Goodyear adds NAPA as supplier
AKRON-Goodyear has renewed its primary supply agreement with Parts Plus and has added NAPA as a secondary source for auto parts.
The tire maker is including two suppliers for its retail operations to ensure timely delivery of needed parts.
Under the agreement, Goodyear-owned outlets will take advantage of national contract pricing and electronic centralized billing, benefits not available previously.
Up to 40 percent of needed parts have been purchased on a local-order basis by Goodyear's more than 700 retail outlets, the tire maker said.
Prior to this new agreement with NAPA, most of those purchases were made at significantly higher prices than what it is available through national contract pricing, Goodyear said.
Parts Plus operates more than 2,000 auto parts stores and Car Care Centers in North America. NAPA operates more than 5,900 outlets.
BFS consolidates warehouse in Ont.
MISSISSAUGA, Ontario-Seeking to steamline its distribution operations, Bridgestone/Firestone Canada Inc. will close its Lachine, Quebec, warehouse March 31 and transfer operations to a new 157,000-sq.-ft. facility in Brampton, Ontario.
``Streamlining our distribution operations...allows us to operate more efficiently, gain an immediate cost savings and is consistent with other recent moves to centralize certain functions,'' a BFC spokesman said.
The company's head office and distribution center in Mississauga, and distribution facilities in Moncton, New Brunswick, Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Langley, British Columbia, are not to be affected.
Tire Rack moves HQ, warehouse
SOUTH BEND, Ind.-Tire Rack, a leading mail order tire and wheel retailer and wholesaler, has moved its headquarters and South Bend distribution to a new facility on the north side of the city and has nearly completed shipping inventory out of its old facility.
The new facility includes a wet/dry handling circuit on the premises. The company declined to comment on the facility's size or cost.
Tire Rack began moving into the new facility in September 2001. Besides South Bend, Tire Rack operates distribution centers in Reno, Nev., Newark, Del., and-since spring 2001-Shreveport, La. It claims to have more than 1,500 recommended installers throughout the U.S. which handle installation and other related services.
Goodyear sells chemical business
AKRON-Goodyear has sold its specialty chemical business to Littlejohn & Co. L.L.C., a private equity firm.
The business, which includes facilities in Le Havre and Orsay, France, and Akron, generated $120 million in sales in 2000. Financial details were not disclosed.
The sale reflects Goodyear's strategy to divest non-core assets.
TANA issues resource manual
RESTON, Va.-The Tire Association of North America, along with SESCO Management Consultants, has released a human resources manual for tire industry businesses.
The manual is designed to provide human resource solutions to small- to medium-sized tire businesses.
It covers aspects of human resources management in the workplace, including rules related to such items as the Fair Labor Standards Act, Equal Opportunity Employment legislation and Americans With Disabilities Act, among others.
The manual costs $50 for TANA members, $75 for non-members.