Page 8 - CTB n2 - 2013/2

NEWS
ATS Euromaster Inflation Report Outlines the Value of Expert Tyre Care
per vehicle. The same level of misalignment, the company points out, will also lead to a 7% increase in tyre wear, resulting in the need for premature tyre replacement.
ATS Euromaster is also keen to point out the benefits of regrooving to achieve additional tyre life. On
average, regrooving a truck tyre will deliver an extra 25% tyre life worth £104 in 2013 compared with £45 in 2003. Despite the huge savings which can be achieved, the cost of regrooving has only increased by £6.50 over 10 years, to £31 per tyre in 2013.
Sales Director Peter Fairlie
Peter Fairlie, ATS Euromaster’s Group Sales Director, says: “Maximising tyre performance should have been on every fleet manager’s radar a decade ago; but in 2013, and with costs spiralling, if your tyres aren’t being expertly managed then it should be ringing alarm bells. No business can afford to be throwing money away if it wants to be competitive and profitable”.
The report commences by outlining the rising cost of tyres, which has seen the average cost of a premium
brand fitment rise by around 130% in 10 years. In 2003, says ATS Euromaster, the average cost of such as tyre was £181. In 2013 the same tyre cost £417.
Over the same period, says the company, bulk diesel costs have rising by a staggering 84%, increasing the potential savings that can be made by fitting low rolling resistance tyres, if these suit the application of the fleet in question. According to ATS Euromaster, the value of a modest 3% fuel saving per vehicle has risen from £724 in 2003 to £1332 today.
On the subject of underinflation, ATS Euromaster’s report illustrates just how much tyres that are 10-20% underinflated can cost a fleet. Using the example of a 4x2 artic working on long haul applications, ATS
Euromaster say that the annual cost of the underinflation has risen from £302 to £555 over the 10 years to 2013 – equivalent to a 1.25 increase in fuel use. If the same vehicle has tyres that are over 20% inflated, the vehicle experiences a 2% increase in fuel use. Tyres underinflated by 10- 20% also experience an average 8% increase in abrasion, resulted in wasted tyre life. For tyres over 20% underinflated the extra abrasion is as much as 18%. Misalignment can also cost fleets dear, says ATS Euromaster. A one degree misalignment on the steer axle increases rolling resistance by around 5%, leading to a 3% reduction in fuel efficiency. This, says ATS Euromaster means an increase of £1332 in fuel used
Bridgestone Challenge App Goes Global
Bridgestone UK has announced that its Challenge tyre monitoring app is now being rolled out across other European markets, after its effectiveness was deemed too indispensable to ignore.
Created by RNF Digital and deployed in 2012, the technology is claimed to have revolutionised Bridgestone’s sales process and is now regarded as
‘crowd sourcing’ experience, where users are mutually benefiting from data being collated from various locations across the globe.
It all means that users are no longer constrained by having to generate the data in their offices before presenting them to clients and can now create and discuss immediately with the customer.
During the recent Commercial Vehicle Show ATS Euromaster launched a free guide for truck fleets aimed at illustrating the savings fleets can make as a result of using expert tyre management. Entitled the “Inflation Report 2013”, the document does, as the name suggests, deal with the importance of correct tyre inflation but it goes much deeper than that, offering a range of need-to-know facts and figures comparing prices today with a decade ago, and demonstrating in the process how the rising cost of tyres and fuel mean sub-optimum tyre set-ups can cost fleets dearly. Split into eight parts, including sections on underinflation and wheel misalignment, the guide offers a stark wake-up call to fleet operators who may not look after their tyres as well as they should.
an indispensible strategic tool for the company’s sales force. The ‘Challenge’ app works by calculating the true cost of tyres over time and shares the performance data with all other users, before providing performance comparisons against competitors’ tyres - all on the user’s tablet.
Users can wirelessly synchronise their device with a centralised server, whereupon the sales representative’s data is uploaded. At the same time, data captured by other representatives is downloaded to the device. The application then has at its disposal a significant body of globally sourced data, from which highly dependable statistics can be derived.
A tyre's relative performance can therefore be objectively determined, which enables the sales representative to make an informed recommendation.
By sharing data in this manner it effectively creates a
The app also provides Bridgestone with a wealth of previously unobtainable management information, not only in terms of how their own tyres are performing, but also how they are performing against their competitors.
INFLATION REPORT 2013
Unlocking the true value of expert tyre management
8 Commercial Tyre Business