SR Industries (M) Sdn Bhd, part of the Stamford Tyres Group, was established in 2005 to provide more options to fleet customers through its truck radial tyre offerings and services.

With Liong Chun Hong joining the team as Commercial Tyre Manager about 10 months ago, the company can now move more aggressively into the sector. He has 20 years of experience working with multinational companies of major truck tyre brands, so he has a deep understanding of the market and industry. This allows him to define and deliver the company’s sales and marketing strategies for their truck tyres, plus related support and services.

“My immediate focus will be restructuring the company’s end-user business, meaning fleet customers. We will be putting our efforts into further developing our fleet customer base. This is important for us as it allows us to communicate directly with the end-users and to understand their daily operations and requirements. The data that we collect will enable us to develop products with particular features that best address their needs. To do that, we have come out with a promotional campaign to attract new fleet companies to try our products,” Liong said.

This promotion, he explained, is only available for new fleet customers at their truck centre. It applies to Falken RI151 and B1852, Firenza SSR05A and SSD08 truck tyres for the 295/80R22.5 size. “These tyres are very popular amongst our existing fleet customers and with innovation and technology gained from more than 100 years of tyre engineering experience, Falken delivers unyielding standards of quality, durability and performance. Whereas, the Firenza is Stamford Tyres‘ proprietary brand, originated from the need to provide a quality yet affordable driving experience to value-seeking fleet customers.”

The two truck tyres from Falken, he points out cater for the premium market segment. Featuring a wide tread surface, the all position Falken RI151 offers a stable drive to boost  driver confidence. Its innovative tread compound adds high mileage capability to minimise tyre maintenance, while its wide outside shoulder ribs has been designed to help prevent irregular wear. The Falken BI852 is a drive-axle tyre with an extra wide tread design that allows for the distribution of vehicle weight over a wider surface, which results in increased tyre stability and longevity. With specially-angled grooves that combat stone drilling by narrowing the groove at the base of the tread, this prevents debris from being retained in the tyre. Furthermore, long mileage and excellent traction, coupled with resistance to irregular wear, are achieved as a result of its aggressive block design.

Firenza brand relaunched to better serve fleet customers

Meanwhile, he said, the Firenza SSR05A truck tyre is suitable for steering and trailer applications.  With a wider tread, flat profile and well-balanced land/sea ratio, the tyre offers good mileage and stable handling. Its solid shoulder construction with zero angle steel band ply protects irregular wear on the shoulder area. Additionally, it has a special tread groove that resists stone retention in the groove.

Last but not least is the Firenza SSD08 truck tyre that was designed and built for the driving position. He claimed that the SSD08’s wide tread design and the utilised hardened tread compound promotes increased mileage. Similar to SSR05A, the tyre also features solid shoulder construction with zero angle steel band ply that protects irregular wear on the shoulder area. Its unique tread design contributes to excellent traction in both dry and wet conditions. 

“All these are heavy-duty truck tyres designed for regional and long-haul operations are suitable for highways with good loading capability and minimal off-road usage. Therefore, logistics fleet companies are our main target. The overall performance, quality and mileage of the two Firenza truck tyre patterns that we mentioned earlier are comparable with the major brands. In fact, we have recently ‘re-launched’ the Firenza brand after 2 years of suspension to announce that the tyres are now manufactured by new state-of-the-art production facilities with notable improved overall tyre performance.”

Liong added that they spent 2 years designing and developing the new range of Firenza truck tyres.  “The tagline of Firenza truck & bus radial (TBR) tyre – ‘The New Revolution’ best describes the products that we sell and our aim. We have been selling the Firenza truck tyres for about half a year now, and the market response has been very encouraging. Fuelled by our promotion campaign, we have successfully attracted about 20 new fleet companies. It is even encouraging that 95 per cent of the new customers have repeated their Falken or Firenza brand of truck tyre’s orders with us.”

Apart from tyres, Liong also managed to set up a more complete and secure 24-hour breakdown assistance for the company. “We are now able to cover our fleet customers that travelling via the North-South Highway, providing them with peace of mind every time they get on the road.”

He revealed that the company is moving towards becoming a one-stop solution provider.  Technical support and training are both provided by the company’s sales team for their respective fleet customer. Big group proper tyre care and maintenance, as well as other related training activities can also be arranged on request. In line with the company’s direction, there are also other plans in the pipeline, which he said will be announced at a later time.