Makers Seek to Parlay Knowledge Into Profits

ust as some trucking companies have veered from strictly asset-based work into third-party logistics services, tire manufacturers, too, are trying to earn a dollar from peddling knowledge and not just using machinery.

Tire makers and retreaders said they are supplementing their traditional revenue from factory-based industrial activity with fees from information-age consulting services as they use their expertise to instruct fleets on how to manage their stocks of tires.

Bandag Inc., for instance, well known as a re-treader of truck tires, has said it wants to move beyond retreading into comprehensive tire management for trucking fleets. The Muscatine, Iowa, company said in May that custom retreading was “no longer a business model that would continue to grow us into the future.”