TX Tyres adds truck tyres and more to product portfolio, celebrates 50 years

Founded as Panther Tyres, TX Tyres celebrates 50 years in business this year. In a recent visit to Liverpool, Tyres & Accessories took the opportunity to meet managing director and former NTDA chairman Stephen Callow, consider the legacy of his father (company founder Ron Callow) and to look to the future of the TX Tyres retreading operation, which includes diversifying into new segments.

The retreading business was established in 1971, but the Callow family’s history in the automotive industry stretches right back to the 1960s. Back then, after serving in the Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers of the British Army, Ron Callow bought and sold cars in his spare time in and around the Bootle area of Liverpool. Later on, Callow senior was a key Vauxhall dealer until the oil crisis of the early 1970s.

The failure of the Vauxhall business left the family carrying significant debts, however retreading proved to be the family’s salvation with Panther Tyres working its way out of debt. Back then the initial retreading operation was based on a basic retreading process called the Ken-Tread system. Product-wise, Ron sought to capitalise on Liverpool’s strong taxi business. At one point Liverpool was the second-largest taxi market in the UK. This business took off, grew and spread to London and taxi tyres remain a core specialism to this day. In fact, despite the combination of new regulations, the advent of Uber and – of course – the Covid-19 pandemic having forced many taxi tyre retreaders out of business, TX Tyres (as the business is known today following its reincorporation in 2013) is probably the ‘last man standing’ in the UK taxi tyre retreading niche.

The latest chapter in the TX Tyres story began in 1993 when Ron’s son Stephen Callow graduated with a degree in engineering from Leeds University. During his course of study, Callow spent a year working in Germany, which gave him the opportunity to practice speaking German – a language skill Callow has kept to this day. After graduating Stephen had plans to work for the family business for a year in order to earn enough many to travel the world. However, now roughly a quarter of a century later Callow is managing director and he never did make that world trip.

Stephen Callow’s involvement in the family business was already accelerating in the years after he joined the business (he became managing director in 2002), but the sudden and untimely death of Ron Callow from cancer in 2003 meant Stephen Callow was left in sole charge of the business.

The next chapter

During the rest of the early 2000s, the new MD went back to basics – driving the delivery van himself and getting hands-on experience of the process. At that time the company was retreading a wide range of sizes and applications – everything from mini tyres to truck tyres. However, the rationalisation process meant focusing production on the businesses’ core strengths and that primarily meant taxi tyres and making the manufacturing process as lean as possible without compromising on quality.

Driving the delivery van presented the perfect opportunity to get to know taxi drivers and fleet bosses. Pretty soon Callow understood that price was a concern for such customers, but low-cost imports were not the answer. Rather those that have been introduced retreads have stayed or returned to retreads.

“A good remould is better than a cheap Chinese tyre”, Callow commented, pointed to the quality his ECE-109 rated product: “I have two customers that haven’t had a single tyre failure from us in over 10 years”.

“Business is about win-win”, Callow explained, adding that the has never been about short-term gains at the expense of long-term relationships. Rather, “We’re in it for the long-haul”, a quip that could point to the fact that, having specialised in taxi tyre retreads for its whole life, the business took to the decision to diversify into other segments in 2017.

Coined during the firm’s Panther Tyres days, TX Tyres’ flagship taxi tyre retread is branded Freeway (Photo: Tyre Industry Publications Ltd)

Taxi Tyres remain a key part of the business, but since 2017 the company has adding a range of truck tyre retreads as well. These are many made up of tipper customers that have been steadily switching to the company’s products as relationships have been built.

“Casings are key” for truck tyre retreading and indeed any retreading process, Callow commented, highlighting that 90 per cent of products are re-manufactured on customer-owned casings. Operating in this way not only secures the in-flow of quality casings, but it also helps to develop relationships with customers with a view to gaining repeat business.

Moving forward, the company is also trialling one further addition to its product line-up. It is still early days, but TX Tyres now also retreads forklift tyres. Retreading solid tyres presents additional engineering challenges owing to their weight and the fact that a far larger proportion of the tyre is made up of already-cured rubber. Nevertheless, like taxi tyres and tipper truck tyres, forklift retreads present a niche retreading business opportunity.

For some of the same reasons, forklift tyres are also an even better ecological opportunity. Of course, we all know that retreading is recycling. And it is well-known that four times as much crude oil is needed to produce a new tyre than to retread a tyre. However, if a forklift truck tyre is discarded after a single life, a far greater proportion of raw material is wasted as well. And therefore, offering forklift retreads presents one of most ‘green’ selling points in the industry.

With forklift tyres being the newest addition to the overall range, the customer base is still at an early stage. However, the plan is to build it up relationally in the same slow-and-steady way as with taxi tyre and then truck tyre retreads.

A broadening manufacturing process

As far as the production process is concerned, the equipment and processes have grown in line with the business. TX Tyres’ Aintree, Liverpool retreading facility centres on 13 curing presses, which are generally Italian in origin, but several have been upgraded since purchase, with Callow working alongside local engineers to improve the designs of the purchase manufacturing machinery.

Beginning in the 2000’s with taxi tyres, TX tyres now retreading on/off road tipper tyres as well as forklift tyres (bottom right) (Photo: Tyre Industry Publications Ltd)

On the taxi tyre side of things, tyres are 100 per cent mould-cured, which the products an as-new aesthetic finish as well as a brand new treads. The company have trialled a number of compounds over the years including Watts/Berwin, Ondura and others. But currently the firm’s two main suppliers are Avon and Spain Rubber.

As well as the TX Tyres retreading business, Stephen Callow also sells new tyres into the market and runs a tyre retail business – Callow Car Care. Prior to the pandemic, the business was split something like 70:30 retread:new tyres. Now it is something like 50:50 on the passenger car side of things and 60:40 if you include the new truck tyre retread offering.

So as the TX Tyres retreading operation celebrates its 50th anniversary, so the company is ploughing new furrows with the return to the truck retread segment after two decades away; as well as the firm’s bold decision to move into the new forklift retread niche. The goal, no-doubt, is to continue the same long-term, steady growth approach that has served the company so well in the first five decades of business as it continues into the future and aims for the century.