Continental has brought together its range of tires services for the fleet sector under the banner of Conti360° Solutions. This reorganization shines an even brighter spotlight on the future-focused themes of digitalization and sustainability. With this measure, the company is responding to changing customer requirements in a market shaped by increasing digitalization, data-driven management and cost pressure. The strategic pooling of tire services will also help the haulage industry to successfully address the growing need for sustainability in the logistics sector. It is all part of the Vision 2030 strategic program presented by Continental in December 2020. The company is using increasingly data-driven services as part of its focus on predictive maintenance – a key element in Logistics 4.0.
Focusing on sustainability and digitalization
Continental is systematically pushing ahead with its evolution from tire manufacturer and service provider into integrated solution provider. Fleet solutions will in the future be offered as an overall package: The Conti360° Solutions contracts comprise both digital solutions such as ContiConnect and ContiPressureCheck, and ContiLifeCycle – including the ContiRe and ContiTread retreading products and casing management. “By focusing more strongly on the ContiLifeCycle concept in our Conti360° Solutions contracts, we are aiming to shift the emphasis to greater sustainability in the fleet business. Conti360° Solutions makes us the go-to partner for sustainability in the fleet sector” says Ralf Benack, Head of Fleet Business EMEA. New visuals and a fresh logo will help to draw customer attention to the reorganization.
The road to integrated solution provider
The Conti360° business area can look back on over 40 years of experience in fleet service. A Europe-wide tire breakdown service set the ball rolling in 1978. In the meantime, Conti360° Solutions has become established as a reliable partner specializing in full-line tire management. It offers its customers in more than 25 countries security in terms of cost planning and provides them with expert service through a network of over 7,000 service partners.
“Our customers include a large number of leading international fleets who have placed their trust in Continental’s fleet solutions for many years – and that trust has been rewarded,” adds Benack. This latest reorganization brings together services and products in an even more cohesive package. “What we’re doing is leveraging the synergies generated by our close collaboration with our colleagues on the automotive side, and continually feeding the resultant know-how into our portfolio.” As a result, Continental can offer the haulage sector a professional solution that enables efficient fleet management with an emphasis on sustainability – through the use of fuel-saving tires, resource-conserving retreads and digital tire monitoring.
Mission 2050: 100 percent sustainably produced materials
Continental already offers many fleet customers mileage-based contracts and a wide range of tire services under the Conti360° Solutions banner. And then there are the company’s intelligent tires, which use sensors and software to constantly monitor its condition. Working with selected fleet customers, Continental has already highlighted the added value for customers generated by connectivity between tires, sensors, telemetry data, algorithms and the cloud. “This produces smart, digital solutions which help ensure that tire maintenance and replacement can in the future be carried out exactly when necessary,” explains Benack. “This allows customers to significantly increase the safety levels and productivity of their fleets, while at the same time cutting costs.”
Continental is pursuing a systematic program of investment in the research and development of new technologies, alternative materials and environmentally compatible production processes. “Our aim is to offer our customers a ‘tire of the future’ that is more energy efficient and kinder to the environment across production, the usage cycle and retreading,” adds Benack. “We are looking to gradually move to 100 percent sustainably produced materials in tire production by 2050.”
Heading for service-based solutions
As well as being a supplier of premium tires, Continental also acts as a professional partner for its customers in the fleet sector, in particular, jointly developing important solutions for future challenges. By 2030, as one of the world’s largest suppliers of electronics, sensors and software in the mobility sector, the company is aiming to become the market leader in service-based digital solutions. Incorporating digital tire monitoring solutions into Conti360° Solutions contracts represents the logical next step when it comes to helping customers in the haulage industry continue their journey to greater digitalization.
“With the ongoing development of our sensor technology, the expansion of our electronics and software portfolio and the constant improvement of our digital services, we are building strong foundations for our Conti360° Solutions service portfolio of the future,” concludes Benack.