News from the tyre wholesale sector
Tire Group International (TGI) has opened a new logistics office in Xiamen, China. The location will be overseen by Emma Luo, who comes to TGI with experience in international freight forwarding and logistics operations, having spent 7 years with Schenker & Bax Global logistics, the company said.
The maxim “location, location, location” is often quoted in relation to real estate, however it can equally apply to the success of a business. One company aware of this is Tire Group International, Inc. The Miami, Florida based wholesaler is active throughout the world, yet its location gives it particular strength in the Latin America and Caribbean regions. In recent times TGI has increased its focus on developing this geographic advantage to its full potential.
Tire Group International (TGI) is expanding its tyre marketing and distribution in Latin America and the Caribbean by opening a new sales office in the Peruvian capital, Lima. The sales office will be headed by Fredy Montoya Soriano, who has more than 35 years’ experience in the tyre and automotive industries.
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the end of February NDI will cease operating daily deliveries to passenger car tyre customers as they have consciously withdrawn from this market sector based on an agreement to supply the Nordexx branded products exclusively through Mr Tyre limited of Birmingham.
The supply agreement Michelin has operated with the US Navy since 2000 has been extended with the exercising of a second five-year option. The tyre maker will thus continue supplying 100 per cent of the Navy’s aircraft tyres around the world, including those required by deployed aircraft carriers. In announcing the extension of its supply contract, Michelin says its management of the Navy’s tyre performance-based logistics (PBL) program has eliminated backorders, reduced the Navy wholesale tyre inventory and reduced retail allowances by two-thirds, or nearly $2 million. Michelin states it has also reduced logistics response times, resulting in 99 per cent on-time (in four days or less) delivery anywhere in the world.
Kings Road Tyres claims to be at the forefront of agricultural tyre distribution in the UK, and as an official wholesaler for leading agricultural manufacturers such as Michelin, Firestone, Trelleborg and Goodyear, as well as the exclusive UK wholesale distributor for both Taurus and Jetire brands, the company is already able to offer an extensive range of agricultural tyres. This product line-up has been further extended for 2011, with the addition of the premium Kleber agricultural tyre range.
A number of changes have been made to the Consumer Tire business management structure at Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (BATO), making it more akin to the structure already in place at the tyre maker’s commercial tyre business. In announcing the restructuring, Bridgestone Americas refers to the new management model as “fully integrated” and one that will “facilitate continued growth and make the business even more customer-focused.”
Tyre supplier and fleet service provider Quinton Tyres has consolidated its operations at three sites into a single location. The new 28,000 square foot site in Dukinfield was set up with a ₤1.35 million investment and will act as a base for Quinton’s entire operations, including mobile tyre fitting, sales, accounts, marketing and a new retail on-site fitting facility.
Recent restructuring at Heuver Tyrewholesale has given the company’s agricultural division a more prominent role, and Heuver reports its intention to strengthen agricultural tyre export activities, in particular the export of its brands to Germany, Belgium and France. The Dutch wholesaler says it “expects a great deal” from this.
Tyres & Accessories October magazine contains our annual e-Commerce feature, plus coverage of the latest developments in the tyre wholesale business and battery market. Subscribers can click more to view the whole edition through our virtual magazine system.
It has been a clear two months since my last rant about the state of the MOT test and with road safety minister Mike Penning having recently confirmed that a wholesale review of the test will be carried out, it is about time for an update. While almost everybody in the UK industry agrees that moving to two year testing intervals – whether it is in line with the rest of Europe or not – some would argue that a review of the system is overdue. In addition technological advances such as the mandatory fitment of tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS – scheduled for 2012) and the widespread use of ESP have moved quicker than legislation or testing rules that examine if these safety critical systems continue to work correctly throughout the life of a car.
Since its establishment in 1999, Treadsetters' turnover has grown from £6 million to over £27.5 million. Having successfully operated a wholesale model based largely on selling exclusive tyre brands for a decade, the company is now developing its own brand of tyres under the name Torque with a view to expanding this success into a truly international scale. Tyres & Accessories met with Treadsetters managing director Tim Davies in mid November at the company's new, larger warehousing site in Telford to find out more about the strategy that is behind both the company's recent HSBC business thinking award nomination and its recent growth.
To say that Treadsetter's recent growth has been strong is something of an understatement. If the company hits its 2010 targets – and so far there is every indication that it will – the business will have experienced 750 per cent turnover growth and 1000 per cent enhancement in our profitability in the last 5 years. Bearing in mind the wider market conditions of recent years and the fact that the company has not only maintained but increased profits amidst rapid growing sales total, this really is something of an achievement.
Between 27 and 27 November 2010, Interstate Tire & Rubber Co. hosted its augural Chinese Interstate distributor meeting at Nantong, China. Tyres & Accessories met up with vice president Theo de Vries and learnt that the company’s products, which are well-known in Europe, are gaining increased distribution in the Chinese domestic market.
Interstate’s first dealer meeting saw the company bring together more than 120 local Interstate distributors at the Grand International Hotel, Nantong. Distributors reportedly came from all over China and flew in from all several provinces across China -from the nearby Jiangsu to the remote Yunnan province. With Wholesale operations across all China and retail operations in the provinces of Jiangsu, Shanghai and Shandong, there is every indication that Interstate China is continuing to grow rapidly. For 2011 the company’s ambitious goal is to open 12 more retails outlets and increase sales by more than 40 per cent.
Micheldever’s Wholesale division has appointed Jason Burgess and Mike Hawes as general sales manager (North) and general sales manager (South) respectively in a new wholesale structure recently announced by MTS wholesale director Alan Baldwin. The new appointees will directly report to the wholesale director.
Alan Baldwin explained: “In order to further enhance our sales effectiveness and customer support levels across the UK, we have simplified reporting channels and responsibilities into two new geographical business units, with all Northern field sales teams and sales offices reporting to Jason Burgess, and the Southern operations to Mike Hawes.
During November one member of Grouptyre entered administration and four more formed a joint venture to maintain supply to national customers. Now that the joint venture is poised to make another acquisition, this time of WJ Wood & Sons, Tyres & Accessories exclusively interviewed Grouptyre managing director Karl Naylor in order find out more about the reasons behind the recent events. Needless to say a lot has been happening within Grouptyre over the last few weeks, with what Naylor diplomatically described as “unforeseen problems at one of its larger member companies…resulting in rapid changes having to be put in place to maintain its national coverage and service to customers.”
However, while the market officially got wind of the story in November, it appears Grouptyre’s members had been making every effort to secure Broadway’s future as far back as the summer. At this point plans were being discussed to address concerns that Broadway’s financial performance was weaker than Grouptyre was comfortable with.
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