The off-road tire and track specialist Camso, formerly Camoplast Solideal, has officially launched its independent service division Solideal On-Site Service to increase its focus on service in North America.
Currently, there are 48 Solideal On-Site Service locations in the U.S. and three locations in Canada. Additionally, Solideal On-Site Service offers mobile services and has employed more than 150 technicians.
“What we are doing is we are launching Solideal On-Site Service as a distinct division in Camso, and the rationale behind this is we see the service business really as something quite unique from a wholesale tire supply,” Bob Bulger, vice president and general manager of Solideal On-Site Service, told Tire Review. “Traditionally, the service business has been kind of embedded within our wholesale tire supply and as we look at the world today, particularly the world our customer lives in, it’s becoming very, very competitive. And certainly they are trying to lean their operations – they’re not carrying excess equipment, they’re not carrying excess costs. What they’re looking for is productivity and efficiency, which is vital to the profitability of their operations. “
Solideal On-Site Service offers full service forklift tire solutions priced per hour, including on-site tire fitting, wheel exchange, in-depth fleet analyses and tire fill. Prior to the Camso rebranding, Camoplast acquired the Solideal service facilities with the Camoplast/Solideal merger in 2010, and the company has been working on transitioning the Solideal arm to focus on service.
Bulger adds that by dedicating 100% of Solideal On-Site’s resources to service, the company is better positioned to meet customer needs and provide more value to keeping forklifts productive.
With the majority of Solideal On-Site Service locations owned by Camso, and not Camso dealers (one facility is jointly owned by Camso and two other individuals), the company is looking to expand the Camso-owned footprint at this time. Bulger told Tire Review, however, that the company isn’t ruling out the possibility of a future opportunity to develop a franchise model, although there are no plans in place.
The company adds that it is not looking to compete with its tire and equipment dealers.
“Whether it be equipment dealers or tire dealers that are doing a good job at servicing customers with a service solution, be it mobile pressing or in-shop pressing, and have built up a nice business, and have nice market share and have really done a nice job for us, we’re not looking to compete with them. We’re looking to provide a service option that helps. We really want to leverage what our dealers take to the market,” Bulger told Tire Review.
For dealers in need of additional service support, Solideal On-Site Service said it can also take on the service portion for their dealers.
“The mission is to augment the services that we can provide to the end-use customer and by that I mean with our existing tire dealers or equipment dealers that don’t offer service, we can provide that service solution that they can in essence sell and provide additional service, additional value to their customer base,” he adds.
Solideal On-Site Service will also continue to offer dealers education, available electronically, that can help them train service techs on proper and safe service methods as well as finding the right product for certain applications. All Solideal On-Site Service locations are currently operational. For more information, visit solideal.com.
