Page 8 - CTB N15 - 2016-03

NEWS
Bridgestone Carry Out Comparative Testing with Fleet Customers
Transport, I can call Richard (Kelter) or a colleague, and they will be straight out to assist. Also, with Bridgestone, the availability is there nine times out of 10. Again, this is really important to us as a business.” Richard Kelter concluded that
Bridgestone has spent a long time in developing a more consultative, partnership-based relationship with its fleet customers. This, he believes, has been the biggest change in commercial tyre support over the past 10 years.
With commercial fleets always looking at ways to operate more efficiently, Bridgestone is testing its range against its competitors to provide projected wear rates and estimated tyre life. This, they hope, can deliver tangible evidence of their products’ worth.
Bridgestone’s Head Field Engineer Richard Kelter and the company’s technical team are assessing the tyres’ associated costs identified through constant evaluations between its R-STEER and R-DRIVE
with each fleet that allows access to their commercial vehicles to carry out the research underpins this. An example of this is Shirley’s Transport in Stoke, who allowed Bridgestone to switch the original equipment of some of its new Iveco Stralis trucks in order to conduct analysis.
Arthur Shirley, whose fleet of 60 trucks and 110 trailers is fitted with Bridgestone, commented; “the back- up that Bridgestone offers goes a long way. It is massively important. The relationship we have with
Richard at Bridgestone and Lodge Tyres means they can be at my business almost immediately to check a single tyre on a specific vehicle if necessary. That goes a long way. We did purchase a new truck which wasn’t fitted with Bridgestone tyres recently. It did 20,000 km less than we would expect, and while other factors can come into play such as driving style and weather conditions, you can’t ignore the facts. If this was carried over our entire fleet, then that is a lot of money.”
Shirley additionally explained that, “it is just as important to have good relationships that you can rely on. Bridgestone almost knows my
company as well as I do. Lodge Tyres are similarly well placed and because of this, I can enjoy a strengthened service based on trust.”
Frank Field, branch manager at Lodge Tyres in Stoke-on-Trent, said that Bridgestone’s premium tyre offering was invaluable to his business. Field said; “every time there is a query with Shirley’s
Goodyear ServiceLine Roadside Assistance Cuts Costs for Vehicle Operators
121 minutes. Just over two hours. Is it the amount of time it takes to fly from London to Bilbao? Is it the length of the recent European Championship final? Is it the average running time of a blockbuster movie at your local cinema? The answer to all these questions is “No”. 121 minutes is the average time for Goodyear’s ServiceLine 24h roadside assistance to attend and fix a roadside breakdown in 2015 according internal data
from Goodyear.
Goodyear’s ServiceLine
is provided by the
company´s European
TruckForce network.
What does this
translate to, then? For
vehicle operators it
means savings, as
unproductive
downtime is
eliminated, and, with
the recent introduction
of a new ServiceLine
24h mobile phone app,
it is anticipated that
this downtime will be
reduced further.
The figures from 2015, covering mainland Europe and the UK, had Goodyear’s ServiceLine 24h registering 57,435 high priority jobs. Over 47,000 of these were in the UK. These were managed by Goodyear’s pan-European TruckForce service provider network. From receipt of the callout by the Goodyear ServiceLine 24h centre to the vehicle driving away with the job completed was on average just under 121 minutes in EMEA and 117 minutes in the UK.
Currently, ServiceLine 24h and TruckForce are elements of Goodyear’s FleetFirst
tyre management
programme, which
offers premium new
and retreaded truck
tyres, dedicated
services and solutions
such as
FleetOnlineSolutions,
Goodyear’s internet-
based tyre management
programme.
In a press release
provided by Goodyear, Nigel Sowerby Director Retail Commercial and Service Development at Goodyear Europe said; “we are really proud of the performance that our TruckForce service partner network is achieving.” Goodyear rolled out its free of charge ServiceLine24h mobile phone app in December. Through the push of a button, a truck, bus or coach driver is immediately connected through to the Goodyear ServiceLine24h call
Arthur Shirley with Richard Kelter, Bridgestone’s Head Field Engineer
A Goodyear Truckforce engineer changes a truck tyre
products and competitor tyre offerings.
The team adopt a system where they measure the tread depth level of a new tyre versus the mileage recorded (over a certain period of time), which gives a wear rate (km/mm) and projected tyre life (km to 3mm) thereafter.
An established working relationship
centre 24/7, 365 days a year, thus delivering faster assistance. The app boasts a variety of features including an automatic language detection, a pop-up screen guiding the dispatch process, before finally a GPS-enabled search, showing the nearest Goodyear TruckForce service partner. The language capabilities of the service are not limited to the app, with a multi-lingual control centre giving the service the capability to resolve issues quickly and efficiently in combination with its 2,000 TruckForce service outlets, situated strategically in 28 countries.
Lodge Tyres facilities in Stoke-on-Trent
A TruckForce service vehicle is despatched to resolve an issue.
8 Commercial Tyre Business
CommercialTyre
Management
and Fleet Business