Family-owned T&C Site Services has built its business around one of the most specialised areas of the tyre industry: the supply, fitting, repair, maintenance and management of earthmover and OTR tyres. Based in Stoke-on-Trent, the company now employs 70 people and operates nine depots across England, Scotland and Wales, with its latest depot in Ivybridge, Devon, opening in September.
The business was founded more than 40 years ago by Trevor and Christine Adams. Today, their son, also Trevor Adams, is Managing Director. During a visit to the company’s purpose-built Stoke-on-Trent headquarters, which was constructed in 2019, Tyre & Rubber Recycling spoke to Adams as well as Commercial Lead, Dan Jones about the development of the business and the challenges facing the specialist OTR sector.
T&C is one of the UK’s leading independent earthmover tyre specialists, providing services to quarries, ports and mines. The ports sector represents a significant proportion of the company’s activity, accounting for between 60% and 70% of business.
A highly specialised workforce
The specialist nature of the work is reflected in T&C’s approach to its workforce. The company says it has more accredited OTR tyre fitters than any other business in the sector, but Trevor Adams is concerned that the industry as a whole is not developing enough new technicians to meet future demand.
OTR tyre fitting is considerably more complex than simply changing a tyre. Adams describes the role as a composite one, requiring the technician to combine several different skill sets. “An OTR technician may need to work as a tyre technician, a crane operator and a HGV driver, often in demanding working environments,” he points out.
Adams estimates that there may be only around 100 technicians in the UK with this combination of skills. For an industry serving such a specialised market, he believes this is insufficient.
The problem is compounded by the time and resources required to train new technicians. It can take between six and 12 months to train an OTR tyre technician, while practical experience is also essential. However, the relatively small number of suitable vehicles and machines available around the country limits the opportunities for trainees to gain that experience.
T&C therefore carries out much of its own education and training. Every fitter must complete extensive training before qualifying as a T&C Site Services technician. Eligible technicians have passed IMI Earthmover/OTR/Industrial Tyre Fitting training, while all technicians are ALLMI Operator certified and hold Quarry Passports through MPQC and SPA.
Solo fitters have at least one year’s field experience, while relevant technicians have also qualified through the REMA Tip Top Vulcanised Tyre repair qualification. Fitters also carry CSCS cards, and many technicians hold HGV Driver Certificate of Professional Competence licences.
The company has worked with Continental, Roadside Safety and IMI on the development of an approved course for technicians, but Adams believes the wider industry needs to do more to address the skills shortage.
“We are responsible for the next generation of tyre technicians, but we are sleepwalking towards a cliff edge. There is a real danger that we will have nobody to do the work,” he warns.
For Adams and Jones, one of the underlying problems is the industry’s lack of visibility as a potential career. T&C has responded by carrying out its own outreach work in local schools and technical colleges, aiming to make young people aware that specialist OTR tyre work exists as a career option.
Developing the right equipment
Recruitment and training are only one part of the challenge. Adams and Jones identify the development of suitable equipment as a second major issue for the OTR sector.
Specialist tyre service vehicles cannot simply be purchased off the shelf. The equipment has to be designed around the particular requirements of OTR tyre work, including the need for cranes capable of performing manoeuvres beyond conventional lifting operations.
“You can’t get an OTR tyre servicing vehicle off the shelf,” Adams says. “Fitting trucks need to be fit for purpose. Cranes are just for lifting, but tyre fitting cranes need to be customised to carry out different manoeuvres. It also costs between £250,000 and £275,000 to put a fitting truck on the road.”
T&C works closely with leading crane manufacturers, including Truck & Marine Cranes, to develop equipment specifically for the OTR market. Adams says the company has invested heavily in making sure its service vehicles are capable of meeting the demands placed upon them.
“All our vehicles are 100% geared up to do the job. T&C is setting the trend in this regard, and our equipment is often used as a benchmark for equipment developed by other operators,” adds Jones.
The investment required illustrates the scale of the commitment needed to operate successfully in the specialist OTR market. It also reinforces the importance, in T&C’s view, of maintaining an independent position within the industry.
Demonstrating the value of tyre management
The third major challenge identified by Adams concerns tyre management and, specifically, demonstrating the value that a professional service provider can deliver.
Dan Jones explains: “Historically, service has often been billed according to a turnout fee. That approach can create the wrong incentives because it does not necessarily reward the service provider for achieving the best overall result for the customer.
“Instead, the best possible result is achieved when the vehicle and tyre manufacturers work together with the service provider and the customer to provide the optimum result. That way everybody wins.”
T&C’s experience in the OTR tyre sector has allowed the company to amass a substantial database on the performance of tyres and vehicles from which it can draw. Over the years, the company has dealt with more than 2,000 pieces of equipment and worked with many different tyre brands. Trevor Adams believes that this accumulated experience and data can provide significant value to customers by helping T&C optimise the customer’s overall costs rather than simply responding when a tyre requires attention.
That approach fits with the company’s stated focus on high quality, high safety and high value for money.
Independence and standards
Independence is an important part of T&C’s proposition. The company does not have an obligation to sell a particular quantity of any individual tyre brand and works across the market, supplying tyres according to the customer’s requirements and the application involved.
“Understanding the customer’s individual requirements is a key point,” Adams says.
The company also places considerable emphasis on the way in which its own operations are managed. T&C is ISO 9001 and ISO 45001 certified and operates its own Health and Safety Programme. The company makes its risk assessments publicly available, which Adams sees as an important part of its commitment to transparency.
“All our risk assessments are publicly available on our website, and we encourage people to use them,” he says.
The combination of technical expertise, safety standards, equipment investment and accumulated experience is intended to differentiate T&C in a market where the consequences of inadequate service can be significant.
Continuing to expand
Despite the challenges facing the wider sector, T&C is continuing to expand. The opening of the Ivybridge depot extends the company’s geographical coverage and forms part of its plans to ensure that it is positioned where customers need its services.
Adams sees further opportunities ahead and says the company intends to continue reinvesting in the market rather than standing still.
With its origins in a family business established more than four decades ago, T&C has developed into a nationwide specialist operation. Its immediate challenge is to continue that development while also addressing the wider skills shortage that threatens the future of specialist OTR tyre servicing.
For Adams, ensuring that there is a trained workforce capable of servicing increasingly specialised equipment is ultimately as important as the tyres and machinery themselves. T&C’s response is to invest in people, equipment, standards and geographical coverage, with the aim of ensuring that the specialist skills required by the OTR sector remain available for the next generation.
