Ag Tires: Looking Ahead
Have you ever looked back at your high school yearbook? Look at yourself, all young and full of hope, maybe a little naïve about life. Look at that hair! Look at what you were wearing! What were you thinking? Don’t worry. I’m not singling you out. We were all there with you. In the ’70s,
Expanding Your Reach
The skid steer tire market is a large segment that is often overlooked by tire dealers. According to the experts, this is a mistake that could be harming a dealership’s bottom line. “Sometimes [a dealer’s] sales staff may walk right by a skid steer if they are focused only on selling the fleet their commercial
The Formula for Success
I’ve always been pretty terrible with numbers. Some people are born with that gene and some aren’t lucky enough to inherit those analytical skills. I’m unfortunately part of the latter group and understanding even simple arithmetic always evaded me. In college, I failed Accounting 101, twice. Luckily, third time was the charm. Grad school hasn’t
Matching Tires on All Axles
Unless you are mounting all new tires at the same time onto a piece of equipment, you need to understand the importance of proper tire matching. Next to air pressure, matching of tires in all positions is critical to the performance of the tires and the piece of equipment. Today’s on board computers make it
Ag Tire Dealers Face a Myriad of Challenges
For most companies, the single largest expense is employee benefits. Often, companies will consider that to include wages, bonuses, commissions, healthcare, and 401(k) programs. But what about the costs of keeping your largest investment safe and properly trained – not to mention, the costs of attracting and retaining the best possible talent? A long-emerging and
The Quiet Giant
In 2015, the giant OTR tire segment experienced low demand in north America and globally. Several tire manufacturers reported a flat 2015 and expect the market to remain much the same in the coming year. “The North American mining tire market has been impacted by the ongoing slowdown in global mining operations. Production has been
Ag Industry Experiencing Fallow
The agriculture industry in North America has hit some tough times. This has a trickle down effect to the ag tire industry. “Next year is going to be challenging,” says Tony Orlando, president of Bridgestone America’s farm tire unit. “As we move into 2017 and through 2020 we think the market will pick up again.
Giant Speed Check
Everyone selling OTR tires has at some point encountered tires that have been subjected to excessive speed, overloads and heat. Of course the customer generally will not admit that any of this happened to the tire and they expect either the dealer or manufacturer to step up and handle any shortfall performance of the tire. This
Into the Woods
Like many other specialty tire segments, demand in the forestry tire market is cyclical. With the demand for logging often echoing the economy, tire demand fluctuates as machines either sit or run. Currently the forestry industry is on a slight uptick, which is good for tire dealers who service this niche segment. “With some very
The Evolution of Ag
The first recorded attempt to use pneumatic farm tires was about 144 years ago in California’s San Joaquin Valley. The Thompson’s Rubber Tire Steamer was set up to pull seven plows and chug along at about 10 mph. It didn’t fare very well. The second attempt wasn’t until 47 years later in 1918 when International
OTR a Real Mixed Bag
The off-the-road tire segment of the overall tire industry is, admittedly, a niche market. But, at roughly 10% of the global $170-plus billion tire industry, it is a sizeable niche and one that provides some interesting opportunities for all commercial tire dealers, whether they consider themselves OTR sellers or not. Last year, a good friend
Pulling Ahead
Whether its for work or play, people are hauling trailers behind their vehicles all across North America. Dealers looking to increase their profits shouldn’t overlook providing tires to this market. “The trailer tire market is big and getting bigger,” says Doug Addis, national sales manager at Maxxis International USA. “Unlike passenger and light truck tires
