HIGH PROFILE
Mining tyre traction
Kal Tire’s Mining Tire Group has been hot on the
acquisition trail in the last three years. Paul Moore caught
up with Dan Allan, Senior VP, to get some insights
the ability to offer customers a range of tyre
options.
In Australia, we had been there since 2008 but
with localised business in the western part of the
country, and aspired to become a national tyre
management service provider in mining. This was
hard in a country where it takes a long time to
build up market recognition, which we did not
have for the Kal Tire brand at the time – some
people even thought the Kal meant we were
based in Kalgoorlie…plus there was confusion in
our use of the American tire spelling. It was also a
vicious circle, as potential mining customers
wanted examples of our work in Australia not
elsewhere. The Klinge opportunity came up in
In Australia, Kal Tire is successfully building its
brand recognition nationwide having kept all
the Klinge contracts as well as creating new
business
2016. In fact Tom Foord and Tom Klinge had known
each other for years, having met at tyre related
conferences such as the TIA OTR event and had
always mentioned that the two companies aligned
well. So when the opportunity arose to bring the
two companies together, it made perfect sense.
Klinge retained its core tyre management software
business, Total Tyre Control but were happy to
divest their national service capability to us, so it
was a win win.
Finally, in South Africa, Tyre Corp was a tough
competitor, no doubt about it, we lost several
deals to them. Plus the market in South Africa has
been challenging for us and others, with the
mining downturn combined with the impacts of
the Mining Charter, socio-economic issues and the
BBBEE transition at many companies. We needed
a stronger business in South Africa to establish a
firm base to allow us to expand into other key
mining countries in the region like Mozambique.
This acquisition is enabling Kal Tire to entrench
itself with some substance in the South African
market, including the underground mines, and
really enhances the growth we have had in places
like Tanzania and Botswana.
Q How have things panned out in each case so far
in terms of market development – starting with
Zambia, then Australia and South Africa?
In all three cases, it goes without saying that all
the acquired businesses and new customers are
benefitting from the unique Kal Tire approach to
technical and staff training, as well our unrivalled
safety standards.
Q Kal Tire’s Mining Tire Group has made three
interesting acquisitions in the mining tyre sphere
in recent years, notably Tredcor Zambia (2015);
Klinge Tyre Services (2016) and Tyre Corp South
Africa (2017). As bolt ons rather than organic
growth can you summarise the drivers in each case?
Each region requires a unique approach at the
time. In Zambia, we had been there since 2009,
primarily in mining as a distributor of Michelin
tyres. However, it was and is a tough market, with
a lot of Asian influence, so it is difficult to get
miners there to buy into the benefits of premium
tyres in terms of cost allied to performance.
Tredcor Zambia was attractive to us as it would
allow us to consolidate our position in the country
as well as build on our relationship with
Goodyear, for whom they were a major distributor.
We have always prided ourselves in mining with
74 International Mining | JANUARY 2018
In South Africa, as elsewhere, acquired businesses and new customers are benefitting from the
unique Kal Tire approach to technical and staff training, as well its unrivalled safety standards