First Stop Dealership Reaches Milestone
Shaw Tyres, part of Bridgestone’s First Stop network of tyre dealerships, is celebrating its 25th year in business this month. Set up in September 1983 by Maurice Leach, the family business based in Shaw, Oldham has gone from strength to strength over the past 25 years and was one of the original dealerships to become part of the First Stop network over 12 years ago. Maurice Leach welcomed his son, Steve, into the firm in 1986 and together they have built a successful business which specialises in tyres and exhausts and employs four longstanding employees, all of whom have been working for the company for 15 years or more. When Maurice Leach retired last year, Steve took the reins and is continuing to grow the business which has recently expanded the range of services it has on offer to include brakes. Steve Leach, managing director at Shaw Tyres, comments on the company’s milestone:
Continue ReadingPhillips Carbon Black Commissions New Power Plant
Phillips Carbon Black has invested in a means of converting excess gas into energy and financial savings. The India based company has announced the commissioning of its 30 MW co-generation power plant Durgapur, in the state of West Bengal. The Rs 1 billion (£11.6 million) facility, which utilising the waste gas produced during the process to generate power, was commissioned on September 29.
Continue ReadingAtlas Tyre Breaks the Million Pound Barrier
Atlas Tyre Service Cardiff has recently upgraded its central Cardiff premises after its year-to-date turnover exceeded £1 million for the first time. The intention is to present a modern image for existing customers and attract new business with the upgrade. Based in the heart of Cardiff, the company stocks a full range of car tyres from leading manufacturers including Toyo, Pirelli, Continental, Dunlop, Michelin, Kumho and Falken. In addition Atlas Tyre Service offers a wholesale delivery service to the greater Cardiff area, with van deliveries throughout the day.
Continue ReadingMicheldever Chooses Syncron Supply Chain Management Software
Micheldever Tyre Services, arguably the UK’s largest tyre wholesaler operation, has selected Syncron software to reduce inventory levels, increase availability and reduce operating costs. Micheldever has reportedly licensed Syncron’s Supply Chain Planning solution to achieve more efficient management of its supply chain. According to the company, the new system will help Micheldever reduce inventory levels, increase availability and reduce the cost of purchasing. The solution is also expected to reduce the amount of inter-location trucking between Micheldever distribution network outlets.
Continue ReadingPaul Alves Appointed TAG President
Paul Alves, formerly one of Yokohama’s regional sales executives (most recently eastern zone manager), has ascended to the position of Tire Alliance Groupe president and CEO, replacing Daniel Beach, due to retire at YE, ending 12 years of stewardship. Beach was also a founder of the company in 1995. TAG has 15 full member companies, with more than 500 independent retailers and 1,700 North and Central American retail outlets. It is perhaps unsurprising, with this amount of coverage, that Alves possesses an existing business relationship with TAG’s members and is “excited about joining TAG.” He promises to “grow our membership in strategic areas as well as continue to bring additional value to our programmes.”
Continue ReadingUS Passenger Car Sales fall 27% in September
The US auto industry has sustained considerable sales haemorrhaging in September, with figures plumbing 15-year depths, while US Department of Transportation year-on-year figures reveal that driving miles by Americans continued to fall in July 2008. In addition the harbingers of doom were prevalent among top car manufacturers: BMW, Ford and Renault all agree that the slump could be the beginning of a more sustained slump than previously predicted. Financial news sources site comments from Norbert Reithofer, Alan Mulally and Carlos Ghosn – the CEOs of the three aforementioned giants – suggesting that predictions of a swift recovery may have to be put on hold. Ghosn told journalists at the Paris Auto Show, “We don’t know if we’re at the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning,” turning down requests to reiterate earnings targets.
Continue ReadingCooper/Kenda Facility Reaches Milestone Ahead of Schedule
Cooper Tire has reported the most successful ramp-up programme ever achieved by the company. In August, Cooper Kenda Tire reached the milestone of building and curing more than 10,000 tyres a day – a significant accomplishment, considering the CKT factory in Kunshan, west of Shanghai, has only been in production for 17 months. According to Hal Miller, president of Cooper International Tire Division, the team at CKT reached a monthly schedule that has never been seen before at the company’s other plants, a feat he attributes to the dedicated Cooper Kenda staff, and the leadership of CKT general manager John Ebert. Significant support from Cooper North American and European operations also contributed, added Miller.
Continue ReadingOn the Road Again…
For some people, the car is a second home – they climb out of bed long before the sun first peeps above the horizon and drive for hours, not returning home until late in the evening. These people eat and drink while belted into the driver’s seat during the long trek to work. Rare is the person that can avoid the daily commute, but these days the time spent travelling to and from work each day and the distance covered can border on the ridiculous. And according to a poll conducted by Goodyear Canada, a quarter of commuters say they would accept a pay cut in exchange for a shorter drive to work, and 13 per cent confess they’ve wanted to quit their job purely because of the daily drive.
Continue ReadingGoodyear Suspends Production at Gadsden Plant – Again
Goodyear’s tyre factory in Gadsden, Alabama, has again been shut down of a week due to a shortage of raw materials and to reduce the company’s overall tyre production, company officials announced on September 29. This is the second such recent occurrence for the Gadsden plant; between August 16 and September 2 the facility was closed for an ‘inventory adjustment’.
Continue ReadingCooper Announces Strategies to Counter Raw Materials Shortage
Raw material shortages and ‘soft demand’ in the North American market are the factors behind Cooper Tire & Rubber’s October 1 announcement that it would ‘adjust’ production facilities at its US facilities. The company says hurricanes in the Gulf Coast areas have affected its suppliers’ ability to provide sufficient raw materials to maintain full production at all US facilities, and thus materials will be directed to those plants currently producing items demanded by customers.
Continue ReadingGoodyear to Close Headquarters Medical Clinic
Bad news is familiar territory for tyre industry workers in the US these days, and, keeping true to this pattern, at the start of October Goodyear employees received a cheer letter outlining the closure of the company’s medical centre at its corporate headquarters in Akron, Ohio. The centre will close its doors for the last time late in the year. The Goodyear Family Medical Center had been providing primary-care services to employees and retirees at the site since 1989, with workers and retirees paying lower co-payments by using the practice.
Continue ReadingATS Euromaster Aims For Savings With Recruitment Portal
ATS Euromaster has signed a European-wide contract that will see Bond Talent – online recruitment & talent management software – from stock market-listed Bond International Software implemented throughout 10 countries. The new five-year, six-figure contract is for a fully Bond-hosted recruitment system which will enable the company to manage its entire recruitment through an online portal. ATS Euromaster predicts numerous operational benefits, including that the system will significantly reduce administration costs. Sigrid Barnes, Group Resourcing Manager for ATS Euromaster, commented: “We are expecting that the system will free up significant amounts of time for our managers. From now on, we will be able to process all of our recruits through one centralized, online portal and everyone from head office through to more than 480 centre managers will be able to see what’s going on in their area of the company – without having to pick up a phone or send an email.”
Continue ReadingNew MIDaS Interface Designed to Boost Online Retailing Efficiency
A new software module developed by Cam Systems for its MIDaS program is designed to help retailers improve the efficiency and accuracy of their online sales. The MIDaS tyre retail and wholesale stock management system now handles somewhere in the region of £140 million worth of product transactions, equating to more than 3 million tyre each year. Using the same system, Cam says it has responded to growing market demand by developing a B2C (business to consumer) solution for website stock, pricing and order processing functions. Typically, website stock and pricing details are entered manually using a spreadsheet system, which is extremely time intensive, prone to inaccuracies and needs to be repeated on a regular basis as pricing and stock details constantly change. The MIDaS B2C module makes that process redundant as it is fully integrated with the Cameo operating system, which allows it to set up and export product and price data direct to the website. This is a vastly more efficient and accurate process than a paper-based system and gives retailers complete control of data which appears online.
Continue ReadingBike Tyrestore Offering Free Dunlop Clothing
Leading two-wheel tyre wholesaler, Bike Tyrestore, is offering free Dunlop clothing to members of its Moto-Vate loyalty programme during October. Throughout the month, Moto-Vate members will be able to claim free of charge clothing by Dunlop, consisting of branded fleece and cap to keep customers warm during the colder weather. Also new to the programme is an exclusive deal with Digital TV Sports channel, Setanta, offering substantial subscription savings with a free trial membership period and deals on Setanta equipment.
Continue ReadingAdvanced ID Predicts 400% Increase in 4Q Revenue
Advanced ID Corporation, the parent company of tyre management RFID specialists Pneu-Logic, is predicting it will record a 400 per cent increase in fourth quarter revenues following the acquisition of Shenzhen DDCT Technology Co. The company earlier announced that DDCT has developed RFID readers and modules that are capturing major tenders and orders in their respective RFID sectors. Several contracts have already been negotiated and are seen as the key reason for the predicted growth. Dan Finch, president and CEO, said: “We are more than pleased with DDCT as our new acquisition. Working with Cherry Lim, our country manager and Mr. Siyou Su, chairman of DDCT, we have received confirmation of projects that will start before the end of 2008. We have funded the infrastructure for our new location in Shenzhen and are completing production and manufacturing on those projects as we speak.” Mr. Su commented in an earlier press release on his projections for 2009 of US$12 Million and is very confident that this will be not only achieved but surpassed for the China market alone.”
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