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The TDAFA – Keeping the tyre industry on the road

The TDAFA represents more than 700 members in the tyre fitment industry throughout the country and also represents the leading tyre retreaders in South Africa. The TDAFA’s accreditation criteria and applicable legislation ensures the production of good quality and safe retreaded tyres.
The Associational AGMs were completed across all regions culminating in the National AGM in October. The TDAFA is pleased to confirm that Frans Maritz continues as National Chairperson for the next year and Morne Viviers continues as National Vice-Chairperson.
The full committee is as follows:

  • Frans Maritz – Western Cape and National Chairperson
  • Morne Viviers – OFS/NC and National Vice-Chairperson
  • Les Richardson – Northern Region (Pretoria)
  • Angie Frederic – KZN
  • Sean Jevon – Border Region (East London)
  • Robert van der Merwe -Eastern Cape (Port Elizabeth)
  • Nazim Perrin – Highveld (Johannesburg)

These are the regional Chairpersons who currently represent your best interests at all levels in the areas where the RMI/TDAFA are involved. Should you wish to contact any one of the Regional Chairpersons, please contact Hedey Judd for the specific contact details of the relevant Chairperson.
Occupational Health and Safety
The TDAFA has been instrumental in providing full service Occupational Health and Safety compliance through a negotiated service level agreement with Complete Specialised Retail Solutions (CSRS). The most important part of this service is that it is a one-stop solution to the legal requirement for compliance as per the OHS Act of 1993.
Earlier in the year the Department of Labour published a notice in which it declared that a large number of new inspectors have been deployed into the general industry. The Department of Labour has elevated the emphasis on the need to comply with the law. The need for compliance is to ensure the safest working environment for all the employees of the company.
There are certain functions of compliance that can only be performed by a registered OHS practitioner, including conducting an accurate risk assessment of the premises and certifying the bi-annual compulsory evacuation drill, which is required by the Act.
Vehicle lifts, jacks and hoists are required to be serviced every six months and then inspected every twelve months. These inspections and services are not conducted by an OHS practitioner, but rather by a qualified and certified Lifting Mechanic and then certified by a qualified and certified inspector. Fire extinguishers are also required to be serviced and inspected at specified time intervals.
While this article is not by any means intended to provide a comprehensive list of the requirements, the emphasis is on a few items, and highlights that full compliance can only be achieved with the service of qualified and certified OHS practitioners on site.
The importance of the correct torque specifications
A1 posters featuring an informative Guide to Torquing of wheel nuts and bolts are available for display and education of both customers and staff. This is the first in a series of posters aimed at meeting a number of objectives.
The posters are available from the TDAFA office in Pretoria and Cape Town free of charge (for the first one only) to TDAFA members.
The TDAFA corporate member franchisors have agreed to the display of the posters in their outlets, as part of the agreed advertising and display material.
Requests for posters can be directed to Jodaree on (031) 266 7031 or directly with Hedley Judd.
 Transformation and Incubation
The reality is that the South African business environment is forced to transform. The TDAFA recognises that this places a burden of sorts on the existing businesses currently operating. However all problems offer opportunities, especially for the early adopters.
The opportunity that has been identified by our BBBEE consulting partners revolves around the functional incubation of SMME businesses.
There are a huge number of informal tyre operators in the industry, who have no exposure to business systems, operate with limited equipment, and more often than not have no access to the new-tyre supply chain. Herein lies the biggest opportunity.
The formal dealer has the opportunity to engage with informal tyre dealers, with a view to bolstering their business into the formal sector by providing training in business skills, access to new tyres and products, and advising on equipment purchasing and maintenance.
The benefits of these types of relationships include the impact on BBBEE level scoring of the formal business, work place enterprise skills development, and increased unit volume sales of new tyres and products, either on a cash basis or a very short-term credit system. Assistance with the identification of these potential informal sector incubation partners can be facilitated through the RMI Transformation department.
 Job Grading accuracy and 2019 Wage Negotiations
It is common knowledge that the next 12 months will see the RMI negotiators hard at work on behalf of the employers to ensure an acceptable outcome from the next three-year wage and main agreement review. During the early stages of 2019 there will be a call on members of the RMI to provide guidance to the negotiators in the form of a mandate to proceed with. These mandate meetings are important opportunities for the RMI members to be involved in the potential outcomes.
In preparation of this process, it remains important for all dealers to ensure that the staff employed in the business are correctly graded according to the function of the job being performed. The TDAFA can assist with any need of staff grading verification in order to be compliant with the Main Agreement.
Fourth Industrial Revolution and the hype around it into the future
With all the hype around the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4iR) it is perhaps of interest to explore the concept.
4iR which is currently being implemented worldwide, is about the heightening of automation in the production environment. The question on everyone’s lips remains: what will happen with the unskilled labour force? Good news is that the gurus on the subject are claiming that there will be 30% more jobs created than lost.
The concept of 4iR brings with it the opportunity to change the way unskilled people are required to interact with robotics. It does not completely rule out the role of the worker as there are still many examples of tasks that cannot possibly be done by machines.
Additionally, 4iR will generate jobs around the production of robots and automation machines, an area of of business that is expected to accelerate exponentially in the near future.
The ultimate goal of 4iR is for manufacturing to be able to produce the volumes of products needed to meet the excessive demands for products worldwide. The demand is also not only for quantity but also for increased quality and consistency through continuous improvement programmes. In summary, 4iR is intended to bring about faster production, better production, faster delivery, less inventory, lower costs, and better ROI for the shareholders.
Waste Tyre liaison on behalf of the dealers
It is no secret that the waste tyre system is not what it is supposed to be as far as service is concerned. The RMI and TDAFA has been working constantly to find a solution to the situation, even if only an interim solution, to carry dealers through the peak seasons of November and December.
One of the contributing factors to the poor service is the fact that many tyre dealers have not registered with the Waste Bureau during the last 12 months. This lack of registration means that the Bureau is not aware of the dealer site that requires servicing.
When REDISA was liquidated in 2017, one of the things that was not secured was the dealer database, hence the call for registration with the Bureau directly. As of the end of October 2018 only 30% of all dealers had registered, despite this being a legal requirement. The TDAFA has been able to keep the opportunity to register open through constant liaison with the Department of Environmental Affairs.
This relationship with the Bureau has seen the TDAFA act as an intermediary between the dealers and the bureau, to maintain a degree of control over the demands for collections with varying degrees of success.
Currently there is no formal Waste Tyre Plan in place outside of the efforts of the Waste Bureau, despite plans being submitted in December 2017, with no official approval or rejection by the Minister to date.
During a high-level meeting with the Minister in October the plight of the Dealers was stressed in detail, with emphasis on the need for sufficient service delivery during the peak season. The Bureau was tasked by the Minister to ensure sufficient systems were in place for the peak season.
The TDAFA awaits final details on these arrangements for the November and December period and will provide further details via the RMI weekly webletter as they become available.
The TDAFA continues to provide a hotline service to elevate waste tyre collections across the country. Dealers who are experiencing Waste Tyre Collection issues can contact Hedley Judd who will forward this request to the Bureau and the Department for action.
Hedley Judd can be contacted directly at Hedley.judd@rmi.org.za or on 071 892 1475.