All businesses operating in the tyre industry, whether they are retailers, wholesalers, importers or manufacturers, are well aware of the economic challenges the industry faces. Soaring raw materials costs, record rubber prices, increased fuel costs, rising inflation and a host of other variables mean that the market continues to be extremely competitive and incredibly demanding.
However, while the economic test remains significant, the legal and technical ones are no less challenging. Tyre manufacturers and importers need to be fully aware of continually evolving developments, new legislation, technical regulations, health and safety, and environmental issues to ensure their products remain safe and compliant for sale.
Issues such as tyre labelling, TPMS and tyre ageing are just some examples of the technical issues that we will face over the coming months and years. In order to meet these challenges, it is vital that manufacturers have access to the correct information in a timely manner so they can implement any necessary design or manufacturing changes in good time. Failure to do so could have significant financial consequences.
For the many tyre manufacturers based outside of the EU, it is often difficult or slow to obtain the necessary technical information and developments agreed by legislators. Indeed, it is equally important that manufacturers are involved in the development of these new regulations, but on their own, this can be a very costly and time consuming task. However, for more than 30 years, the Imported Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ITMA) has been helping importers overcome these types of obstacles with considerable success.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 19th, 2011 at 1:04 am and is filed under Membership You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a trackback from your own site.
