It would seem counterintuitive that an Indian tiremaker would entertain a large group of North American tire dealers for a week in northern Italy.
Oh, and call it a "day out."
In reality, though, it all made perfect sense for tiremaker BKT’s semi-annual “BKT Day Out” event. Especially for the 105 people (representing 32 tire distributors and media) from the U.S., Canada and Mexico who were hosted on a memorable five-day excursion to Italy.
(There also was a group of 15 representing dealers in Turkey, Greece, New Zealand and Australia, as well as contingents from BKT Tires USA, BKT Europe and the parent company in Mumbai, India.)
Lead hosts for the North American group were Rami Bitran and Bill Haney of BKT Tires USA, as well as BKT Europe managing director Lucia Salmaso. In attendance were such distributors as D&K Tire, Hercules Tire & Rubber Co., K&M Tire, Kal Tire, Lucy’s Tire, Millersburg Tire Service, Neumaticos Muevetierra, OK Tire, Pete’s Tire, Pneus Unimax, TBC Corp., Tirecraft, Tyres International, Universal Tire and others.
From BKT’s headquarters were vice chairman and managing director Arvind Poddar, executive directors (and cousins) Anurag Poddar and Rajiv Poddar, and D.M. Vaidya, director of technology.
The “Day Out” was far from just a day, with a multitude of activities planned to entertain and engage the guests. Over the five days, guests enjoyed a boat excursion across Lake Como, past multi-million dollar villas owned by stars like George Clooney and Madonna, businessman Richard Branson, soccer icon Ronaldinho and others; sightseeing trips to Lecco and Bergamo; visits to Tremezzo and Bellagio; a tour across Milan; dinners in villas and top restaurants, and more.
“At BKT, we believe in ‘Getting Together,’ which is a process that helps us in ‘Growing Together,’” said Arvind Poddar in his welcome letter to guests. “Towards this goal, BKT’s Day Out is an initiative of BKT that facilitates our channel partners to come closer and bond together.”
Building a strong relationship with distributors and front line commercial dealers is one of the reasons BKT has experienced tremendous growth – globally and within North America – over the past five years. And, according to Poddar, those relationships will be vital as the company presses ahead to its goal of 10% global marketshare in the OTR and agricultural tire category.
Much of BKT’s recent success is tied to the effects of the global economy, with end-users of all sizes discovering they can find high quality farm and OTR tires without having to pay premium prices charged by better known brands, and – perhaps more importantly – a ready of supply of tires in two segments experiencing massive global growth. “We have done a good job leveraging those opportunities,” he said with a sense of pride.
Reaching that 10% global marketshare level, Poddar realizes, requires tires. “For the year 2012 we have initiated an aggressive growth plan,” Poddar said earlier this year. “Production is targeted to increase by 32%. This would be achieved by upgraded capacities in the existing three plants as well as partial contribution from our new Bhuj plant. We are targeting that in the second half of this year, the Bhuj plant would contribute around 20% of the total production for 2012.” 
Commercial production at the Bhuj plant will start later this year, at least a quarter earlier than anticipated. Once fully operational, the Bhuj plant will effectively double BKT’s total capacity. By the close of 2012, the four plants combined will have a capacity of around 170,000 metric tons, increasing to 225,000 next year and reaching 280,000 metric tons in 2014.
The older three tire plants are located in Aurangabad (opened in 1988), Bhiwadi (2002) and Chopanski (2006). In addition, BKT operates its own mold plant (2006) near Mumbai, which Poddar said gives the company faster turnaround times and allows it to quickly add sizes and products.
And BKT has added a lot of products and sizes. All told, BKT today boasts some 1,800 SKUs, covering farm, OTR, industrial, lawn/garden and ATV tires. Globally, BKT’s mix is 66% farm, 15% OTR/construction, 15% OTR/mining, and 4% lawn/garden and ATV.
In five years’ time, Poddar wants to rebalance that to 53% farm, 20% OTR/construction, 22% OTR/mining, and 5% lawn/garden and ATV.
BKT plans to continue making upgrades to its facilities, processes and capacity, and will continue earmarking at least $50 million each year on capital projects. At the end of 2014, the added capacity should help it keep its goal of gaining 50% of its tire sales in Europe, 25% in the Americas, 10% in India, and 15% from the rest of the world.
Right now, BKT’s bias/radial mix is 70/30, which it wants to push to 50/50 by the close of 2014.
The company’s fantastic growth over the past few years – BKT’s objective is 35% year-over-year growth – “offers us renewed enthusiasm to invest more and more into our R&D initiatives, product development and brand building,” Poddar said.
BKT’s global tire sales goal is to grow from $611 million posted in 2011 to $1.36 billion in 2014 – doubling its tire-based revenue in four short years. Its North American operation has a goal of $220 million in sales in 2014 (up from the $96 million posted for 2011) – a quarter of the company’s worldwide ambition.
True Tire Testing
Poddar is very confident about where BKT is going, and is not surprised by the success its tire operations have seen over the last five years. He is not at all cocky, rather he is demonstrably grateful for the company’s good fortune and is driven to reach new heights and leave a strong base for the next generation to carry forward.
BKT – rather, Balkrishna Tyres – has always been a family business. Founded in 1951 by Poddar’s late father Mahabirprasad Poddar and uncle Dharaprasad Poddar (who remains chairman of the parent company), the now-named Siyaram-Poddar Group had total sales of $800 million last year, and is involved in textiles, garments, packaging board, chemicals, real estate and tires.
While the Poddar family owns 55% of the stock in Siyaram-Poddar, Arvind Poddar likes and wants to maintain a family feel and atmosphere within BKT and between the tiremaker and its customers. He says he is very proud of the BKT team in India and those in other world markets. And employees feel a sense of ownership in the company, he said, which helps build stronger customer relationships.
In the company’s latest corporate book, Poddar said, “To be precise, we have put our hearts in the business and the business in our hearts.”
“This is a family company with the highest family values,” BKT Tires USA general manager Rami Bitran told Tire Review last year. “And that shows in how we treat customers.”
Tire dealers are looking for suppliers with integrity, product quality and a high level of service. “That’s why having strong family values is so important to us,” he said.
“Our motto as a company is we do what we say. If we cannot live up to our word, then we are better off doing nothing at all. We cannot promise and then not deliver,” Bitran said.
BKT’s biggest hurdle right now, Poddar said, “is to keep going forward, maintain our momentum in quality and service, keep our levels high and our expectations high, and train our people to meet those.”
“Our people” includes the customers, and one of the business reasons behind the trip to Italy was to see how BKT’s tires are tested at the world-class Agricultural Research Council’s tire test facility in Treviglio. The CRA-ING facilities include ample outdoor testing – on- and off-road – including traction, handling and drawbar tests; a complete laboratory; multi-million dollar “shaker” test equipment; and a relatively simple test to gauge the footprint and flotation ability of tractor tires.
Separate from this event, BKT contracts with the wholly independent CRA-ING to do comparative assessments of its ag products vs. key competitor tires, primarily on tractor units popular in Europe.
Tire speed and handling testing is done on a paved oval track, while traction and drawbar tests are conducted using tractors on unpaved, vegetation-covered fields. In the drawbar test, a live tractor pulls a “rolling dynamometer,” an older tractor retrofitted with test gear. This tests the effectiveness of tread designs and inflation level to optimize real-world field performance.
The handling test has tractors slaloming through a series of cones at a speed of around 43 kph. Farm tires in Europe tend to see a lot of pavement, so this type of high-speed test is important.
Footprint tests check a tire’s soil compaction factor. Developed by CRA-ING, this test uses a lightweight, dense styrofoam-like material. The tire – mounted on a tractor – is lowered down onto a large block of the material, allowing the loaded tire footprint to create a negative impression into the material. This allows scientists to see how a loaded tire would interact with soil, and how different inflation pressures impact a tire’s footprint.
The shaker test is not unlike those done by automakers on passenger vehicles. The test gauges how the tractor suspension – including the tire – adds or detracts from operator comfort and in-field vehicle performance. A full-size tractor (in this case a John Deere 8320 on four BKT Agrimax Fortis tires) is parked on four pads attached to the shaker, which, through some serious engineering, is actually 100% free floating – attached to nothing – so test results aren’t affected by outside forces.
“We needed to bring customers to the test center,” said Poddar of the long-distance trip to CRA-ING. “We want them to know and see the testing our tires undergo, and what we are doing.”
For the OTR and farm tire specialist, the “Day Out” was a long one, but it proved its point by bringing family together, sharing success and looking forward to a bright future.
