Euro Car Parts says many garage owners are crying out for a modern automotive parts supplier to open in their area, and thus it has been spoiled for choice when it comes to selecting new regions to enter. The company reports adding two new locations – Oxford and the Rochester area – to its network, and this pair of newcomers will be soon joined by a further two centres.
Michelin Thailand has renewed its logistics contract with Ceva for three years, to handle inbound tyres from Michelin’s production plants into warehouse facilities in three main locations across Thailand; Laemchabang, Nongkea and Nongree.
Recent thefts of tyres from parked trucks in the UK have been outdone in terms of scale and audacity by a crime that took place in the US state of Florida last week. Tire Review reports that a group of thieves stole two semi-trailers full of passenger, performance and light truck/SUV tyres from behind a tyre dealership in Fort Lauderdale in the early hours of July 27. Unlike their British counterparts, who loaded tyres into their own vehicle or vehicles before making a getaway, the US criminals saved considerable time and effort by bringing their own Freightliner tractor unit to remove the trailers from the store’s loading dock.
The MAM Software Group has announced the appointment of sales and professional services staff at its North American subsidiaries. The UK-based provider of business automation and e-commerce solutions for the automotive sector says the appointments strengthen its position as a growing force in the tyre and component aftermarket. The new appointees are Michael Moothart, Joe O'Regan, Scott Gaines, Ryan Putans (all MAM Software) and Jeff Carpenter, (Aftersoft Network NA).
Voith Industrial Services has appointed Jack Callaghan in a bid to further expand the company’s business in wheel and tyre assembly operations throughout the UK and mainland Europe. Callaghan, who has more than 20 years’ experience in wheel and tyre operations in the automotive sector, has been appointed business development manager based at Voith Industrial Services’ UK headquarters in Warwick.
Hankook Tire America has confirmed it is opening a new warehouse in New Jersey, a 400,000-square-foot (37,000 square metre) facility in Dayton that will replace its current Edison centre in the same state. US industry publication Tire Review first reported on the new warehouse last week after real estate company CoStar Group announced the deal to local media. Hankook said the new warehouse can handle some 610,000 passenger, light truck/SUV and medium truck tyres, a 70 per cent capacity increase over its older location. The new warehouse is scheduled to open later this year.
Michelin’s missing one-of-a-kind stained glass windows may have end up in Oz. The focus of Michelin's window hunt has moved to Australia following tip-offs that the glassware featuring the Michelin man Bibendum could have been shipped down under. The antipodean link has emerged out of information submitted to Michelin through its stained glass amnesty, issued over four months ago. Michelin set up a confidential hotline and amnesty web page to allow people to leave their clues anonymously in the search for the original stained glass windows that once adorned the Michelin House building in London.
Colin Meikle has been appointed by Cam Systems as strategic client manager. He will be responsible for developing major client initiatives to maximise service and efficiency benefits for customers and drive innovation into the tyre industry.
With over 13 years’ experience in ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) consulting, Meikle has been instrumental in implementing SAP and Microsoft Dynamics business solutions in retail and wholesale sectors.
NDI has announced plans for the reorganisation of its UK operation including taking on a new warehousing site. According to a statement released by the company, the UK subsidiary of Nordisk Daek Import A.S., ‘NDI Tyre & Tube Supplies Ltd’ is embarking on major changes to the way it conducts its UK based operations.
Current operation will be “fundamentally changed” in order to concentrate the focus of the business onto the supply of specialised and niche market products, thus “allowing the business to build on the reputation of being a market leader in the more diverse sectors of the industry.” One such change is that at the end of February NDI will cease operating daily deliveries to passenger car tyre customers as they have consciously withdrawn from this market sector based on an agreement to supply the Nordexx branded products exclusively through Mr Tyre limited of Birmingham.
Bridgestone Europe has renewed its Swedish market supply contract with DHL Supply Chain. The Jönköping based firm has handled Bridgestone Europe’s warehouse operations for the Swedish market since 1997 and the extended contract, valid until 2013, includes warehousing and a number of value-added services such as the studding of winter tyres.
Annette Forster has recently taken on the role of group marketing Ddrector at the Klarius Group. Formerly of £104 million turnover polymer specialist Victrex Plc, Annette has global experience of marketing to the automotive industry. Her previous employer reportedly had double digit growth year on year since she joined as global marketing communications manager in 2003.
A volunteer firefighter’s scheme to earn some extra pocket money has ended with a guilty plea in a US federal court. At a court hearing in Greenville, North Carolina on January 12, firefighter Daniel Scott and associate Michael Clamp pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting arson.
Having recently centralised its distribution activities on Trafford Park, Manchester, Exide Batteries has just completed a six figure refurbishment of its distribution centre that will virtually double its stockholding to 150,000 units. The warehouse’s footprint has increased 25 per cent to 23,000 square feet and the facility now has 3,500 locations compared to the original figure of 1,920. Exide reports this increase was largely achieved through narrowing aisle width from 3.2 metres to 2.3 metres, a measure that in turn necessitated the replacement of its existing fleet of standard reach trucks with narrow aisle, articulated types better suited to this new environment. Existing racking was further supplemented by new installations with nine tiers instead of six in order to maximise utilisation of roof space.
Trelleborg Wheel Systems is relocating its North American Headquarters and distribution centre, reports Tire Review. The move from Hartville, Ohio, to Fairlawn, Ohio, allows space for further expansion, greater warehouse capacity and more efficient logistics, the company said. “This was a difficult decision after 80 years in our Hartville location,” said Ydo Doornbos, managing director of Trelleborg Wheel Systems Americas Inc.
According to Romanian news source Bursa, Continental has leased a hangar from Schaeffler in the town of Braşov and intends to establish a production site employing up to 1,800 workers there. This year the German company intends to invest 70 million euros in Romania, where it already operates eight factories, three research facilities and a central warehouse for Eastern Europe. Recently the company stated its intention to invest some 50 million euros in the mixing facilities at its Timişoara factory by 2012 in order to increase production capacity.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
