Alliance Tire makes organizational changes

MUMBAI, India (Oct. 18, 2106) — Alliance Tire Group (ATG) has realigned some of its technical departments and leadership following the acquisition of ATG by Yokohama Rubber Corp. earlier this year.

The promotions include:

• Toru Nakamura as chief technical officer in charge of ATG's R&D and project management functions, as well as driving activities related to procurement, technical, production and sourcing functions;

• Vidit Jain to chief technology and R&D, responsible for product development, plant technology and field technical support globally. He also was named to ATG's management committee and will report to Mr. Nakamura;

• Dhaval Nanavati will lead ATG's independent business unit in Central and South America as president, Latin America, reporting directly to the CEO. From his base at Alliance Tire Americas' (ATA) headquarters in Wakefield, Mass., Mr. Nanavati will continue to handle aftermarket sales for some parts of North America and serve as senior vice president for ATA. He also will report to ATA President James Clark; and

• Angelo Noronha to president, APAC and MEA, a vertical structure that covers markets in Asia, Australia, New Zealand, India, the Middle East and Africa. Mr. Noronha, currently chief of aftermarket sales for Europe, will assume his new role Jan. 1.

“These changes in the technical department will help us seamlessly integrate ATG and YRC best practices to evolve as a much stronger player in R&D and new product development,” said Yogesh Mahansaria, CEO of ATG. “The changes to the regional sales verticals are aimed to strengthen our presence in the Latin American, APAC and MEA markets.”

Yokohama paid $1.18 billion this summer to buy ATG, which operates two plants in India and one in Israel and reported $529 million in sales and $95 million in operating profit in fiscal 2015.

Alliance competes in the global OTR and farm tire sectors with its Alliance, Galaxy and Primex brands.