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of the North American tyre industry conference and exhibition programme. Not surprisingly, it is also
Hilton El Conquistador in Tucson, Arizona, was the 68th annual event, and attracted 500 registrants event is held in such esteem within the industry.
The answer to that question, in fact, is not difficult to ascer- tain. The OTR Tire Conference is actually a truly unique event based on a concept that focuses largely on networking, with lots of business being done in the bars and lounges on the periphery of the event. The busy table-top supplier dis- play sessions are a key part of this – With over 70 company stalls, and with free food and beer supplied, these are vibrant networking sessions. Lasting between 2-3 hours only, these sessions give the impression of being almost like corporate speed-dating, but they are very impressive and full of ener- gy. Among the various stalls were most of the key US-based suppliers of retreading equipment such as Central Marke- ting, Shamrock Marketing and Tesco-Italmatic, as well as key rubber suppliers to the independent sector such as Pre-Q
Galgo and Vipal, but it also included tyre repair specialists, tools and tyre service equipment suppliers, tyre wholesalers and Included many suppliers to the retread sector but also a number of key OTR retreaders such as Kal Tire, Community Tire, H&H, Purcell Tire and several others.
The event, put together by LaKisha Pindell, TIA’s Vice Pre- sident of Meetings and Events, and Kevin Rohlwing, Chief Technical Officer, features three days’ worth of clearly diffe- rent conference presentations. The first day traditional fea- tures technical and training presentations, the second day economic forecasts and a business round table session, and the third day a series special interest sessions – this year it featured a keynote presentation on electric and automated
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