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March 04, 2002 01:00 AM

Taylor aims to lead Titan out of storm to better times

Sigmund J. Mikolajczyk
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    Titan International Inc. has weathered tough times akin to biblical calamities, including economic famine brought on by a 40-month strike and its current state of severe overcapacity aggravated by a fallow economy.

    So it's not really a stretch for the company's always outspoken president and CEO, Maurice Taylor Jr., to wax biblical when describing Titan's struggles amidst a deluge of problems: ``It was like we were in that 40-day flood in the Bible,'' he said. ``It's like we've been on Noah's Ark. Wasn't a lot of food around so we ate some of the animals. Now it's not raining, the sun's out and we've got to go and do some work. That's what it boils down to.''

    As the company attempts to edge past a number of festering problems left over from several years of labor strife, Taylor said Titan is now ``trying to expand as fast as we can.''

    That expansion is being spawned by ``increases in all product offerings,'' he said, as well as a continuation of the company's custom-branding efforts with Caterpillar Inc. Titan supplies Caterpillar with Cat-brand tires for use on skid-steers, telescopic handlers and backhoes.

    Titan also has a similar contract for skid-steer and telescopic handler tires-now being rolled out-with equipment maker Gehl Co. And Taylor said his company is days away from launching a batch of new tires destined for telescopic handlers, forklifts and vibrator rollers made by Ingersoll-Rand Co. that will bear I-R's brand.

    Although a couple years ago Taylor joked that he wanted to be Caterpillar's ``slave,'' it's actually John Deere & Co. that gets the bulk of Titan's current production.

    ``My biggest production capacity in tires is totally with the aftermarket,'' he said, noting that his business with ``Mother Deere''-as he refers to the tractor and equipment manufacturer-is larger than with Caterpillar. That's ``mainly because I don't make all that big OTR stuff'' used on some Cat equipment.

    He claimed that while the ``big boys''-meaning the agricultural and off-road tire divisions of Goodyear, Michelin North America Inc. and Bridgestone/Firestone-aren't coming out with a lot of new farm and OTR products, Titan is ``because this is our market-it's what we focus on.'' He added: ``Our forecast is to take market share. We should be able to do that, but I don't think the market will grow.''

    Titan doesn't ``target anyone'' to steal away share, he said. ``We just go after the business, like with our Caterpillar program. We're the only (tire maker) doing Cat branding. They get our premium tires.''

    Taylor sees the farm and construction segments continuing to constrict this year, which may help Titan because he also believes that the plethora of part numbers-tire sizes and specifications-will increase. ``That will hurt the big guys because their systems are not as flexible as ours are to handle that.

    ``The only way you're going to get business out there is to come up with new products or take business away from someone,'' he continued. ``The only way to take it is to give (customers) more value...and I think we can do that.''

    Still, Taylor admitted, ``I'm so happy 2001 is gone.''

    Buffeted by the strikes, a sluggish economy and a 45-percent downturn in the agricultural business, he said he's ``still standing. Wounded, but standing.''

    In January, on the wheel side, Titan had its best month for orders since 1997-which was its best year ever-while the company's tire business saw its best numbers since the strikes began in May 1998.

    ``This is the first time since before the strike that our capacity is greater than our sales,'' Taylor acknowledged. ``That's why we're going out and hustling.

    ``On the aftermarket side, you can't blame dealers.... You have to earn your way back. The big thing with them is to turn around and supply them.''

    Currently, Titan's plant in Des Moines, Iowa, is the company's ``big hog,'' as Taylor called it, producing light construction tires for backhoes and telescopic handlers as well as ag tires. Its newest factory, in Brownsville, Texas, is producing small implement and industrial tires. That plant ``still has a long way to go, but it's doing leaps and bounds better than it was a year ago.''

    By the end of this year, he said, Browns-ville should be running at about one-third of the capacity he expects it to hit in the next four years.

    Meanwhile, Titan's Natchez, Miss., tire facility remains mothballed. Taylor said if Brownsville progresses on schedule and markets pick up, he could bring Natchez back online, but that is perhaps at least a year away. ``Things have to really pick up first.''

    His company has procured an $80,000 contract with the U.S. military to develop an LSW ``run-flat'' system for the Marines' LAV (Land Assault Vehicle), and is testing some tires on those vehicles, which resemble a small tank and are being used in Afghanistan by U.S. peacekeeping forces.

    All told, Titan has 11 wheel contracts with the military. During a visit to Fort Hood, Texas, Taylor discussed with officials how the LSW technology could be used on military trucks, such as the Humvee. ``I like the military,'' he said, ``because it's cash up front.''

    However, the company is ``spending a lot of our energies strictly on the aftermarket,'' Taylor. ``We're going to build that business from California all the way across the country. I've got the product now-the wheels, the tires. Prior to 1998, we couldn't make enough tires. Then the strike came and boom.

    ``We bought from Goodyear.... I lost a hell of a lot of money to hold onto my accounts, and I think people appreciated it. But we didn't stop.''

    Every week, he said, Titan is picking up the pace, ``getting stronger and stronger.''

    So when will the firm be profitable again?

    ``I told everyone on the street: There's no excuse to not be in the black by the end of the first quarter. We took all our hits in the last year.''

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