Mine Operators Beat Path to Malaysian Retreader’s Door

The clamour for quality large size OTR tyres has lead Malaysian retreader Goodway Integrated Industries to invest heavily in this sector. In March the company opened a new RM6 million (£862,000) facility in the town of Nilai, and the plant has increased its capacity to offer a host of services, including what Goodway CEO Tai Boon Wee believes to be a world first – the pre-cured retreading of 57-inch tyres.

Most of this capacity is utilised to meet the needs of Australia’s mining industry. With dozen of mines operating vehicles that require large OTR tyres, demand from this part of the world is astronomical. Container loads of OTR tyres requiring retreading are shipped from Australia to Malaysia every month. And when the price for a new tyre, if one can even be sourced, is taken into consideration, it is easy to see why mining companies go to all the effort of sending their old tyres halfway across Asia. “A new 57-inch OTR tyre now fetches up to US$70,000. Our ex-factory price for a revived tyre is only $13,000,” Mr. Wee told local media source The Star.

Although Mr. Wee claims that some Australian mining companies have in the vicinity of 500 tyres waiting for the Goodway treatment, the company can only retread 30 tyres a month at present, and while setting up camp in Australia may seem to be a logical solution to this bottlenecking, Mr. Wee says Goodway have no plans to this effect “in the next two to three years.” The cost of transporting tyres by land within Australia could prove to be higher than shipping them to Malaysia, he adds.

While by the end of 2008 Goodway’s plant will be operating at a capacity of 1,200 giant OTR tyres a year, another potential solution is to help mine operators set up retreading plants near their own mines.

Interestingly, Goodway has received inquiries from miners who want it to help them set up their own re-treading plants in their mines’ vicinity. “We are looking at several options. We could help our customers set up plants at various sites overseas in exchange for raw materials – mainly retread liners,” he said.

Goodway has spent three years researching and developing OTR retreads under the Tough Tread brand name, and the company has plans to begin the retreading of 63-inch tyres at a later date.