Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has agreed to acquire Ventech Systems, a specialist in automated tyre inspection technology, from Grenzebach Maschinenbau.
The Dorsten, Germany based company, founded in 2006, provides a fully-automated tyre inspection system that checks tyre pressure, tread depth and vehicle weight for buses, trucks, cars and other vehicles.
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"Over the past three years, our Goodyear Proactive Solutions business has collaborated with Ventech Systems to integrate its data gathering and analysis capabilities into our fleet management solution," said chief technology officer Christopher Helsel.
"Feedback from our fleet customers has been excellent, and we view this as an important opportunity to enhance our service and value proposition for customers."
Ventech COO Andreas Pietsch said: "Goodyear's strong market presence enables additional worldwide growth opportunities for [us]."
Last year, Goodyear launched Goodyear Proactive Solutions in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region to provide a full range of demonstrated vehicle-to-fleet operations management products supporting fleet owners to improve vehicle and fleet safety, decrease fuel use, reduce carbon footprint and support digital transformation of fleets.
The acquisition will further expand Goodyear's commercial offerings with a closed loop service enabling fleet operators to measure tyre pressure, tread depth and vehicle weight on all their vehicles each time they enter or exit their depots.
Goodyear is also working with automakers to provide tyre information to vehicle control systems to enhance safety and performance.
Earlier this month it announced that it is equipping Tesloop, a city to city mobility service that exclusively uses Tesla electric vehicles, with wireless sensors in its tyres to improve overall tyre management and maximise uptime for its growing fleet.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter and the business and technology will be integrated into the company's Proactive Solutions business.
