Marangoni to exhibit at Solutrans
Marangoni Commercial Tyres is to exhibit at the forthcoming Solutrans show, to be held in Lyon from 17 to 21 November.
Continue ReadingMichelin closing Pneu Laurent (Germany) in 2016
In addition to closing its Ballymena truck tyre factory, Michelin has announced plans to shutter its Pneu Laurent location in Oranienburg, Germany at the end of 2016 and shift all of its activities to Michelin’s Avallon, France retreading location.
Continue ReadingKal Tire opens Chile retread and repair centre
Kal Tire reports that its Mining Tire Group has opened a new off-the-road (OTR) tyre retread and repair facility in Antofagasta, Chile.
Continue ReadingNew Marangoni partner on the Canary Islands
Marangoni Retreading Systems has named Boleca S.L. as its partner on the Canary Islands. The Canary Islands, despite the recent economic crisis, still account for an important share of the Spanish market (>10 per cent), due to the islands’ highly abrasive road surfaces.
Continue ReadingKraiburg share pro-retread stance at Czech customer workshop
Following on from the second Kraiburg summit, Kraiburg Austria invited its Czech and Slovakian customers to a workshop at the end of September in Cerna Hora in the Czech Republic. During the even the retreading specialist shared its stance on various “pro-retread” campaigns and gave a status report on the ReTyre project, explaining the background behind the impending tyre labelling.
Continue ReadingVacu-Lug ramps up production to match Logistik tyre demand
Grantham, Lincolnshire-based Vacu-Lug reports that it has ramped up retread production in light of increased demand for its Logistik range of tyres. Vacu-Lug, launched its Logistik 295/80R22.5 commercial vehicle drive axle tyre in November 2014. In early 2015, the new Logistik Drive 315/70R22.5 followed and is reportedly already proving popular across the commercial vehicle sector. The demand is such that a second tyre press has recently been installed.
Continue ReadingBandvulc director updates TRA forum on ReTyre labelling project
At the UK Tyre Recovery Association’s Recycling Day 2015, Bandvulc director Richard O’Connell presented an update on the ongoing pan-European ReTyre (tyre labelling for retreads) project. As T&A mentioned briefly within the first article of this supplement, supplying information on running costs (including fuel efficiency and safety characteristics) could play an important role in retreads’ competitiveness against cheap imported new tyres. The ability to provide a tyre label for retreads, facilitated by an algorithmic tool to take variables into account, could help to achieve a new way to do this, yet there are significant challenges to overcome – a fact referenced by O’Connell when he joked that a talk on the Higgs boson would be “simpler”.
Continue ReadingTRA: EA’s Fire Prevention Plan could promote unregulated business, increase fire risk
The Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) is urging the Environment Agency (EA) to listen to the recycling industry to avoid the inadvertent promotion of unregulated businesses. While the TRA and other waste streams have repeatedly been calling for amendments to the EA’s proposed new Fire Prevention Plan over the past four years, especially to proposed stack heights and the fire breaks between them, the recommendations have, as yet, gone unheeded. The TRA believes that if due action is not taken, unregulated businesses will profit while those with a proven, professional and regulated background will rapidly be forced out of the industry.
Continue ReadingGoodyear confirms Wolverhampton plant closure
Goodyear Dunlop UK has confirmed the closure of its Wolverhampton retreading plant. Closure will happen on a phased basis. The first roles to be made redundant are likely to occur on 31 December 2015, with anticipated production at the plant ending no earlier than January 2017. “It is important to understand that no alternatives to the companys proposal have been made”, company representatives wrote in a statement.
Continue ReadingThe end of Goodyear Dunlop’s UK retreading
Just before the September Retreading Special went to print, Goodyear Dunlop was in consultation on the proposed closure of its Wolverhampton mixing and retreading plant, announced in June. Though the plant was the subject of significant investment as recently as 2012, its viability has ultimately reduced to a level at which Goodyear Dunlop believes “there is no other option” but to close the facility, in the words of UK managing director, Erich Fric, who spoke to Tyres & Accessories shortly after the announcement. Indeed, the company’s exit from Wolverhampton appears the logical conclusion to decades of diminishment since its post-war peak, when Goodyear employed more than 7,000 jobs in the city, mostly manufacturing new tyres, an activity that ended in 2006. With the new tyre manufacturing site the subject of a £150m redevelopment plan to make the area a housing zone, Goodyear Dunlop signed a 10-year lease on the land occupied by its mixing and retreading operations, a commitment that was augmented by a five-year investment plan that brought two new Next Tread retreading machines and a Banbury mixer to Wolverhampton.
Continue ReadingBroadening range, broadening appeal
Truck tyre retreading and the new truck tyre market upon which it depends have developed in terms of sophistication over the years. At the same time increased amounts of low-cost products have put pressure on the opposite end of the market. Recent years have seen Michelin address this with investment at the top and now additional product lines at the bottom. Tyres & Accessories met with new Michelin UK head Guy Heywood, who was promoted from his role as sales director for the company’s commercial vehicle tyre sales in the UK and Ireland earlier this year, in order to find out more.
Continue ReadingContinued growth for Goodyear Dunlop’s Wittlich retreading operation
Manufacturers that aim to offer a comprehensive and competitive commercial vehicle fleet portfolio can’t get by without retreading (typically mould cure retreading performed in large, centralised facilities), nor can they reduce fleet transport costs and meet customer expectations without partnering with the tyre trade and drawing upon the extensive range of services these specialists offer. In the five years since opening a truck tyre retreading facility alongside its new truck tyre plant in Wittlich, Germany, Goodyear Dunlop has made greater inroads into the local fleet business market.
Continue ReadingRetreader Reifen Apel achieves continuity through focus on quality
There’s a lot of talk within the tyre market at the moment – particularly in the retreading business – about tyres imported from the Far East, tyres that sometimes cost barely half as much as a new, European-made truck tyre and therefore make life very hard for many retreaders. But even though the market weakness that follows these imports is a point of concern for all involved, the problems that arrive along with these budget tyres don’t affect everyone equally.
Continue ReadingMarangoni and Auto & Truck Tyres install latest technology at Wadeville Plant
Just a few months after the partnership between the Marangoni Group and Leader Rubber Co. S.A., a leading South African retreading materials supplier, began with the intention of supporting Marangoni’s African market development, Auto & Truck Tyres (A&TT), the biggest retreader in the region, has completely upgraded its plant in Wadeville, Johannesburg. This large A&TT […]
Continue ReadingBridgestone celebrates 10th anniversary of Bulldog acquisition
10 years after Bridgestone bought Bulldog, the retreading market is a different place. A decade ago passenger car retreading was still going on (albeit some way from its peak). At the same Chinese tyres were present, but in nowhere near the current quantities – and in some cases they were being sold at the same or higher prices they are now. On top of this many more retreading operations were running than there are today.
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