May 2012: Bridgestone Agenda At INTERMAT 2012

Bridgestone European branch participated, as many of us already foresaw, at the last edition of the INTERMAT international fair, presenting numerous products alongside a couple of future releases.

The INTERMAT fair is an international exhibition for construction materials, techniques and machinery held every three year in Paris. The 2012 exhibition took place between the 16th – the 21st of April. It is one of world’s top events in the domain where leading companies participate and present to the public their latest releases as well as their most representative products.

The fair is divided in two sectors: the construction works sector and the public works sector. The exhibition is quite grand as it has over 355000m 2 exhibition space and an additional 10000m2 of demonstration space where companies can display their products in functioning conditions.

At this edition of the INTERMAT, the Japanese company focused to present to the public mainly large tyres. Among the products shown at the fair there were the: V-Steel Super Deep Traction (VSDT), the V-Steel L-Traction S (VLTS), V-Steel J-Traction (VJT),V-Steel Snow Wedge (VSW), V-Steel Rock Fast (VRF) and V-Steel Container Handler Rib (VCHR).

The VJT tyre line was present with two new additions that will soon be accommodating industrial vehicles, additions that are in fact two new sizes, the 17.5R25 and the 29.5R25.

The VRF line was represented by currently the biggest off-road radial tyre in the world, a 59/80R63 equipped with the VF pattern design, which weighs 5.2 tons and is 4.02m in diameter. The model is especially designed to fit larger industrial vehicles of around 400 tons which are present in such industries as coal or copper mining. In Europe, for example, they are presently used in North Sweden on dump trucks for copper mines.

The VLTS design which was also presented at the fair, were develop to accommodate dump trucks which are used on rocky and gravel surfaces that are common in quarries, construction sites or mining yards. The line will come with two new dimension line-ups, the 875/65R29 which will fit trucks of 40/50 tons.

The VSW design has been developed, as you might have guessed, for equipment operated in snow conditions like those in the Nordic countries. The company presented a new dimension to the line, the 600/65R25.

The VCHR design is a completely new product that Bridgestone tyres brought forth at this edition of INTERMAT in Paris. It is a deep-tread industrial tyre of 16.00R25 in size designed for carrier equipment and equipment used in similar conditions. The new VCHR line brings forth a design that improves tyre life and increases driver’s comfort with lower noise and lesser vibrations during driving.

Bridgestone also desires to launch its Elite Programme, the “OTR Elite”. This is a European label that Bridgestone desires to implement on European OTR dealers that specialize in tyres as a way of ensuring consumers of the Bridgestone tyre quality combined with high quality services of the dealer. This will ensure sale and after sale quality support which in turn will maximize the Bridgestone tyres performance and life.