Golden Tire Iron contest shows appreciation for techs

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TPMS Cadillac XT5 – 2022

Competition Recognizes

‘BACKBONE’ OF BELLE TIRE’S BUSINESS

By

Maddie Gehring

How fast do you think it would take your best tire technicians to change a set of four tires?

Allen Park, Mich.-based Belle Tire Distributors Ltd. knows the answer to that question thanks to its recent employee appreciation effort — the Golden Tire Iron competition.

This was the second year Belle Tire held the event for all of its locations.

The competition was created in 2022 during the company’s 100th anniversary year, according to Jan Simonsen, Belle Tire’s vice president of retail operations.

“For a while we’ve been trying to figure out how to recognize the hardest working men and women and the backbone of our business, which are our tire technicians,” says Simonsen.

A team member at Belle Tire had previously worked at a company that held a similar competition for its employees and he had been pushing to bring something similar to Belle.

“We thought, ‘What a better time to do it than our 100th anniversary?’”

‘MARCH MADNESS FOR TECHS’

“The competition is essentially March Madness for tire techs,” explains Simonsen.

Simonsen’s Belle Tire territory covers Michigan, Ohio and South Bend, Ind. His counterpart, John Szeliga, has the rest of Belle Tire’s Indiana territory, as well the Chicago, Ill., market.

Each location in those districts competes until Simonsen comes out with eight teams and Szeliga with six, based on territory and locations.

The semi-finals take place within those regions — the eight compete against each other and six against each other — until one team emerges from Simonsen’s side and one team emerges from Szeliga’s side. Then it’s onto the finals.

Each team is made up of two tire technicians. They are timed to see how fast they can change a set of four tires.

“Normal safety and shop rules still apply during the competition, but we do control some variables,” says Simonson. “For example, they all work on the same car with the same tires.”

WHY HOLD A CONTEST?

The whole point behind the competition, according to Simonsen, is to recognize team members and not “overlook the tough jobs.

“It’s a fun way to build camaraderie within the company and to show these men and women we see them and appreciate their hard work.”

It also generates excitement and healthy competition.

“Last year, when we announced we were doing this, I visited my stores and that is all my techs were talking about,” laughs Simonsen.

“They were already practicing and talking smack to one another. It created a fun, exciting energy in the store.”

The techs also win prizes if they advance into the bracket. There are 14 semi-finalists and each person receives $100 for making it to the semi-finals.

Members of the runner-up team get $500 a piece and the winning team gets $1,000 each and a trophy.

The competition concluded right before Belle Tires’ national sales meeting in January. The winners of Belle Tire’s “Super Bowl” were invited to the event, where they received awards during a special ceremony.

“I can tell you, the winners said bragging rights and the $1,000 were nice.

“But thing they appreciated the most was getting to go to the event and being publicly recognized there,” says Simonsen.

So who took home the $1,000 grand prize? A male-female team, Matt and Nina.

They clocked in at eight minutes and 48 seconds — a half-second faster than their competition. (Editor’s note:

Belle Tire declined to provide their last names.)

Simonsen says that as long as he is around, Belle Tire is going to continue to “evolve and grow” the competition.

Building a bench of technicians

Black’s Tire Service deploys comprehensive effort

Inspiring and engaging technicians on the job is one thing. But tire dealers know it’s another herculean task altogether to find, recruit and entice technicians to walk in the door and join the team in the first place.

Black’s Tire Service Inc. is expanding its efforts once again. The tire dealership and its owners, members of the Benton family, have recently established a scholarship for high school students enrolled in automotive technology programs at each of the four high schools in Columbus County, N.C.— West Columbus High School, East Columbus High School, South Columbus High School and Whiteville High School.

Starting in the fall of the 2023-2024 school year, students who plan to continue their automotive technology education at Southeastern Community College will be eligible for a $2,500 scholarship. “This is our future and there is so much opportunity in the tire and automotive industry,” says Rick Benton, vice president of sales and marketing for Black’s Tire Service. “We look forward to growing together with the leaders of tomorrow.”

It’s the college’s first automotive scholarship. And yet it’s just one piece of the puzzle as Black’s Tire Service works to fill its bench with qualified technicians. A year ago, the company started a youth apprenticeship program to train high school students in North and South

Carolina. They recruit from both automotive and agriculture mechanical trade programs and provide entry-level, on-thejob, paid training. Students also earn school credit, as well as a state-approved certificate.

They also have the opportunity to move on from high school to a full apprenticeship program recognized by both the state of North Carolina and the state of South Carolina.

Gary Collier, a former high school trade educator, is leading the tire dealership’s training program and says one unexpected benefit of having the students at work in service bays alongside the business’ full-time staff has been the energy and enthusiasm those students have brought to the workplace.

“Team members are pouring into the young folks…ready to help them any way they can,” says Collier.

And this is only the beginning, he says. The company’s short-term vision — in the next three to five years — is “producing upward of 150 general service technicians a year. We have five to six now and getting that scaled up company wide is the next step.”

If that sounds like a dream, Collier advises dealers not to get overwhelmed or discouraged before they give their own program a try.

“I would encourage businesses just to start – start the conversation. There are resources available to help develop what you need.”