Case Studies

Sri Lankan tyre manufacturer only entered the agricultural sector in 2018, having spent its early years focusing on the industrial tyre sector. Now, however, the company, which uses technology from BKT, Alliance and Ceat, is looking to grow rapidly and achieve a leading position in the sector within five years. At the recent LAMMA show in Birmingham, we spoke to the company’s Sales Director for Europe Kurt Verbrugge, who explained the scale of the company’s ambitions.

For our spring feature, Commercial Tyre Business is focusing on Fleet Management and what tyre manufacturers are offering to stay ahead of the competition. For part 1, we spoke to Continental about how its tyre management solutions are helping fleets and operators make noticeable savings on the road while ensuring consumer confidence through its multistep programme.

As we approach the final stages of our Agricultural Feature for 2022, we managed to speak to another leading manufacturer in the agricultural tyre space in Nokian Heavy Tyres. Just under a year ago, we interviewed three key members of the Nokian Heavy Tyres’s Team as part of our Agricultural Feature. These same three members: Jarkko Heinamaki (Head of Sales), Tero Saari (Agricultural Tyres Product Manager) and Pierre Choubert (Business Manager, West Europe) were back again as Commercial Tyre Business quizzed the three on the Finnish manufacturer’s ongoing performance in the agricultural sector.

For Part 10 of our Agricultural Tyre Feature, Commercial Tyre Business touched base with Pete Robb, Marketing Director for Continental Agricultural Sales. As one of the manufacturers very much at the forefront of research, development and innovation in the agricultural sector, Continental’s insights into the current state of the agricultural market are extremely valuable. Besides this, we also endeavoured to find out more regarding the role conferences could play within the sector in 2022 and how the manufacturer is harvesting technology to make changes for farmers.

With the construction industry moving more and more towards sustainable practices, Camso is paying heed to how tyres will play a part in the industry's growth while also being a game-changer for current trends in the industry.

An issue that blights farmers and is something that farmers are always looking to prevent, soil compaction from agricultural tyres has always been a big factor for agricultural fleets when considering tyres. To counter this, the ‘stamp out soil compaction’ campaign has been launched by Continental to demonstrate how the right choice of tyres and maintaining tyre pressures can help to minimise soil compaction.

BKT gets to the heart of a typical day of Scaglia Farm, where the capacity and versatility of the vehicles are aiding important and variable workload between land care and the handling of materials. 

In a length study, Continental has found evidence that transport companies fear being behind the grain in digitalisation while maintaining a critical attitude to automated driving, even though the environmental and economic benefits are gaining momentum.

When it comes to tyres for his extensive machine park, contractor Nikolaus Rupp from Rosenberg-Hohenberg in the East Alb consistently uses agricultural tyres from Michelin. In addition to the quality, he is impressed by the high level of cost-effectiveness and the good advice and support service. 

Part 8 in the Agricultural Tyre Feature features an interview with the Head of Sales for Northern Europe for Galaxy and Alliance, Ole Bæk. During the interview Bæk comprehensively outlined the company’s strategy during the COVID crisis, but also detailed how product development has driven Yokohama Off-Highway Tires’s growth recently.