When we met Avishay Novoplanski at a major agricultural fair prior to the first lockdown, he was holding a paper takeaway coffee cup and reflecting upon the utility of air. But he hadn’t just taken a caffeine hit, nor were his musings on the invisible, gaseous substance that surrounds us out of place. For Novoplanski is the inventor of the Galileo CupWheel, and this explains his interest in both.
We’ve emerged from lockdown into a market environment of rising raw material prices, a global imbalance of containers and exploding shipping costs, not to mention continuing port disruptions. These combined factors have already led to higher tyre prices and product shortages in some instances, but the extent to which customers are affected can be tempered by good stock management.
During the summer Alliance Tire Group began showing off its Agri Star II Alliance 372 Agriflex+ VF and lines. The first of these debuted at the LAMMA show in January, but both tyres came to market during the first corona lockdown. Tyrepress.com saw these products in action on a farm in Germany a couple of months back, but the UK’s second lockdown put paid to plans for a real-world 372 VF launch over here. So instead of togging up in extra-thick jackets and pulling on our wellies, on 1 December we headed over to the virtual farm and caught up with ATG and Kirkby Tyres, who exclusively distributes the Alliance brand in the UK and Ireland.
While the challenges of the pandemic to the light vehicle markets are familiar due to the day-to-day experiences of people around Europe, commercial, industrial and agricultural markets experienced different levels of lockdown, as many companies in these sectors worked hard to reinforce supply chains. In the tyre wholesale sector, this meant distributors of products and services to these segments needed to stay strong to supply the rubber that kept countries rolling. Michael Rosenthal, marketing director of the UK and Ireland’s largest and most comprehensive distributor of off-highway tyre and wheel solutions, Kirkby Tyres, told Tyres & Accessories about the latest news from the Speke-based wholesaler.
For Liverpool based wholesaler Kirkby Tyres, 2016 has become something of a landmark year. The company is currently undergoing a major infrastructure development that includes a major Warehouse Management System (WMS), and Kirkby has also made key personnel appointments, including a new director of business development & special projects.
Kirkby Tyres