Malaysian retreader and fleet management company Kit Loong Commercial Tyre Group (KLCT) made its presence felt at the Malaysia Commercial Vehicle Expo (MCVE) recently with an impressive booth design and its integrated campaign themed ‘Safety=Savings’ for commercial fleet operators.
New Integrated Campaign for Malaysian Retreader
According to the Global Status Report on Road Safety published by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in December 2018, Malaysia has the 3rd highest fatality rate from road traffic accidents in Asia and ASEAN behind Thailand. However, the Malaysian Road Safety Plan 2014-2020 has set an ambitious target, to reduce by 50 per cent the deaths and serious injuries resulting from road accidents by 2020.
The effect is already taking place. Despite road accidents rising from 533,875 in 2017 to 548,598 last year, road fatalities had fallen from 6,265 to 5,870 respectively. However, KLCT Group Marketing Manager Michael Hutt felt that the industry should do more to reduce road accidents and strive for a safer operation environment.
“Truck crashes cause lost lives as well as huge losses in productivity, property and personal injury. It always surprised me that many people see safety as a cost to their business while we were helping customers improve safety and reduce costs for more than 85 years. It is key that standards are enforced and this mind-set be addressed.”
SC3OCT Focus programme
As the only full-service fleet tyre management provider in Malaysia that uses the SC3OCT Focus programme, the Group would like to help commercial fleet operators enhance safety and align with the regulations. Hutt explained that the SC3OCT Focus programme was a piecemeal total tyre management service, with the aim of helping fleet customers drive forward with profitability, inclusive of new tyres, retreaded tyres and tyre related products, 24/7 breakdown coverage, tyre service and maintenance, manpower as well as data management and tyre tracking system to track the tyres from cradle to grave. In short, he said, the company focused on its speciality tyre management and fleet operation.
The end-to-end services, he said, began with tyre assessment to understand the condition of the tyre and identify current and past trends in tyre wear. While faults in the maintenance regimen could result in a shortened tyre life, operator use could have an equally profound impact. Thus, after establishing a baseline in tyre performance, the next step was to identify the problem and pay a visit to the site to have an operational assessment.
“It is important that fleet companies choose the right tyres for their applications and this is our expertise. Retreaded tyres have received some bad press, but safety regulations haven’t been effectively enforced, leading to poor providers being able to sell unsafe tyres, sometimes illegally. We want to stamp this out and help the industry lead the way in safety with the ultimate aim of reducing accidents through correct tyre usage and ongoing tyre care.”
KLCT is a solutions provider. He stressed that the company understood that every fleet company was unique and it was able to provide fleet companies with customised programmes. Currently, KLCT has SC3OCT Focus that allows customers to choose the services required and SC3OCT Complete that covers all the services the company provides. It is worth mentioning that all the services provided under SC3OCT are awarded with international accreditation for service methods certified by UKAS for ISO 9001:2008 certification and Standards Malaysia.
Hutt also pointed out that the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as tyre cost, fuel efficiency and which tyre was best in cost per km (CKP), among others, would be set together with the clients.
KL 24/7 to be Relaunched Soon
“Companies in Europe are investing heavily on safety and seeing savings for their business, “said Hutt. “The research is clear: companies that outperform on health and safety also outperform financial growth targets. Using our fleet management big data and cloud computing system, KLConnect TTM+, we could help organisations analyse their data to clearly identify the cause of operational or logistic downtime and tyre failures. In addition, we could also offer organisations an audit on their fleet tyre management, through KL Compass, and deliver a bespoke overview of how they could save money through better tyre management,” he added.
This information, he pointed out, allowed KLCT to implement the right systems and procedures to reduce costs while making the fleet safer. “We are working to make the system more accessible by aiming to provide a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offer for all sizes of organisations and using cutting edge technology to enhance safety and reduce costs.”
Hutt also revealed that KLCT would relaunch its KL 24/7 shortly – a nationwide tyre rescue service with a subscription model – to give customers fast, effective tyre rescue services for a flat rate based on fleet size. This is seen as peace-of-mind for all fleet operators in the event of a breakdown.
“Over the next 6 months, from publications to collaborations with MIROS and our partners, such as Giti Tyres, Bridgestone, Michelin and Continental, KLCT would share its wealth on tyre safety knowledge,” he concluded.
