While a durable, high-performing tyre is of utmost importance to a fleet manager’s decision making process, Bridgestone believes that the ‘power of the product’ only goes so far. It says other key factors are increasingly being considered and are proving equally compelling when customers mull over the most suitable manufacturer to opt for. “In many […]
Heading up to the first anniversary of the European tyre label’s implementation, Tyres & Accessories took the opportunity to ask about tyre manufacturers’ label experiences with commercial fleet operators. From Chris Evans, director of Pirelli’s UK and Ireland Truck business unit, we learned that fleet reactions to the label have been mixed. “It’s a good tool to help end users collect essential information when choosing new tyres,” he relates. “But fleets recognise the tyre label cannot substitute the wide range of information offered by the manufacturers and service providers which detail many of the other facets of a truck tyre, such as mileage and retreadability. Often a fleet will prefer to test in real time, usually back-to-back with competitor or traditional products to see true performances in their own environment.”
Historically, many fleets have taken a short-term view of their tyre policy and failed to plan ahead. This is particularly the case for fleets facing immediate pressures, as the temptation not to consider three years in the future is strong for operators who are uncertain if they’ll even remain in business that long. Yet short-term savings can prove costlier in the long run, and Michelin opines that fleet operators need to consider their tyre choice in a similar way to their vehicle choice – they need to ensure it is right for the application and vehicle.
Following a spate of cyclist fatalities on the roads of London, the Freight Transport Association (FTA) has repeated its call for “more to be done” to improve the safety of cyclists on our streets, in a written submission to the House of Commons Transport Committee’s ‘Cycling safety: follow up’ inquiry.
Goodyear has announced its plans to introduce a new generation of truck tyres, with two completely new ranges to launch onto the European market in September. Kmax and Fuelmax steer, drive and trailer tyres will focus on providing the manufacturer’s optimised longevity and fuel efficiency options respectively. Therefore the new tyres represent an interesting departure from other premium brand manufacturers’ portfolio strategies, taking the emphasis off the type of operation – long or regional haul for example – and put it on the fleet’s economic priority.
Australian firm Bears Tyres says its Tyre Tracker is now even more accurate than ever. The reason for this is, the company explains, is that users can now draw upon data gained over years in the field. Tyre Tracker collected data for a well-known Australian fleet operator over a seven-year period and Bears Tyres says this has provided the software system with enough data to see it used by any similar-sized fleet operator.
The Infleet network is unfurling a new business development plan, and on board to spearhead its progress is recently appointment UK sales manager David Tattler. The tyre industry veteran will tackle his new role with the support of a state of the art management information technology system being introduced by Infleet at its new Cannock, West Midlands office.
TIA and Michelin North America have partnered to create a new training video for truck fleets. The 20-minute video titled “Wheel End Safety” is “intended to provide maintenance personnel and drivers with installation and inspection guidelines to improve wheel-end performance and safety,” Michelin said. The video is available as a free download on TIA’s Web site – www.tireindustry.org – and on MNA’s Web site – www.michelintruck.com.
In order to illustrate the danger of a wheel-off incident, TIA worked with Michelin engineers to construct a controlled test at Michelin’s Laurens Proving Grounds in South Carolina, where the tyre and wheel assemblies could be filmed after they separated from a trailer. After several successful attempts, a parked car was placed in the path so multiple cameras could record the footage. (Tire Review/Akron)
Hankook Tyre UK Ltd has appointed Joe Park as Regional Sales Manager (Commercial) for Scotland. According to Hankook UK commercial vehicle tyre sales manager, Barrie Horrocks, Park will be responsible for developing Hankook Truck Tyre sales throughout Scotland. His main focus will be to promote the benefits of the Hankook brand of truck tyres to the fleet engineers/transport managers of large and medium sized regional and national truck fleets in the Scottish region. Joe Park brings joins Hankook from Michelin and brings with him many years of technical and sales experience.
Only 25% of Class 8 truck fleets say they “definitely will” buy or lease a new truck within the next 12 months, according to the latest J.D. Power and Associates Heavy-Duty Truck Customer Satisfaction Study. That 25% figure, said J.D. Power, was down from 41% posted in 2006, and indicates that there may be a very modest pre-buy of new tractors prior to new EPA-mandated engines that will be required as of 2010.
Only 54% of the truck fleets surveyed by J.D. Power said they will expand the size of their fleets, down from 2006’s 63%. The recent study tabbed smaller fleet operations with an average fleet size of 53 trucks at a single location. (Tire Review/Akron)
(Akron/Tire Review) Truck fleets and independent truckers can now receive a free copy of the Tire Retread Information Bureau’s “Don’t Thump ‘Em, Pump ‘Em” poster.
The poster promotes the use of tire gauges as a way to keep truck tyres properly maintained. The 17.5×23-inch poster is printed in full colour on heavy paper and is suitable for framing, TRIB said.
Infleet have appointed Clive Powell as a senior consultant to assist in the company’s aggressive business plan growth. Powell, who until recently was a director of Goodyear Dunlop’s UK Commercial Tyre strategic business unit, will work with managing director Bill Hall and commercial director Chris Comport on several major development opportunities.
Quinton Tyres, a Michelin MBA dealer covering Cheshire and most of Lancashire, has unveiled a striking new livery for its fleet of eight mobile tyre fitting vans which operate from branches in Dukinfield in Cheshire and Chorley in Lancashire. The livery incorporates life-size images of The Michelin Man waving to motorists on both sides and rear doors of each of the company’s Mercedes-Benz Sprinter panel vans.
Amerityre Corporation has begun the development of a polyurethane tyre compound and manufacturing process for retreading medium commercial truck tyres. Amerityre believes the retreading process, which has been successfully developed and tested in passenger car tyre applications, is a natural fit for the medium commercial truck tyre used by tens of thousands of over-the-road truck fleets worldwide.
“The benefits of polyurethane elastomer as a tyre compound are evident,” said Richard Steinke, president and CEO of Amerityre. “In both endurance and high speed testing our polyurethane compounds have run substantially cooler than rubber. In addition, these compounds have outperformed comparable rubber compounds in both accelerated heat aging and ozone testing,” he added.
CrossLink Inc. has announced 2004 availability of its TireBoss product, a new tyre monitoring system specifically designed for commercial truck fleets. Using TireBoss, a vehicle’s tyre temperature and pressure are remotely monitored and made accessible in real-time, via the web. TireBoss represents the end result of 5 years of development and extensive field trials by CrossLink together with a global tyre manufacturer. TireBoss solutions are applicable to trucks, buses, tankers, trailers and off-road heavy equipment vehicles. “We were determined to develop TireBoss to be both rugged enough for the off-road earthmovers and sensitive enough to read eighteen different tires on a moving tractor-trailer. Five years of development and test effort have paid off in a robust and reliable system that automates tyre monitoring, delivering data to the maintenance shed or other remote locations in real-time,” states CrossLink’s Vice President of Product Development, Jack Pyne.
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