Rema Tip Top, Mayerosch Off Road and Continental Awarded at Reifen

Reifen 2010’s first day saw Reifen Innovation Awards presented to three “pioneering solutions” to tyre business quandaries. The “Oscar of the tyre sector” was presented by Messe Essen and Bundesverband Reifenhandel und Vulkaniseur-Handwerk (Federal Association of the Tyre Trade and the Vulcanisers' Skilled Trade) on 1 June to Rema Tip Top for its RCF tyre repair plaster, to Mayerosch Off Road for its off-road professional partner programmes, and to Continental for the “optimising potential” of its e-invoicing system.

Rema Tip Top’s victory in the Technology & Products category was chosen for its repair plaster’s shortening of the working time for repairs. Since the vulcanisation layer is integrated into the plaster, there is no need for the time-consuming application of vulcanising solution, while considerable savings are achieved by dispensing with the evaporation times and several operations. The product is also free from solvents, yielding environment benefits through the removal of solvent vapours.

The off-road professional partner programme of Mayerosch Off Road Reifen was victorious in the Services & Marketing Ideas category. Specialised tyre dealers who want to use the off-road segment for their services are offered a virtual showcase on the internet. Customers can obtain information about tyres, wheel rims and accessories for SUVs and off-road vehicles and quads. With a choice between two different off-road professional partner programmes, commercial partners can make their complete programme web-based to provide customers with information, or they can be involved in a web shop. The e-Commerce potential is supported by Mayerosch right up to neutral product dispatch. The off-road professional partner programme is open to all companies.

The jury highlighted the optimisation potential of the e invoicing of Continental Reifen, the winner in the Concepts & Processes category. Every year, around six billion invoices are exchanged in Germany, around 95 percent of them in paper form. On the basis of the previous results of the EDI Committee in Wirtschaftsverband der Kautschukindustrie (Economic Association of the Rubber Industry), Continental is continuing the process for paperless data exchange, encompassing the assured transmission, the verification of the electronic signature and the auditing-assured long-time archiving, in addition to regular invoicing activities. The format technology and the tax law serves to stimulate further standardisation and normalisation processes which, with the involvement of all the manufacturers, lead to substantial cost savings for the participating specialised trade.

Exhibitors at Reifen submitted over 20 applications which the jury analysed according to the criteria: innovative content, user benefits, economic viability, safety, sustainability, environmental compatibility (in the Technology & Products category), potential for winning over and binding customers (in the Services & Marketing Ideas category) and optimisation potential for the value added chain (in the Concepts & Processes category).