Page 6 - CTB N13 - 2016-01

NEWS
ZC Rubber Donates 1,000 Uniforms to Caribbean school
Zhongce Rubber Group Co. Ltd. (ZC Rubber), the manufacturer of the Westlake brand of truck tyres, has donated more than 1,000 uniform shirts for the students in Central Abaco Primary School
(CAPS) in the Bahamas, along with its local customer Abaco Battery and Tyre.
ZC Rubber, the largest tyre manufacturer in mainland China, is the cooperated supplier of Abaco Battery and Tyre for the Goodride
tyre brand. Central Abaco Primary School is a public primary school in the Ministry of Education and is located on the island of Abaco in the Bahamas.
Bandvulc Emphasises Importance of Disaster Recovery Provision
Bridgestone Right on Time for Commercial Fleet Operators
We all play a vital role in the day-to- day continuity of our business. Right through the supply chain we rely on our staff and suppliers to deliver so that we can meet our customers’ expectations, but how can we mitigate the risks if this chain is broken through unforeseen circumstances? Technical failures with computers, telephones and power are just a few we have all experienced, but what happens if you are denied access to your own business site - could you survive? According to a 2007 AXA report 80% of businesses that experienced a major incident, never re-opened or closed within 18 months. In many of these scenarios we cannot eradicate the cause, but we can reduce the impact; this is where a disaster recovery plan comes into action. Disaster recovery plans are more than an insurance policy against financial
According to Bandvulc, the Buncefield explosion in 2005 was a fresh reminder when developing a strategy. This incident caused huge disruption to transport and devastated local businesses in Hertfordshire. To learn from this it was prudent to duplicate systems off- site and from a radius that ensured Bandvulc had access to customer data and could still handle customers’ calls even if their primary site was lost. Bandvulc operates its disaster recovery site in Plymouth, some 15 miles away. This site is always on standby with a duplicated server room and call centre, thus ensuring exceptional customer services remains seamless.
However, Bandvulc point out that the disaster recovery site simply would not work without the co-operation of the company’s employees, and consequently the company says it
More than 35,000 stranded commercial vehicle operators were assisted at the roadside by Bridgestone’s truck fleet service network in 2015, company figures reveal. A total of 36,000 jobs were accepted, with an average time of 62 minutes taken from the time the first call was made to the moment a Bridgestone Partner member arrived at the roadside.
Having then arrived at the stricken vehicle it took an average of 51 minutes to complete each job, meaning that each vehicle was up- and-running in an average of less than two hours, from the time the first call was made.
Commenting on the results, Paul Sheehan, national operations manager, said: “I am very proud of the roadside breakdown response times we can offer as a network.
Despite a 22 per cent increase in the volume of work during 2015 as we take on the management of more and more fleets, the Bridgestone Partner network has managed to improve on the breakdown response times by four minutes versus an already impressive number in 2014.
“When we talk to our fleets, they cite vehicle uptime as one of their most important factors, so every minute we can save results in improved operational costs for our customer. We have over 315 commercial tyre dealerships and more than 1,000 vans in our Bridgestone Partner network, which means that we are the leading UK fleet tyre service provider. The consistency and professionalism of our breakdown service centre in Okehampton has also helped massively.”
loss; they protect something you cannot value in numbers - your reputation, and the reputation of your customers.
In 2008 Bandvulc, the Devon-based retreader, developed a strategy to prevent, detect and correct potential disasters before they affected the company’s customers. Bandvulc says its first step was to change its mindset when purchasing products and services; these only delivered value when they worked - so initial cost was not the deciding factor. It was essential that where one system failed another could take its place; for example, where Bandvulc purchased one phone system in the past they would now purchase two; if they normally purchased 4 servers they would now purchase 8, and so on.
considers the most important investment it has made to be in staff training. Every year staff undergo a surprise rehearsal to ensure documented procedures are followed and that jobs in hand are managed instinctively, avoiding any panic and thereby saving vital time.
After seven years Bandvulc says its disaster recovery provision remains one of its strongest attributes; “Where we have experienced fires, false alarms, cut telephone lines and intermittent power failures, the disaster recovery plan has paid dividends in an industry where every second counts,” confirmed a company spokesman.
6 Commercial Tyre Business