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.
As part of what it calls a “growing commitment to the Australian market”, Kumho Tyre Australia has opened a new AU$10 million (£5.9 million) purpose built distribution centre in Western Sydney. The company states the 5,000 square metre warehouse operation, which can hold up to 100,000 tyres, will greatly enhance the company's efficiency and ability to service the growing number of Kumho retailers.
In late August the cornerstone was set in place for an 18,000 square metre warehouse earmarked for use by Continental AG in the town of Mosonmagyaróvár, northwest Hungary. The warehouse, which is expected to be ready for use in January 2011, will serve as a storage point for tyres destined for sale in Hungary and Austria.
The Klarius Group has continued to invest and expand across Europe since its acquisition of Quinton Hazell in February of this year. Latterly the exhaust manufacturer opened a new Emission Control Distribution Centre at the existing facility in the Netherlands. The new dedicated Klarius distribution centre is fully integrated with the 1700 square meter Quinton Hazell facility already occupying the site. The warehouse now stocks 3700 different exhausts, 1100 catalytic converters and 1400 mounting and ancillary components; from September it will also stock a full range of Lambda Sensors.
Kirkby Tyres has appointed Cam Systems to implement a fully integrated online virtual warehouse using MIDaS enabling its customers in Ireland to view available stock, check prices and place orders online. The appointment follows the successful integration of Cam systems’ MIDaS platform into Kirkby’s UK warehouse in Speke, Merseyside, which has resulted in a significant increase in sales. MIDaS, Cam's online ordering framework for tyre wholesalers, now manages transactions valued at over £170 million per annum, across its client base – a figure which is reportedly growing exponentially.
The Redlands, California distribution centre opened by Continental Tire the Americas earlier this year is now operating at full capacity, and to mark the occasion an official ribbon cutting ceremony and ‘open house’ was held on April 15. The 46,500 square metre warehouse consolidates the operations of two smaller California based warehouses, and provides Continental with enough space to store and distribute over 450,000 passenger car, light truck and commercial vehicle tyres. Conti estimates that two million tyres will be moved through the Redlands site each year.
Michelin has appointed freight forwarding and supply chain management service provide Damco as its logistics and customs clearance provider in Vietnam. Under the three-year contract, Damco will handle Michelin’s exports from Thailand into Vietnam, inland transportation, cross-docking and distribution to customers within Vietnam. Damco will also manage warehouse operations for Michelin in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The new logistics set up will enable Michelin to distribute directly to almost 100 dealers across the country.
Louisiana’s Delta World Tire Co. opened its 15th retail tyre and automotive service location last month, Tire Review reports. The new location in Biloxi, Mississippi, has eight service bays and a warehouse. In addition to the new Biloxi location, Delta World Tire operates five other Mississippi locations in Pascagoula, Gulfport, Waveland and Picayune, and has nine locations in Louisiana, including Lake Charles, Lafayette, New Iberia, Houma, Kenner, Metairie and New Orleans.
EBC says it has developed and manufactured “the largest range of disc brake pads in the world, from mountain bike, motorcycle, passenger car, LCV, HGV, PSV , off highway and rail applications” using a range of specialist materials all developed in house at its R&D facility in Bristol. The company also announced the opening of a new distribution centre in Poland recently. The 500sqm facility is located near Krakow and carries “over 200,000 euro in EBC Brakes product inventory”.
Financially troubled US producer of specialty tyres, Denman Tire Corporation, has indicated it may shut down its operations if alternative arrangements cannot be made. In a company statement, Denman restructuring advisor Richard Szekelyi said “the company has reached the difficult decision to begin reducing operations while we continue our efforts to secure financing and/or find a buyer. If these efforts are unsuccessful, there will be no other alternative but to close all of the operations.”
Michelin North America sent its Michelin Disaster Response Unit trailer to a Tire Centers L.L.C. (TCI) warehouse in Dallas last week after heavy snow caused part of the roof to collapse. TCI, a wholly-owned subsidiary of MNA, said the 16,000-square foot Dallas warehouse is roughly 30 years old. A section of the roof caved in 12 February after record snowfall in the Dallas area. In addition to the roof, about 7,000 tyres were damaged.
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