Wheel Systems’ direct tyre dealer network.
Swedish firm Trelleborg has signed an agreement to divest a facility that manufactures rubber drive shaft and steering boots for light vehicles. The business operation is based in Spain and is part of the Trelleborg Industrial Solutions business area. The buyer is the French Group Delmon Industrie S.A.
The agricultural tyre market appears particularly well suited towards specialised manufacturers; Trelleborg Wheel Systems acquired Pirelli’s agricultural business in 1999, with the branding switched between 2006 and 2010. Since acquiring various technologies from Pirelli, the Trelleborg Group has invested heavily in order to make its tyre and wheel operation a premium brand player in the agricultural and forestry tyre market. The Tivoli facility, with its buildings showing a manufacturing history dating back to the 1940s, but also incorporating the latest agricultural tyre building machinery, represents “a history full of innovation for farming professionals,” in president of the Agricultural and Forestry Tyres business unit, Paolo Pompei’s words.
On 11 July 2014, a team from Trelleborg Wheel Systems undertook a challenge that few have completed – climbing the highest peak in each of the four countries of the United Kingdom in just 48 hours. They travelled with flags representing each of the 28 UK and Ireland Trelleborg Professional Centers (TPCs), a network of dealers that supply Trelleborg’s complete agricultural tyre range. The expedition took the newly-launched TPC partners to each of the highest peaks, all in aid of the Trelleborg charity initiative, the Antonio Bianchi House.
Sweden’s Trelleborg AB states that its net sales increased two per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2014 to SEK 5,725 million (£490.5 million) despite a one per cent decline in organics sales. Operating profit, excluding the company’s items affecting comparability, rose by 11 per cent to SEK 802 million (£68.7 million), equivalent to an operating margin of 14.0 per cent and the group’s highest ever for a single quarter. Earnings per share rose 38 percent to SEK 1.95 (£0.17) while operating cash flow amounted to SEK 539 million (£46.2 million).
Last year, Trelleborg introduced its new TLC – Trelleborg Load Calculator app for iPad and desktop users, and has now extended its potential user base by making it available on further platforms, and in one further key language. Following its introduction in iOS and android formats, the app can be used by all main mobile devices and operating systems, and the addition of Chinese to the latest version means that the app now covers 13 languages. Trelleborg comments that it is the “first global player in the agricultural industry to develop a professional app targeted to the Chinese market in its local language.”
In April, at Chinandega, Nicaragua, Trelleborg presented its radial range of premium agricultural tyres to several important producers in Central America. The event was organised by Emagro, Trelleborg’s distributor for Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica and Guatemala, and generated considerable interest and positive feedback.
On 16 May, Trelleborg Wheel Systems launched ‘Pit Stop Line’, an innovation that will be employed on its industrial tyre range. The Swedish company describes its new solution as “revolutionary” and says it “answers one of the industry’s most elusive and critical questions” – how to know, with 100 per cent certainty, when a forklift tyre is worn out and needs replacing. Central to Pit Stop Line is an orange line embedded into the tyre; this indicator line is visible on the tyre sidewall and designed to reveal itself across the surface of the tyre when wear reaches a level that necessitates replacement.
Trelleborg has added a new size to its T418 forestry tyre range. With release of the latest dimension, 30.5L-32 26 PR, five sizes are now available in the T418 line-up, including 23.1-26 16PR – 28L26 20PR – 24.5-32 16PR – 30.5L32 20 and 26 PR. Further sizes will further expand the range in future, the Swedish tyre maker reports.
Once again, Trelleborg will partner with the Tractor of the Year awards. The latest round of this agricultural sector honour kicked off with an event in France on 6 and 7 May; at the “Tractor of the Year 2015: Let the challenge begin” function in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, the Swedish tyre maker also launched a new advertising campaign to promote the qualities of its TM1000 High Power agricultural tyre.
At present, Trelleborg Wheel Systems manufactures agricultural tyres in Europe and Asia, and soon North America will be added to its agricultural production footprint. Trelleborg has decided to invest SEK 325 million (£29.4 million) between 2014 and 2018 to set up an agricultural tyre production facility in the US. Production is expected to commence in the second half of 2015 and gradually increase.
Trelleborg Wheel Systems has taken its European Interfit industrial tyre dealer support programme to North America, reports Tire Review. Officially launched on March 31, Interfit gives industrial tyre dealers the “opportunity to expand their business, generate more revenue and reach new customers,” Trelleborg said.
Trelleborg Wheel Systems has launched its agricultural tyre dealer programme at a meeting of its key dealers. Taking place at Mercedes Benz World, Brooklands, the event provided the chance to “share information, which is the crux of why we are here,” according to Trelleborg marketing manager Bruce Lauder’s introduction. The network of 28 Trelleborg dealers that have chosen, and been chosen, to cooperate in the Trelleborg Professional Centre (TPC) programme were invited to participate in an extended discussion during the conference. Trelleborg’s managing director UK and Ireland Andrea Manenti outlined the TPC concept, gave an overview of the UK agricultural tyre market and the manufacturer’s place within it and answered dealers’ questions.
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