Mining and Earthmover Series - OTR 101 feat. Mine Man Mark

In this exciting second episode of Around the Bead, Joseph and Big John dive deep into the latest changes and innovations shaking the tire industry. From market consolidation to technological advancements, they discuss the issues most people in the industry aren't talking about—yet should be. From bankruptcies and plant closures to the evolution of tire tech in sectors like agriculture and mining, this episode is packed with crucial insights. Tune in to hear expert opinions, debates, and forward-thinking solutions for tackling industry challenges.

🔧 Topics Covered:
- ATD Bankruptcy — What does the largest wholesaler’s collapse mean for the tire distribution landscape?
- Tech Innovations — Are the tire industry’s innovations keeping pace with market needs?
- The Great Debate — Tracks vs. LSW vs. VF tires: Which is best for the industry?
- Equipment and Safety — The tools and training tire technicians need to succeed
- The Tire Supply Chain — How tariffs, imports, and distribution changes are shaping the future
- Tire Tech in Agriculture — Advancements in tire performance and efficiency for farming
- Mining and Earthmover Tire Trends — How OTR (Off-The-Road) tires are evolving for massive equipment
- Service Tech Stories — Insights into the realities and safety challenges for tire service technicians

Show Notes:

Episode: Mining and Earthmover Series - OTR 101 feat. Mine Man Mark
Host: Joseph and John
Runtime: 25.5 minutes
Summary: Joseph and Big John bring a wealth of experience to this episode as they tackle some of the biggest shifts happening in the tire industry today. They discuss the fall of American Tire Distributors (ATD), which is sending shockwaves through the market, and the exit of Goodyear and Continental from key sectors.

The duo also explore key innovations that are shaping the industry—like advancements in tire technology for commercial trucking, agriculture, and mining. They highlight the need for more specialized solutions to meet the ever-changing demands of the industry.

The conversation also delves into the challenges of proper tire application and the importance of service technician training, especially when it comes to safety. Joseph and Big John highlight how the tire industry’s labor force needs more attention, and they advocate for higher standards in training and safety procedures.

They close the episode with a nod to the international tire scene and the rise of European innovations, promising more global perspectives in future episodes.

What You'll Learn:
- The impact of ATD's bankruptcy — What this means for tire distribution and manufacturers across the globe
- Technological strides in tire performance — Why recent innovations like 250,000-mile steer tires and earthmover advancements matter
- Debating tire technologies — Track vs. LSW vs. VF tires, and why each serves a unique need
- The evolution of tire service tools — From traditional methods to high-tech advancements in service trucks and equipment
- How safety is improving in tire service — Why proper training, tools, and safety procedures are critical
- The tire industry’s global perspective — How innovation in Europe is influencing tire applications worldwide
- The role of tariffs — What impact they’re having on tier 1 vs. tier 2 tire manufacturers and how to prepare for the future

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Transcript (Excerpt)

00:01 - 0-:32

[Music] Around the bead podcast, tire talk for trucking, mining, agriculture, and more. Your home for fleet solutions. Aiming to inform, pioneer, and entertain the tire world in connected industries. Sponsored by East Bay Tire, keeping essential industries moving forward. Welcome to Around the Bead.

00:33 - 1:18

There's there's reasons why we're here. I mean that's what we gotta tell the listeners today is what is the show about? What are we trying to investigate? What are we trying to bring to them? Exactly, you know, you and I, as you said, go back a long ways we've had a lot of luxuries of traveling globally together and networking with a lot of different people. And having these table talks, you know, regarding tires, unfortunately our industry, 80% of them never had these opportunities, and this is what I think and, and your ideas is is really gonna bring to the table.

1:39 - 1:57

That's exciting. Let's bring the dialogue to the industry, absolutely. So, I first want to start with probably what's talked about most in trucks. I say in trucks, guys like you and I go to customers, go into our teams, talking tires, and that is the news. Yeah.

1:57 - 2:45

So, I looked at the last 12 months, and here are a few highlights that I just don't feel have enough dialogue, have enough opinion, or really enough information to the general public. ATD, the largest wholesaler in the world, files bankruptcy. Layoffs at multiple domestic plants, closures in Europe and in the United States. The numbers that I've, that's being published out there, I haven't verified them. Chat GPT has. 88,000 freight carriers closed or bankrupt in the last 12 months. Goodyear exits the Earthmover business. Continental exits the ag business.

2:45 - 3:23

Yeah, you know, looking back, would we have ever thought Goodyear would have sold their OTR division? The largest, you know, margin segment they they built. I have an opinion on it and I can't wait to talk about it. So, another component that I think we need to bring to the table is tech. And so one of our team members came to me this past week and said, Joe. I was asked what was the last innovation in the tire industry? And The answer was he wasn't really asking me, he was giving an example which is.

3:23 - 4:10

It's been a long time, so he's in the material handling industry. His answer was it was the 3 stage solid, the cushion solid, the solid pneumatic that we commonly see on forklifts today. Now I think there's been a lot of innovations. We've seen steer tires, line haul tires exceed 250,000 miles. We've seen earthmover equipment get dramatically larger and the performance of those tires on those machines outpace anything we've seen historically. And I think there's been gains in tire pressure. But the argument needs to be made is how much is the industry innovating and more so what are the solutions that transportation, equipment, construction, mining ad companies truly need.

4:10 - 4:13

Yeah.

4:13 - 4:35

So, one that's close to my heart is A, LSWs, VF tires, tracks, which ones are best? Those are some of the debates that we can see on this show. I'd love to have 5 chairs in this room and have people from each segment talk about why their niche exists.

4:35 - 4:51

I'd love to be that guy stirring the pot because it's, it's a, it's a great debate to have and I think we're on the same page on that. I mean, just sitting down and talking tracks versus LSW versus, you know, VF tires and, you know, pros and cons. I mean, that's an exciting conversation can't wait to have it.

4:51 - 5:05

I'll start with my position is they all exist for a reason. No one can say they're they don't have their own market share. They're all confidently have their position on equipment for some reason or another.

5:05 - 5:07

Agreed.

5:07 - 5:38

Well, we like to consider ourselves relatively humble, at least 1 or 2 days a year we have a host of experts that are gonna come in mining experts, ag experts, material handling experts, those that can give us opinions on what solutions are happening for each industry, how tires can focus on application to bring solutions and really change the way a lot of our end users view tires as a component of their business.

5:38 - 5:59

It's exciting stuff, you know, equally exciting is how much of the tire industry actually focuses on proper application. We, we talk about it too much and even I miss it, right? You get focused on what the product is. Customer comes in, says, hey, I want this, and you say yes.

5:59 - 6:00

Absolutely.

6:00 - 6:04

Industry problem for many, many years. It has been certainly has been.

6:04 - 6:14

Now you've been, I, I would love to get into some history with you today for the viewers, but we've both been tire techs. We can't do this show without talking about equipment.

6:14 - 6:52

No, we gotta talk about equipment, tools, safety, I, I, I would love at some point to have a service tech or two in here really talking about how the industry's changed for them and their viewpoint of the industry. So we do have that lined up, not giving away all the surprises, but we definitely do have that lined up. hat equipment do these guys need? What equipment has changed over the years? Heck, I remember when the golden bar was a thing, the golden bar. Where is it today? I mean, you travel, you see it. It was supposed to be the end all be all. I don't see it a whole lot out there. Just goes to show things change.

6:52 - 6:56

Looks good sitting in the corner though.

6:56 - 7:18

It does. trucks are certainly a component that I definitely want to talk about. You don't have a lot of options when it comes to truck manufacturers, but as far as different types, different size cranes, different fitments, the evolution of the hand as it comes to the mining industry.

7:18 - 7:40

There's some great conversations there absolutely you know and I think one of the things that we we again we lose sight of in the entire industry is is proper training these tools are are manufactured to help the job get done easier and safer and the bottom line is the majority of the techs are never trained properly on how to have the tools work for them and and and less physical on their bodies.

7:40 - 8:05

Let me ask you this we don't have this data maybe someone does out there. Of the tire technicians, commercial technicians, guys who are mounting truck tires, ag tires, mining tires, how many do you think percentage wise get what you would deem adequate training in their first year of service? Industrywide, industry wide. United States only.

8:05 - 8:14

I, I, I'd be surprised if it's 10%. 10% I'd be surprised, proper training in their 1st 12 months.

8:14 - 8:15

That's shocking.

8:15 - 9:12

I, I, I think it's a little bit higher if you include the written portion of the TIA, right? Watching a video, but I don't think that's adequate. No, I, I don't think it's adequate at all. I mean how many guys are really sitting there at that computer or or TV screen and soaking up that knowledge? We, we play it for them once before they can sign off on it. And then we put them to work or we we team them up with another tech there really isn't any proper, in my opinion, proper, you know, progression throughout the training program in the first year or are there check checklist? Can he, can the tech show that he could perform every job duty without help, efficiently using the tools properly? So you mentioned safety and I'm gonna, I'm gonna take that topic and bring it straight into that. it's, I would say it's, it's not discussed enough, right?

9:12 - 9:49

And we can say from a a virtuous standpoint that we want safe environments we want to focus on safety, but actually doing it is a different thing. How much do you think technicians are talking about safety? Not enough. I, I think, I, I am happy to say that I, I do believe it's, over the last couple of years I've seen a dramatic improvement from the viewpoint of the service tech. it's a two way street, you know, it's, it's, it's the responsibility of the, the company and it's also a responsibility of the service tech, and it's been a problem on both sides.

9:49 - 10:10

There's still a tremendous amount of service techs, as one of my favorite trainers calls them bobs. that, don't work safe. They might Bob's where Bob's come from? I, I don't know, but it's, it's hilarious, you know, it's, it's the old school guy who's gonna do it his way. He's gonna do it faster, and unfortunately Bob is training most of our service techs.

10:10 - 11:00

I see. So, it's just a little nickname they come up with.We, we get a little laugh out of it. Bob learned how to do it on his own. Bob has it the best way. Bob's telling everybody homemade tools. Absolutely. I get it. Yeah, and Bob don't listen to nobody. So it's, it's something that I think, like I said, I'm happy to say that I, I see,, a transgression in our service tax, you know, industrywide that are really, you know, you look on social media and they all have their groups now and, and they're and they're, they're challenging each other on safety. Hey, that's not jacked up, that's not blocked correctly. Why are you using that tool? This is how you're doing it. I see text going on social media asking for advice how to do this better and, and that's encouraging that I think that means we're heading in the right direction, OK.

11:00 - 11:26

That is encouraging. I, I, I am a little bit more, I would say pessimistic about it just because I know that there are things that have happened in the industry. There have been deaths at mine sites, severe injuries, and they're often not not discussed and not disclosed. so how are we gonna get better if those things aren't being shown to the rest of the industry, hey, this is what happened. And this is how you can avoid it.

11:26 - 12:00

You're absolutely right, you know, outside of mining where it's, you know, required, I mean, MSA, you know, rules and regulations. I mean they have no choice but to report it and document it, you know, for the public to see it. It's not talked about. I learned about most of the major accidents or deaths in our industry from Facebook on the tire tech, pages because they're talking about it, we, we've got to get to a point in our industry where we're talking about it openly. And we're also saying, hey, how could this have been avoided? What can we do better to prevent the next one? And we're not doing enough of that.

12:00 - 12:24

So for our, our viewers who may not know what is MSA MSAw is mine Safety Health Association, OK. And they're the, the OSHA, the occupational hazard of the mining. Yeah, I, I call it the OSA on steroids. You know, you don't, you don't want to cross paths with Mshaw if you don't have your, your I's, dotted and your T's crossed for sure. Fair enough. Yes.

12:24 - 12:56

So, that is a nice segue into your history and the tire business. I know you've been in retail, you've been in sales, you've been in management, you've been in tech. when was the first MSHA certification for you? My first MSA certification was back when I was selling wholesale and, had a commercial dealer who wasn't well versed in OTR tires and asked me to go on a mine site and help them sell some tires. So that was. That was at the peak of OTR when there was all the shortages.

12:56 - 13:33

So it had to be around 2005, 2006. It was my first MShell certification. And when you look back at all those different roles, excluding the one that you're in today, what's one that you remember the most fondly? Probably wholesale sales, you know, it's, it's probably, you know, you know, I think about this often and I really think my passions as, you know, being 30 years in the industry now, has changed over the years, wholesales where I really felt like that this is.

13:33 - 13:53

I'm at my best and, and, and probably got a little bit of a chip on my shoulder and a little bit more of an ego than I probably deserved, but thought that it was me against everyone and no one could catch me. And, that's that's, yeah, yeah. You know, my, my favorite term, you know, be relentless and I, I lived it every day and that's probably where I found my passion.

13:53 - 14:33

So, a question we're going to ask all our guests is what's your BDE? What's your big dog energy? What was the moment that you felt this was the industry I want to be in? Because the industry doesn't, isn't something that people wake up as a kid and say, hey, I want to be in the tire industry. It kind of calls to you. So what was that moment for you? You know, it's funny, it's. It took me a few years, you know, when I first started in the industry, it was meant to be a summer gig and, go help my brother-in-law out, sell some tires at a retail shop and 3 months into it, I'm, I'm running the shop, you know, he left and I put my hand up.

14:33 - 14:56

I could do this thing, man. I could manage it and the owner gave me a shot and 6 years later I was, interviewing with somebody else and been there for 25 years and, so it's, I started in the retail and, and I, I don't know if I ever really. Loved the tire industry per se. I loved the selling. I love the interaction I loved the learning aspect.

14:56 - 15:16

It was always a challenge to me, you know, how much can I learn how much can I memorize, so that was, that was exciting, then going to work in the commercial business where it was really I had to learn a whole the industry all over again because it retail's retail, commercial and and a commercial, you know, entity that did everything and.

15:16 - 15:57

So it was it was a learning experience. It was it was a lot of fun but I, I would say my first, you know, big dog energy moment was was walking that wholesale office and and looking around a room of veterans that have done it at the highest level for many years and a couple weeks into it going, I think I have the recipe to kick all their asses. And it was game on from there and that was probably my first big dog energy moment and as I've grown I would say now today it's making the people around me better. That's that's what drives me so that's that's what I thrive, thrive to do best. That's awesome.

15:57 - 15:58

Yeah, I love that.

15:58 - 16:36

Well, we do have a few other topics that we plan to bring to these listeners, with a host of guests just like yourself, one of which is we have a few international guests to bring on the show, and I think as we look at ourselves in a silo and go, hey, what are we doing as an industry? It's time that we look at other places. So we have some folks from across the pond who are gonna come onto the show and tell us how they do business, how they do service. And really how they bring value to fleets, which is something that I don't ever want us to skip on this show.

16:36 - 16:53

What are tires? What are the tire industry and the people within it doing for trucking companies to help improve their operation? What are we doing for mining companies to help them improve their safety and their cost per hour? So we've got some great guests lined up in that regard.

16:53 - 16:54

Oh yeah, that's exciting.

16:54 - 17:26

I, I remember our first trip to Europe. And we were sitting down with some friends and it it was a different level they they took the industry seriously it was more professional some of the most passionate. Guys I've ever met at at all levels from service tax to the sales to the ownership about the tire industry they knew everything they needed to know about the tire their customer was running if we're if we're honest with ourselves, competition has helped us get better.

17:26 - 17:51

Yes, we're gonna talk about dealers, we're gonna talk about distributors, and we're gonna talk about manufacturers. And we can say that certain things were better or worse 40 years ago, but at the end of the day, competition has made every aspect of the tire supply chain better to ultimately bring a better product and a better service to all industries.

17:51 - 17:59

OK, John, we're getting close on our time. What else do you think we should be talking about on this show? What should we bring in to our listeners?

17:59 - 18:30

You know, we, we talked a little bit about safety. I think that's key. I, I, you know, I always have some compassion from my background of being a service tech and and I know you had that same, same path, So I'm always intrigued to hear from our service techs in our industry on you know what do what do they struggle with? How how do they see the tire industry versus sales people see it versus ownership or management sees it, so I, I think that that could be some exciting exciting, segments really look forward to that.

18:30 - 19:22

I'm really intrigued with AI. Does that have a place in the tire industry at some point, you know, what, what kind of impact could it have? I, I think it's coming, it's already here. We can't stop it, might as well embrace it, which is, which is a scary thought, I, you know. I, I look at it and I go, I would love to hear again that you brought this up is, you know, what's, what are the tools and and future of service trucks? How can they help us get the job done earlier, better, better, more efficient, more efficient and safer for,, I think we can arrange it where we've got, some newer technicians and we've got some more veteran technicians. I think having that side by side comparison on how they view the industry.

19:22 - 19:48

How they view their health and performing that physical activity day in and day out, and I, and I'll say this, we can't have this show without talking about best in class tires. Best in class. That's right. Every year, what's the best line haul tire? What's the best, 988 tire in this application? If we're not talking about how these things are performing, I don't think we're doing our jobs.

19:48 - 20:11

You know, it's, it's, it's exciting for me to have them conversations because everyone has an opinion and everyone is passionate about what's the best hire. I mean, I know it probably can't happen, but it would be fun as hell to have a continental engineer, a Bridgestone engineer and a Michelin engineer debating it. That that would be great, but, we'll settle for what we could get.

20:11 - 20:40

It's gonna be exciting either way. In in the world of data, and we have so much of that now. We have hours, we have fuel efficiency. You look back and some, some of the ways that we picked what was the best tire was what we felt like. Right? Oh yeah, this one runs flat, right? Nice and nice and even. we like the way it looks, we like its design. We didn't have performance metrics like we do today.

20:40 - 21:22

So I'll finish with this question is name a tire that was nostalgic, that is not made anymore that was one of your favorites either to sell or service. I, I'll give you two because they go together, I would say the Goodyear G159 and the 167A. we sold them, they ran, the customers loved them and Goodyear just up and discontinued them and, and for years we had customers requested them, You know, looking back, was it, was it a good tire? I couldn't tell you that, but you know, I, I think it's, you hit on something a little, a little that kind of tickled me a little bit when we're talking about, we just put what we, we think is the best.

21:22 - 21:54

How many times we've been into a customer's yard and they said I want a Michelin XZY3 because that's what I ran for 20 years and I don't care what you have and a sales guy just don't even have the argument they just put it on, knowing that it's not the right tire for their fleet, yeah. happens a little too much, but, I remember both of those tires well. It, you look at the, the big domestic producers when there was a tire that was discontinued, people would, if there's podcasts back then, they would have been talking about it for hours.

21:54 - 22:14

The G177, the 159 people almost didn't know what to do when they discontinued the tire, yeah. All right, John, we're coming up at the end of our timeline for our inaugural podcast. Is there anything else you'd like to finish with? No, I, I think it's, it's exciting. I appreciate you having me here. it's been fun.

22:14 - 22:53

I can't wait to see what else, we bring to the table. I'm really looking forward to the OTR segments and, probably because it's more dear to my heart, probably the ag segments, you know, the ag is probably, in my opinion, maybe one of the most technically. There's so many different variations in tires. I mean, and when we look at, you mentioned it earlier, you know, what's, what's been, what's the innovations, and I think probably in ag, it's you got tires that will run at 7 PSI now. I mean some of the technology in the ag side of it, the LSWs is, is, is pretty impressive and I don't think it's talked about enough, outside of manufacturers.

22:53 - 23:24

I'm really excited to hear that segment on the ag tires. Yeah, it's, it's definitely gonna be a series with all of them we're not gonna be able to cover them in one segment, but, obviously near and dear to my heart, it's one of our longest industries if you think about it we farmed before we mined we farmed before we had transport, and, it's really the smallest segment for most dealers, most distributors, and most manufacturers. Yeah, you know, you know, another good topic to have Joseph is.

23:24 - 23:56

What's the future of tier one tires? I tier one tire almost over outside of large fleet national account business? Is tier two the new tier one? So we will, we'll tease the audience a little bit with this. The data that came out from tire business that is relatively available, USTMA data import data shows that 2024 had roughly 29 million truck tires and truck tires are the easiest thing to measure for a variety of different reasons.

23:56 - 24:40

19 million, and this is the replacement market only, excuse me, 19 million of the 28 million were import. And so the question is, is we're sitting in a time and this is again not being discussed. I'm not hearing a lot of opinions on it this will be in the chat for the audience to go hey this is how I feel about it, but we are recording this advance of when it's gonna be published right during the midst of tariffs, OK? So what do tears and manufacturers, what's their future? Right? How are they going to solve problems within different segments? And then are tariffs really going to impact them?

24:40 - 24:52

They haven't for the last 3 years and you might be able to argue they've impacted them negatively towards tier one.but those are questions that I look forward to discussing. I look forward to hearing it.

24:52 - 25:04

OK, John, I think that's a wrap. Let's air this one up. All right, sounds good. Can't wait. Thank you, sir. Thanks.

25:04 - 25:30

Around the Beat podcast, tire talk for trucking, mining. Agriculture and more your home for fleet solutions aiming to inform, pioneer and entertain the tire world and connected industries sponsored by East Bay Tire keeping essential industries moving forward.

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