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NORTH AMERICAN NEWS
Educational Seminars Boost NATRE
Bauer Built Acquires Mankato Oil
The organisers of the North American Tire & Retread Expo have doubled the number of educational presentations at its 2017 conference.
from Solid Industrial, Skid Steer and Telehandler Tires;" and
• Hugo Sandberg, senior sales manager, moulded products and business development, Hexpol A.B.
— "Envelope Management—Making Your Investment Last."
In addition, David Stevens, managing director of the Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau will again moderate a panel of retreaders, a casings dealer and a tire repair specialist.
The Passenger/Light Truck Programme
includes:
• Bob Bittner, director of store
operations, Tire Pros — "Measure Twice, Cut Once";
• Art Blumenthal, principal, Art Blumenthal L.L.C. — "What Can I Do Now to Ensure the Highest Value of My Business Whenever I Want to Sell It?"
• Jody DeVere, CEO, Ask Patty.com. — "Insights into Marketing and Advertising to Women;"
• Pam Oakes, principal, Car Care for the Clueless/DIY Motor City — "Tech vs. Service Writer: Making Money & Keeping Peace in the Bays";
• Mike Hudgins, director of sales Mighty Auto Parts — "12 Ways to Grow Service Profits in 2017." Industr y suppliers will offer workshops on the trade show floor. The conference programme is scheduled for 9 a.m.-11 a.m. each day of the three-day conference, followed by the expo, which will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 19-20 and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 21.
Wisconsin-based Bauer Built Inc. has acquired Mankato Oil Company Inc.’s commercial tyre centre in Mankato, Minnesota, adding to the company’s service network in southern Minnesota.
“This commercial location will offer similar services as our current locations including in-store and on- site services, certified Hunter alignments, fleet maintenance, wheel refinishing, mounted wheel programs and other value-added
services,” said Tad Bauer, Bauer Built president. “We will also provide all leading tyre brands including Michelin, BFGoodrich, Uniroyal, Continental, General Tires, Hercules Tire, and Michelin Retread tyres to our customers in Southern Minnesota.”
Bauer Built now operate 33 tyre centres, seven Michelin Retread Technology retread plants and four wheel-refinishing operations.
Brodsky Hands RTA to Jeffrey Parks
Harvey Brodsky and Jeffrey Parks at the heart of the RTA
The third annual conference and trade show takes place April 19-21, at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.
It is targeted at independent retail and commercial tyre dealers, retreaders, auto service professionals, suppliers and others allied to the industry.
New this year are several presentations tailored to auto service professionals. Tire Business is sponsoring the educational conferences, while Latin Expo Group L.L.C. is responsible for the trade show.
Speakers and topics for the Commercial/Retread track include:
• Clif Armstrong, CEO, TP Industrial NAFTA; president, TP Commercial Solutions L.L.C., a division of Pirelli Industrial Tire — "Competitive Factors in the North American Commercial Tire
Industr y;"
• Peggy Fisher, president, TireStamp Inc. — "Telematics in the Commercial Tire Industry;"
• Paul Dvorak, CEO, America Industrial Tire Corp. — "Profiting
Stalwart of the retreading industry, Harvey Brodsky has handed the day to day management of the Retread Tire Association over to Jeffrey Parks due to ongoing health issues.
“After much soul searching, I realised that after 40 years of knowledge and experience serving as the voice and representative of our retread tyre industry, the time has come for me to turn over to my very able assistant Jeffrey Parks the full time day-to-day role of RTA managing director,” wrote Brodsky
in a statement. “I have known Jeffrey Parks for more than 30 years. For the last five years, he has become RTA’s right hand man. With training, experience, knowledge, full familiarity with and passion for the retreading industr y, I can say with full assurance that Jeffrey is fully ready to take over the responsibility of leading.
“I am excited about working together through RTA on your behalf for many years to come,” adds Brodsky.
K&M Buys Becker Tire
Marangoni Opens New Ringtread Dealer in Ohio
K&M Tire Inc. will grow its wholesale network by buying Great Bend, Kansas-based Becker Tire & Treading Inc.
With the purchase, K&M adds to its existing network of 20 distribution centres with a distribution centre in Great Bend. The company covers most of the Midwest with locations in 12 states — Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin.
"We are excited about the
opportunity to add Becker Tire and its entire team of dedicated employees to the K&M Tire team," Ken Langhals, president and founder of K&M said in a statement.
K&M plans to retain the wholesale business and that Becker Tire's original retail store in Great Bend and seven other retail outlets and Bandag retread plant will continue operating under "different ownership."
Marangoni Tread North America has announced that Hancock County Tire & Retreading in Bluffton, Ohio is now a member of the Marangoni Tread North America family of independent retreaders and will be offering Marangoni’s signature brand Ringtread.
Bob Majewski / Chief Technical Officer for Sumerel Tire Service, Inc. said, “Hancock County Tire & Retreading added the Marangoni
Ringtread system because we like to be different in the way we go to market, and ever yone sells precure treads but, the Ringtread separates us from the others.”
Sumerel Tire Service, Inc. located in Newport, Ky. opened Hancock County Tire & Retreading in 2011 to further expand their coverage area in Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia.
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