News from the RMA and its Members

RMA Appoints David Wilson as New Director

The Retread Manufacturers Association (RMA) is pleased to announce the appointment of David Wilson as the Association's new Director, replacing Sheila Ikin, who steps down after 15 years service to the Association. The appointment will become effective from January 1st, 2005. Sheila Ikin will continue to work with the Association as a consultant.

David Wilson (43) is well known within the retreading industry as the Publisher of Retreading Business, the only global specialist magazine for the retreading sector. He has also served as a consultant to the RMA for the past two years, controlling the Association's PR campaign and has been responsible for the conception, planning and implementation of the Association's Green Dealer Scheme.

Gary Oliver, President of the RMA commented: "We are delighted that David has agreed to take on the task of developing a strong RMA to meet the new challenges that face us in the 21st century. We are sure that his energy and commitment to the retreading industry will provide significant impetus as retreaders seek to optimise their positions in the increasingly competitive tyre market. Meanwhile, we thank Sheila for her hard work and loyal service to the retreading industry over many years".

Sheila Ikin added: "I wish David every success in his new role and look forward to working with him as we strive to introduce new initiatives to help create the RMA of the future" (November 2004).

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Retailers Sought for Green Tyre Dealer Scheme

Following the successful launch of the RMA Green Dealer Scheme earlier this year, the Retread Manufacturers Association has announced that it is on the look-out for forward looking retailers who wish to join the new network and take advantage of the successful promotional campaign that the Association has launched during the course of the year.

According to RMA Director, Sheila Ikin, there are currently 256 retail outlets who are members of the Scheme. Of these, 185 stock passenger and/or 4x4 retreads and 163 stock retreads for commercial vehicles. Despite the Association's success in gaining such as high level of membership in such a short space of time, the Association says it is now actively looking for new members in order to make sure that both the truck and passenger tyre networks have national coverage.

David Wilson, who is responsible for co-ordinating the scheme comments; "There are a number of regions where we are looking for switched-on retailers to become part of the "Green Revolution" and become members of the Green Tyre Dealer Scheme. These might be retailers already stocking and selling retreads but who have not yet joined the scheme but equally they might be retailers who do not currently stock retreaded tyres but who want to take advantage of the marketing opportunities that the Scheme offers.

A key aim of the Green Tyre Dealer Scheme has been to provide a focus to the marketing of retreaded tyres as a generic product. For many years retreads (both car and truck) have often been viewed simply as a budget alternative to new tyres. However, with the Green Tyre Dealer Scheme the RMA has attempted to leverage one of its most important selling points - the retread's status as a green product. To achieve this, the Association has carried out an extensive PR and advertising campaign in consumer environmental magazines (for passenger retreads) and in the commercial vehicle and government/public sector press (for commercial vehicle retreads).

The results, says Sheila Ikin, have been exceptional. "As a direct result of our campaign, the RMA has had a substantial amount of direct leads both from private individuals, from commercial vehicle fleets and from local authorities and other public sector sources who wish to find out more about the environmental, economic and performance benefits of retreaded tyres" she comments. "The campaign has shown us that by managing a highly focused campaign the retreading industry is able to take control of its own destiny and to reach sectors of the market it has not been able to reach before with a clarity of message previously not achieved. The result, we believe, is the creation of a significant opportunity for retailers across the country."

For the passenger retread sector, the RMA is looking for retailers in most areas in the South of England. However, there are also opportunities in a number of major conurbations, in particular the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Liverpool, West Yorkshire and Hull. There are also a number of opportunities for truck tyre retailers to join the scheme. Again, there are a number of opportunities in the South of England as well as in Greater Manchester, West and South Yorkshire and the East Midlands.

Membership of the Green Tyre Dealer Scheme is absolutely free to tyre retailers. The only stipulations for membership are that: - Retail members of the scheme make retreaded tyres available. - Members promote retreads in a positive manner - Members keep their staff at member depots informed about the scheme - That members display a scheme membership sticker so consumers can see that depots are a member of the scheme. To find out more about the Green Tyre Dealer Scheme, contact the RMA on 01270 561014 on e-mail us on rma@greentyres.com. (September 2004)

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Environment Agency Report Praises Environmentally Friendly Retreads

A Technical Report by the Environment Agency has provided a promotional boost to the tyre retreading industry by emphasising the environmentally friendly credentials of retreaded tyres for passenger vehicles.

The report, entitled "Life Cycle Assessment of the Management Options for Waste Tyres" considered the management of used car tyres in the UK, the aim being to compare the different waste management options for car tyres and to evaluate the environmental advantages and disadvantages of each option. In addition to retreading, systems studied in the report were export for reuse, reuse in seas defences and drainage applications, recycling to rubber crumb, combustion in cement kilns, pyrolysis, gasification and microwave technology

The report studies the effects of the various disposal systems on eight environmental impact categories, these being:

Retreading achieved the best scores in six out of the eight categories. Results showed that retreading has the least environmental impact of all the tyre disposal systems studied in terms of abiotic depletion, global warming, ozone depletion, eutrophication and aquatic/terrestrial ecotoxicity as well as being the equal best option together with cement kilns in the acidification category.

In addition to confirming the environmentally friendly nature of retreads, the report also notes the fact that retreads now have to be approved to ECE regulations 108 and 109, thereby demonstrating the same safety standards as new tyres. As a result the report draws the conclusion that this requirement would ensure that the performance of retreads is the same as new tyres.

Sheila Ikin, Director of the Retread Manufacturers Association commented; "We are delighted with the results of this study by the Environment Agency, which provides a further argument in favour of the case that retreading should be considered as the Best Practical Environmental Option. We hope that this report will be the impetus for the general public as well as decision makers in both public and private sectors to take a closer look at the ecological benefits of retreaded tyres".

People wishing to find out more about retreaded tyres can do so by visiting the RMA website at www.greentyres.com where a full list of members of the RMA's Green Dealer Scheme for stockists of retread tyres can be found. Alternatively, call the RMA direct on 01782 417777. (August 2004)

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Bandvulc Breaks The Mould as Production Levels Hit All-Time High

Bandvulc Tyres, is celebrating record levels of production at its Ivybridge factory, with sales volumes at an all time high. The celebration comes on the back of a £1 million investment by the established family owned business, which saw the 'Camelot' theme applied to the whole of the manufacturing facility. It was officially opened in February by The Princess Royal.

"'Camelot' is proving to be a huge success. The team is focused, we're realising our objectives, surpassing our manufacturing goals and the physical, ergonomic and operational changes we've made to the factory are having an incredible impact on both staff and output." said Patrick O'Connell, director, Bandvulc Tyres. The effect of integrating the warehouse into the factory to create one manufacturing facility for the whole production process has streamlined the planning and helped reduce unwanted work in progress.

The introduction of improved lean manufacturing techniques has been a significant milestone for the company which was set up by the O'Connell brothers in the 1970's. Bandvulc is now producing 10%-15% more tyres per week than last year. With a lean manufacturing team in place committed to reducing end of line wastage, Bandvulc is set to save thousands of pounds each year for reinvestment in machinery and people. Some changes have been small but effective such as the CoolFab sports tops worn by the Press Line team. By ensuring they stay comfortable and cool during the day, in just a month, it has had a marked improvement on performance.

Production Manager Tony Mailing now oversees operations throughout the whole site, and works with team leaders from five newly formed cellular groups that control the stages of Building, Press, Final Inspection, Preparation and Casings. "Naturally competitive and taking pride in their work and achievements, the workers within each cell have been overshooting daily targets in a bid to outperform their colleagues within other cells," comments Tony Mailing. "All the 'Camelot' changes have improved the working environment significantly and resulted in better levels of communication between workers who are now more motivated to succeed than ever before, to the benefit of all," he adds. (July 2004)

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OTR TyreLogic Now Online

OTR Tyres has launched a new web-based tyre management records system, giving earthmover tyre users their own up-to-date tyre data at their fingertips. OTR TyreLogic provides live data on customer fleets, which can be accessed anytime through the OTR website. All data is secure with each customer provided with a password for entryninto their own records.

Tyre data is correlated by OTR's tyre survey engineers through on-site visits and recorded into hand held organisers before being downloaded directly to bespoke software for interpretation and analysis. The centralised database software then collates the information, which includes tyre manufacturer, tyre type, tread pattern plus wear and repair details for each OTR customer. The advantage is that customers can see and monitor how their tyres are performing and implement changes as necessary.

TyreLogic also enables OTR staff to discuss tyre requirements, performances and any problems with their customers remotely.

OTR's Technical Development Manager, Peter Clinton said "TyreLogic not only gives earthmover tyre users up-to-date records of all their tyres but provides them with a cost effective form of tyre management - ensuring correct tyre use, monitoring tyre wear and highlighting tyre damage". (July 2004)