AFTER just over two years as the general manager of the Government-owned, cash-strapped Jamaica Ultimate Tyre Company, Merline Daley is slated to leave the post.

Jamaica Ultimate Tyre Company produces tyres for the Jamaica Urban Transit Company’s vehicles.

Daley, who also served as chairman prior to being appointed general manager, confirmed on Thursday that she was officially informed of her removal on February 3. An exact departure date is yet to be determined.

“What I found was that there were so many things that are wrong with the place [Jamaica Ultimate Tyre Company] and, of course, when I tried to fix it, everybody was angry with me. So, I am literally on my way out of here. We have fixed a lot of things under my watch, but to be truthful, the horse was already gone through the gate,” she told the Jamaica Observer‘s weekly Auto magazine.

According to the the Jamaica Public Bodies (JPB) book tabled in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, it is projected that the Jamaica Ultimate Tyre Company will make a surplus of $2.43 million, while still carrying a deficit of $22.21 billion.

According to the JPB, the reduction of retread tyre sales from 5,195 units in 2017 to 1,399 units in 2022 negatively impacted the organisation.

The tyre company, however, has decided that in order to address the haemorrhaging during the 2023/24 financial year, it will pursue strategies aimed at generating operating efficiencies, allowing it to achieve greater profit margins and, possibly allow for price reductions, to regain its market share.

The strategies include: continued modernisation of its plant at Maxfield Avenue in Kingston and, during the year, pursuing replacement of wheel alignment equipment currently used at the plant and other equipment.

The Jamaica Ultimate Tyre Company was incorporated on July 24, 2001, as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company, with its core function being providing a reliable supply of retread tyres and tyre services to meet the needs of buses at cost effective prices.