Arcom Notes Increased Presence of Consortia

Arcom, based in Rzezawa, Poland reported an exceptionally busy stand at the Autopromotec Trade Fair in Bologna, saying that “although there is a global economic crisis this was not apparent to us in Bologna”. The company says that it had stands at the previous two fairs but found this occasion to be the most fruitful. In fact, Arcom continues, it was even more fruitful than the fair in Essen which is very specific to the tyre industry and after only two days the Arcom stand had more visitors than in a five day period in previous years. Most of these visitors were Italians, though the company also reports a significant international following too.

Arcom has a very good customer base in the Italian tyre business, since the country represents its largest customer base, with Germany in second place, but it reports that it was able to find new distributors, contacts, agents of two large tyre companies and some consortiums. It appeared to Arcom that the the number of consortia has swelled; a fact the company explains by suggesting that they are now a necessary mechanism for the survival of many companies since consortia can negotiate better prices for automotive products. However, group purchasing is not their only advantage. A representative of one consortium told Arcom that its members support each other in obtaining bank loans, resolving legal problems and so on.

In Bologna Arcom exhibited pallets and storage racks not only suited to tyre wholesalers but also storage solutions suited to smaller outlets such as garages and tyre services firms. Tyre wholesalers were very interested in pallet AR-01, in which a high packing density is achieved by storing the tyres herringbone fashion. The smaller tyre services firms were interested in AR-05 from which any individual tyre can be removed. Trolley AR-30 was also the subject of considerable interest: this trolley can be used for both transport and storage.