Tires are sometimes viewed by consumers as little more than an afterthought without much consideration given to what goes into bringing them to market. Multinational tire manufacturers have worked for more than a century designing, building, testing, manufacturing and servicing customers' tire needs. The ultimate test to ensure a quality product and complete customer satisfaction resides with exhaustive real world, on road performance validation. Tread design has a profound effect on ride, handling, noise and wear characteristics. Additionally, tread-wear tests are conducted to assure chemical mixing and batch formulation meet design, engineering and manufacturing intent. Consequently tread-wear performance and tire durability characteristics are a key element of tread and sidewall designs. They are meticulously measured and test protocols are frequently modified as a result.
A leading European tire manufacturer contacted the team at Technical Professionals Group and explained they needed to identify a qualified source to manage their tread-wear program. They were facing spiraling cost increases and experiencing unacceptable service levels. While they knew from previous experience with us that Technical Professionals Group would be the fit they needed, their question was would we be able to meet the test guidelines with respect to timing and location. The program operates seamlessly 6 or 7 days weekly working 2 extended shifts. Shutting down testing for a transition was not an option. Some brief research by the our team showed the work could be accomplished at a substantial savings while achieving much more accurate results. In a matter of months we acquired a facility, comprehensively upgraded it to meet the highest industry standards and Technical Professionals Group’s Southeast Test Center was operational. No disruption to the program, greater productivity and significantly enhanced responsiveness. Today, from this facility, we exceed 2 million safe miles driven annually, and that number is growing.
Tread-wear testing is an exacting science. It starts with alignment standards that are anything but standard, exact weight requirements for each corner of the vehicle, daily permutation of tires, repeat-ability and adherence to schedules begin the process. Calibration schedules for each and every piece of equipment, written procedures for each step in the process, technician training, certification and testing to assure complete competency are just the beginning. This is a success story for our client and more so for the team at Technical Professionals Group. The lessons learned in creating this facility, perfecting testing protocols, assembling and training the workforce and delivering for our client have provided a best practices template for both permanent and project based temporary locations across North America.
- Expertise in facility setup and management
- Seamless, trusted transitions
- Better value, improved service, deep technical knowledge