Wheel Alignment
Wheel alignment equipment specialist Pro-Align has opened its inaugural facility in Ireland. Located in Plato Park, Dublin (just off the M50), the facility provides a new base for its sales, servicing and installation teams, and includes demonstration and training areas which allow the company to demonstrate the Hunter range of complete wheel servicing equipment to workshops.
Garage equipment supplier Pro-Align will continue the development of its operations in Ireland with the opening of a new facility in Dublin. The new premises will provide demonstration and training facilities, enabling workshops to see and experience the Hunter range of complete wheel servicing equipment at first hand. A full alignment bay and wheel servicing area will be included, similar to its Towcester base in the UK, alongside a dedicated service area and warehousing.
Wheel servicing equipment specialist Pro-Align has confirmed its return to the CV Show in 2016, having launched its commercial vehicle wheel alignment system in its debut appearance last year. The garage equipment distributor will showcase its expanding range of commercial vehicle servicing products designed to improve the efficiency, profitability and revenue generation opportunities of workshops.
Supplier of Hunter garage equipment in UK, Pro-Align has explained the importance of resetting steering angle sensors (SAS) – a service that is part of the wheel alignment process. Failure to reset the SAS after an alignment can affect the correct operation of electronic driver-assist systems that rely on precise steering information from the SAS.
Tyre Industry Awards 2015 winner Rema Tip Top has opened its new tyre repair and garage equipment training centre following significant investment in Leeds headquarters. Hosting Tyres & Accessories at a launch event in October, immediately after its NTDA 2015 Tyre Industry Award for Tyre and Aftermarket Supplier of the Year, the company showed how the site has been entirely refitted, having lain derelict for around half a decade before the acquisition of Doncaster’s Ace Conveyor Equipment in 2008 and subsequent consolidation of the industrial business. The new centre will provide accreditation for the new generation of tyre technicians, with an expanding variety of courses delivered over one or two days. Rema Tip Top chief executive Mark Insley stated: “We recognise the importance of education and training to an industry which is responsible for the safety of millions of people on our roads on a daily basis. With this well-equipped and highly professional facility we will provide an invaluable resource for our customers.”
AlignMyCar Racing, the motorsport team created by wheel servicing equipment supplier Pro-Align to promote the benefits of four wheel alignment, has successfully completed its debut race season. Competing in the Toyo Tires Production BMW Championship, the AlignMyCar liveried BMW E30 raced in front of thousands of motorsport fans at some of the UK’s most prestigious race circuits including Silverstone, Brands Hatch and Donington.
Mercedes-Benz dealers across the UK are now able to purchase the Hunter HTA-MB-TD wheel alignment system, a direct replacement for the older HTA-MB-HD, following Mercedes-Benz factory approval.
Wheel servicing specialist Pro-Align has been awarded a five-star rating by leading garage equipment manufacturer Hunter Engineering for the first time. Pro-Align said this reflected the significant progression and development of the Hunter brand in the UK. The company was also presented with Hunter’s “Platinum Partner” award for the ninth consecutive year, indicating the Towcester-based company as one of Hunter’s most successful and important global distributors.
Cambridgeshire garage machinery firm Hofmann Megaplan has launched an apprenticeship scheme. The provider of wheel aligners, lifts and a broad range of other equipment and tools said that the initiative represented a longer term approach in training up inexperienced individuals receptive to Hofmann Megaplan’s “way of doing business.” The company added that “finding new recruits who can demonstrate the passion and commitment to our brand and philosophy has proven difficult, as those coming from competitors or other sectors within garage equipment often have their own set ways and opinions.”
As one of the UK’s leading specialists in wheel alignment, Southampton-based Supertracker says it strives to give its customers exactly what they are looking for. The wheel aligners offered by Supertracker are the result of listening to customers’ individual requirements, it says, of which the two most important are easy operation and the best profit margins for its alignment equipment. Supertracker has been producing British built wheel aligners for the past 28 years, offering a varied selection of alignment products. They range from two-wheel tracking gauges right through to top of the range computer aligners which can be used anywhere within a vehicle workshop area.
Rema Tip Top is the UK distributor of future-proof alignment solutions from Corghi. The range includes the award-winning REMO alignment range (REMO stands for “Robotic Equipment for Measuring by Optics”), including the Exact BlackTech X Plus, which includes the new passive target wheel aligner technology. Corghi will exhibit its machines at Autopromotec in Bologna, Italy between 20-24 May 2015 (Hall 19, Stand A2).
Hunter’s new wheel alignment system for commercial vehicles is now available in the UK, and its distributor believes the innovative product is set to help fleets reduce their running and maintenance costs significantly. The Hunter system, available exclusively through Pro-Align, is the first and only CV alignment system on the market today capable of providing live alignment readings on three axles simultaneously, according to the distributor.
Pro-Align will host the UK debut of its new Hunter CV wheel alignment system April’s Commercial Vehicle Show at the NEC, Birmingham. The Hunter garage equipment distributor recently announced its intentions to move into the commercial vehicle sector. It believes Hunter’s equipment will help truck, bus and heavy vehicle fleet operators check their wheel alignment more regularly and easily than ever before. The benefits of this are lower fuel bills and emissions, extended tyre life and improved vehicle safety.
Pro-Align has appointed Brett Hickey to head its recently announced commercial vehicle division. Hickey has more than a dozen years in the commercial vehicle industry, including his most recent role managing the PDI department of one of the largest DAF dealerships in Europe.
While the financial context of the last five years has undoubtedly provided a challenging market environment for many players in the tyre industry, the premium garage equipment sector has seen opportunity. As tyre retailers have broadly seen margins squeezed further as consumers look to save on tyres, so has the importance of maximising ancillary services grown. On the occasion of the launch of another trail-blazing addition to its range with the Revolution tyre changer, Hunter garage machinery supplier to the UK Pro-Align took the opportunity to show Tyrepress the effects of providing innovative services to the sector.
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