Bandag EMEA: No Change In Service

Bandag has been in purdah since the announcement of the Bridgestone takeover and in December Retreading Business visited Zavantem to touch base with Jean Claude Thibault, Sales and Marketing Manager EMEA and Mike Tirona, vice president and general manager.

With virtually no news coming out of Bandag for the preceding months we hoped to find out what impact the Bridgestone deal would have on Bandag in Europe.

To cut a long story short, it is business as usual for Bandag in Europe. There are no significant changes in business strategy. Mike Tirona explained the reasoning, “Two years ago at a dealer luncheon we spoke to our franchisees and discussed where we should be going in the future. The main response was that we continue to promote the Bandag brand. The continued support and development of the Bandag brand is key to the success of the whole infrastructure.

“What makes us different”, added Jean-Claude de Thibault, “is the fact that the model we market is unique. We work to strengthen that message and we work to develop new product specification and offer application specific product. At Essen we will be meeting the industry and will have a new trailer tread that we will market aggressively.”

Mike Tirona adds, “We have to evolve to stay on top and we have a Total Solution Offer to fleets and dealers alike. It is driven by key developments in the sector and we offer a Total Asset Management package for the fleet operators, franchisees and dealers alike.”

This total tyre management package has been enhanced by the link with Bridgestone. There is now an “in-house” potential for a true cradle-to-grave package. In November 2007 Saul Soloman CEO and President of Bridgestone Bandag emphasised that the merger created an opportunity for a total tyre offering.

In December, to coincide with Bandag’s 50th anniversary, Bandag launched a new version of its Aspects fleet inspection programme. The package has been upgraded since the initial launch at Essen in 2006. The Aspects package is now increasingly the tool of choice for Bandag Dealers and Eurofleet partners according to Jean-Claude.

The feedback from users of the original system brought about improvements to the fleet management tool allowing end users to fine tune their tyre management to minimise costs and improve performance.

Bandag has some 200 dealers in the EMEA sector and across the region Bandag offers a retread deal to every area of the fleet market and retreading sector. “Some offer some service in some areas, others offer it in others,” says Jean-Claude, “ but we believe that only Bandag offers a full service package from the biggest fleet operator to the one man sole trader, from the large franchise retreader to the retail dealer. We ignore no part of the market – we have a solution for everyone.

“Through EuroFleet we offer a pan European tyre management deal that meets the needs of international fleets and local businesses.

“Bandag does not want to be the market leader just for the sake of being the market leader. We want to be in the lead because we are, without equal, and are the best in the market.” On challenges in the market and what impact the new tyre manufacturer’s approach to pattern duplication might be Mike Tirona was reluctant to be drawn. “There are many lookalikes and it is the nature of retreading. However, it is too soon to say what Bridgestone will do about copying. However, with Bridgestone behind us we will certainly have access to new tyre technology and be able to offer the most appropriate designs, regardless of what happens elsewhere”.

The other big issue for all the main players in the retread sector in Europe is the advance of the cheaper imported precure treads. Were these a threat to Bandag’s market?

“To be frank”, said Mike Tirona, “there is a market for the cheaper product at the lower end of the market. There will always be a percentage that will base their business on the cheapest possible raw materials costs to enable them to compete on price alone. We are confident that we can compete at that level with a competent value line which remains at a higher level that the cheap imports but brings us very close on price. “We will though, focus on the premium product backed up by our full service package. The greater percentage of our business is in the top 60% of the market and with our value line we have a foot in the door which helps us prove our product”.

Jean-Claude adds, “It is not all about price, people using the Bandag package can see for themselves the quality of the end product, less wasted time and materials in production, and even better, fewer breakdowns in service. Bandag is here for the long haul and we have the means to tackle the opposition. We can show a lower cost per kilometre than the competition; we can offer casing management services; and we train our own people, our retreaders and we are in the position to train the end user too. These are our strengths against the competition.”

So, the picture at Bandag is that after a lull in public performance, Bandag EMEA is back out in the open and willing to take on any challenge that the market can offer.

Issue 2008/1