$20 Million Investment In Zimbabwe Bandag Plant

National Tyre Services Limited (Zimbabwe) has invested $20 million on the commissioning of a third curing chamber at its Harare Bandag factory. The investment comes at a time when other companies are closing shops or relocating to other countries. Donal McDevitt, NTS managing director, said: “NTS is now the largest customer in southern Africa for Bandag products and we are making every effort to become the first Gold Class Award factory in the region.

NTS has increased its production capacity in the Harare Bandag factory with the commissioning of a third chamber at an investment of $20 million. The increased curing will afford us the opportunity to improve turnaround times with particular attention being paid to repairs.”He added that Bandag had enabled the company to concentrate on skills development and staff had undertaken tyre knowledge, scrap analysis and tyre management training programmes.

NTS signed an exclusive franchise agreement with Bandag, South Africa, in April last year which drove the full upgrade of the company’s retread factories in Harare and Bulawayo to meet world class standards. Securing the Bandag retreading franchise required $41 million capital outlay which was internally funded, thus enhancing more than 50 percent growth in volume. The move has helped the company maintain its position as the largest re-distributor of Dunlop products produced in Zimbabwe with supporting brands of Regal, Firestone, Bridgestone, Michelin and Yokohama.