Page 6 - CTB N7 - 2014-03

NEWS
Check Tyre Pressures to Save Fuel, Says ATS Euromaster
(Roadside Emergency Action Concerning Tyres), “Best Practice” guidelines.
REACT is a group within the NTDA that consists of members from various other leading commercial tyre manufacturers and independent training providers. Due to the fact that the production concerns industry best practice, Bridgestone have made their video available to everyone, with the intention of benefiting safety working at the roadside.
Phil Thirsk, Bridgestone’s training and development manager said, “we wanted to make something that was easy to watch and understand, with a clear narrative of what the tyre technician should carry out each time
they attend a roadside breakdown. “There have been numerous incidents when beacons are flashing on a service vehicle, the hazard lights are on, but an accident has still occurred on the hard shoulder of a motorway, or at the side of a road.
“This video sets out some simple guidelines which will help other road users clearly see that something is happening at the roadside which minimize the risks involved in roadside breakdowns.
“A number of people in the tyre industry and technicians feedback after courses have asked for video content to bring the issue to life, which inspired us to make the short film.”
ATS Euromaster are spreading the message that the fuel efficiency of truck fleets can be improved through the regular monitoring of tyre pressures, following the release of a survey by Texaco that found that only 42 per cent of operators undertake the required checks.
The survey, consisting of 500 truck
Tattersall continued to say that tyre pressures should be ideally monitored on a monthly basis to ensure that tyres remain safe and reliable in order to improve fuel efficiency and that the optimisation of these pressures benefits the consumer by extending tyre life, which in turn enables cost savings through buying fewer tyres.
Tyrework Invests in Systems Upgrade with CAM’s UniSerV
Tyrework, the commercial vehicle tyre management and maintenance division of the KRT Group, is bolstering its technology with a major systems upgrade led by CAM’s UniSerV platform. The investment will allow the tyre operator to centralise many operational functions into its head office, reducing administration out in the field.
UniServ will capture Tyrework’s job information in real time and send the details out to its fitters via tablets who will then transmit a report back to head office once they are completed for invoicing and despatching to third party breakdown systems via CAM’s 3Pi
module.
Tim Bader, operations manager for the KRT Group, says, “We’re undertaking a massive systems upgrade involving operations and accounting. UniSerV is the only dedicated 24-hour commercial tyre breakdown reporting platform so it was the obvious choice to enhance this area of our business and work with our other planned systems to reduce admin burden.”
Mike Allen, managing director of CAM, adds, “As Tyrework continues to invest and expand it will benefit from the seamless, rapid and hassle- free attributes of the UniSerV platform.”
fleets, was part of the Texaco Operator Research Programme and concentrated upon all aspects of fleet management.
ATS Euromaster’s Head of National Fleets, Simon Tattersall explains: “This survey highlights there’s still a large number of operators which don’t regularly check pressures. Underinflated or overinflated tyres not only wear faster and risk using more fuel, they can have serious safety and reliability implications too.”
According to the company’s research, truck tyres which are up to 20 per cent underinflated could cost as much as £555 extra in fuel per vehicle per year, as well as reducing the overall life of the tyre.
In addition to the findings on tyre pressures, Texaco’s research found that only 8 per cent of truck fleets are fitted with low rolling resistance ‘Energy’ Tyres as a way of improving fuel efficiency.
Bridgestone Brings Safety Messages to the Screen
Hämmerling GmbH Appoint Philip White Tyres Ltd as Agent for Athos Brand
Commercial tyre service providers within the UK now have the opportunity to further raise their health and safety standards, following the creation of an informative roadside safety video by Bridgestone.
The video, available on Youtube, aims to reestablish the messages that Bridgestone tries to convey through its roadside training courses. Bridgestone’s breakdown assistance video was filmed illustrating REACT
Hämmerling – The Tyre Company GmbH have signed a distributor agreement with the Irish family- owned company Philip White Tyres Ltd by which the latter has been appointed the exclusive
distributor of Hämmerling’s Athos brand of truck tyres in the UK and Ireland with immediate effect.
The partnership between the two companies was revealed at the Reifen 2014 tyre trade show in Essen, following initial contact at the Commercial Vehicle Show 2014 in Birmingham. According to Hämmerling, the positive reputation of Athos truck tyres in the European market and the successful show attendance of the German company
appealed to the representatives of Philip White Tyres Ltd and has contributed to increasing awareness of the firm within the UK market.
Pictured from left – Ralf Hämmerling, Philip White, Carolin Pfaffenbach
Phil Thirsk
6 Commercial Tyre Business