Page 14 - CTB n3 - 2013/3,

RETREADING
Part of Bandag’s delivery fleet.
This vehicle is from the Ashford based Bandag dealer, Invicta Tyres
Tyre Management was already handling fleet tyre management, but had no retread offer of its own.
In August 2009 the company acquired Wigan based pre-cure retreader Bestway Tyres and renamed it Direct Tyre Supplies, thereby assuring that DTM could offer a full cradle- to-grave service. In the meantime, production at Wigan has increased and the plant is now operating almost at full capacity. As a result, Richardson is now looking to set up a second plant, possibly by acquisition, and is also looking towards creating a mould cure retread solution. DTM has a turnover of £17 million per annum and claims 4 per cent of the UK commercial tyre market. Now,
time”, he explains.
In establishing the business, Richardson aimed to compete with providers who were offering deals based on price, but to do so DTM needed access to meaningful tyre data in real time. The company therefore developed its own in- house software programme called TAMS, which acts as a portal accessible to the customer, the service provider, the casing management company and DTM’s own network compliance team. TAMS provides the fleet operator with secure remote access to a plethora of relevant reports offering total visibility of tyre contract performance. Areas covered include accounting reports, expenditure reports, vehicle reports,
Truck Tyre Solutions who simply offer tyre management services, and these firms deal across the spectrum of retreaders including Bandvulc and Vacu-lug, but also Bandag and the smaller independent retreaders too. In the complex world of the tyre business Marangoni and Bandag retreaders provide fitting services to both the Independent Tyre Dealers Network (ITDN) and also to Tyrenet – a breakdown service that competes with the ITDN – However, since there is direct competition between Tyrenet and Bandvulc and Vacu-Lug, Tyrenet has a closer affinity with Bandag retreaders where possible.
The long term future of the independent retreader is increasingly linked to the ability to not only serve the retread needs of the larger fleets, but also to be able to offer whole life tyre management services. This fact of business was indelibly stamped on the tyre industry when Bridgestone acquired Bandag at the end of 2008 and increasingly when a company launches a new tyre it includes in the design, features that enhance the retreadability of the casing and enable the sales
package. This has the potential to close the market to smaller companies who do not have the economies of scale or the finance to exploit the market. However, those with the capacity are linking up with the secondary tyre manufacturers in a symbiotic relationship where both parties can benefit. A knock-on effect of these contracts is that there is the potential for the retread suppliers to also link in to these partnerships. A new tyre manufacturer who wants consistency may not only do a deal with the retreader, but include its preferred retread materials supplier in the deal too. So, this development of the fleet tyre management sector could have a deep impact upon the whole retread supply chain. It may become critical for a supplier to be approved not only by the retreaders but by the retreader’s new tyre partner. In turn, if a new tyre manufacturer wanted global consistency, they could enter the tread supply market too, or buy a tread supplier, it is the next logical step, perhaps.
following its recent acquisition by the NRG Fleet Services Group, Richardson is aiming to almost double turnover within three years and to grab up to 7per cent of the market. According to Richardson, DTM’s success has been based on the decision to position the company as an independent supplier of tyre management services that is playing a leading role in moving the industry away from treating tyres as a commodity towards a more focused asset management approach. “It is vital is to show customers that it’s not the up-front cost of the tyres that is important, but the number of tyres they buy over
product and service reports, casing stock reports, KPI monitoring and roadside breakdown reports.
Says Richardson; “ Because TAMS was developed internally, it not only gave us ownership of the system but also gives us the capability to adapt and change quickly as well as supplying us with comprehensive data that we can turn into intelligence. Furthermore, we set all our KPIs at customer and location level, allowing us to provide highly individual solutions. It is vital we establish intelligence at that level”.
There are other players in the market, such as Tyrenet and
teams to offer whole life tyre packages to the market. So, today, Michelin, Bridgestone, Goodyear and now Continental all offer whole life packages to the market, in house, whilst Pirelli, Hankook and others offer sub contracted services to complete their whole life
G& S Tyres in Barking, East London
14 Commercial Tyre Business