”Now, one man can do the job alone”
With the investment in a truck with a crane-mounted Gripper, a new business service area in KM Däckservice went from struggling to profitable!
KM Däckservice and KM-RRR, Northern Sweden and Finland
Sitting in the truck with 2 of his employees, returning from a 300 km trip to replace a set of EM tyres for a customer, Jarmo Maunu evaluated the tour and the costs. At that time, the installation of the EM and OTR tyres were mostly done just to get the order for the tyres. And the installations were, at best, only marginally profitable.
Jarmo and his brother Kari’s businesses, KM Däckservice and KM-RRR, operate in respectively, Northern Sweden and Finland. The combined turnover is more than 55 million Euro mainly from tyres distribution. However, a new business service area like on-site tyre service and installation, along with new business-related technology, are still implemented hands-on by themselves.
For the new tyre service business to be profitable, and to allow for expansion in both Sweden and Finland, Jarmo realised, they needed a technology upgrade to reduce the number of hours used per installation.
Better control using the Three-Point Grip
“Upon searching, I was surprised to meet producers in the market without basic CE approval,” Jarmo Maunu explains about his experiences, while searching the market for tyre handling tools. “So those suppliers were definitely not an option. However, it didn’t really make a difference.” He further explains, "We ended up choosing the 'Three-Point Grip’ from Just Easy Tools for our employees, which was the safest and best option.”
The Three-Point Grip ensures both a much safer grip holding the tyre firmly in place, and as the pressure is distributed around the tyre, it is not deformed, which makes removing or mounting the tyre on the rim easier and provides less strain on the tyre.
The unique Ring Handling Tool is another exclusive feature only available with the Three-Point Grip from Just Easy Tools, making it possible to handle both side rings and bead seat bands instead of having to do it manually.
A profitable setup
“On the installation job where I got this idea, we could have saved 18 man-hours,” Jarmo explains.
Being able to now profitably install and deliver tyres more than 250 km from their headquarters, with only one man in the truck, opens up a new market for their Swedish company, KM Däckservice.
“Customers in villages like Vuollerim had to travel 110 km to the nearest facility able to replace, e.g. 25” tyres – so this is truly a win-win”.
Just imagine: “What took two men 8 hours can be done with one man in just 4 hours”
With lower costs and shorter production stop for the customers, we now have a much better chance of winning the orders!” Jarmo concludes.
The CEO of Just Easy Tools, Lars Jørgensen, is pleased to learn how their new Gripper can both improve safety and help create new business opportunities. “KM Däckservice has really shown how to roll out new technology and we will be thrilled to work with them in the coming years, and also learn from the 60 years of experience Jarmo and Kari have in these Northern hemisphere markets.”