Heafner moves headquarters
CHARLOTTE, N.C.-Heafner Tire Group said it is combining and relocating its Charlotte and Lincolnton, N.C. offices to new headquarters in Huntersville, N.C., beginning July 23.
The address of the new facility is 12200 Herbert Wayne Court in Huntersville, which is 20 miles north of Charlotte, off Interstate Route 77, according to Daniel K. Brown, senior vice president of procurement.
The firm's new mailing address is P.O. Box 3145, Huntersville, NC 28070-3145. Phone: (704) 992-2000.
Heafner distributes tires, wheels and auto parts through 73 warehouses in 35 states. It sold more than 15 million tires in 2000, according to filings with the Securities Exchange Commission.
House to consider SUV fuel standards
WASHINGTON-The House Energy and Commerce Committee is preparing to consider a Bush administration energy package that among other things would raise the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard for sport-utility vehicles by one mile per gallon.
Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-Texas, and ranking Democrat John Dingell, D-Mich., said the change will save 5 billion gallons of gasoline over the next six years. But Reps. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said they will fight to get the CAFE standard raised to a 40-mpg fleet average by 2017.
Mr. Markey tried but failed to get the 40-mpg standard approved in subcommittee.
The House bill also would ban the manufacture, sale and transport of diesel fuel for commercial vehicles that contains more than 15 parts per million of sulfur.
The current CAFE standard is 20.7 mpg for SUVs and light trucks, and 27.5 mpg for cars.
Michelin readies to make ag tires
GREENVILLE, S.C.-By the end of the summer, Michelin North America Inc.'s new agricultural tire plant in Lexington, S.C., should be in full-scale production.
The factory will make Michelin ag tires-destined for the original equipment and replacement markets in North America-that will feature ``improved performance, particularly enhanced traction, flotation for minimum soil compaction, decreased irregular highway wear and long tread life in over-the-road conditions.''
The tire maker opened its Lexington site in 1981 and in 1998 added its first production plant there dedicated to manufacturing earthmover tires.
ITRA awards Peel scholarships
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-Wayne King of Gossco Retreading, St. Johnsbury, Vt., and Dick Nordness of the Northwest Tire Dealers Association, Kennewick, Wash., have become the first two recipients of the International Tire & Rubber Association Foundation Inc.'s Dwight Peel Scholarship.
Each will receive $1,000 toward the cost of attending the ITRA's Commercial Tire Service (CTS) Instructor Training and Certification Program.
The award, which ITRA established earlier this year, honors Canadian high school student Dwight Peel who died June 27, 1998, when a truck tire he was inflating blew off the rim and struck him in the head two days after his 17th birthday.
ITRA plans to offer 10 scholarships this year in Dwight's name aimed at educating commercial tire service technicians to avoid risks associated with servicing commercial tire and wheel assemblies.
The remaining eight winners will be announced in the near future, the ITRA said.
J.D. Power: Web won't replace people
AGOURA HILLS, Calif.-Although many companies have gone online with interactive Web sites, the Internet isn't likely to replace person-to-person dialogue as the most viable means of communicating with customers, a J.D. Power and Associates study indicates.
The J.D. Power report addresses six customer satisfaction insights and drew its conclusions from about 30,000 survey responses.