Marix retreads are “extremely competitive” against low-cost imports, says Marangoni
Europe’s retreaders face an ongoing battle against imports of low-priced new commercial vehicle tyres from China, and even well-known names such as Marangoni are not immune from the strain this puts upon turnover and margins. However the Marangoni Group states that it believes in both retreading and in the company’s own future growth, and has undertaken a number of measures to strengthen its position.
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Recycling firm hails Vacu-Lug traceability
Mid UK Recycling Ltd, a leading independent waste management, recycling and resource recovery specialist reports 100 per cent traceability since switching to Vacu-Lug to provide a dedicated tyre management service. With a comprehensive range of resource recovery services, including waste management, skip hire and public authority recycling contracts, Mid UK Recycling Ltd operates a nationwide collection fleet of over 70 vehicles.
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Vipal strengthens Portuguese retread presence
Vipal has strengthened its connections with the Portuguese retreading market, building on a relationship in Spain and now including retreader São Mamede, from the city of Guimarães Vipal reports that is embarked on a series of relationship and communications actions focused particularly on European clients during the course of 2015.
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ETRMA data: Imports growing as retreading decline continues
The European tyre market is up, but imports are growing too, meaning ETRMA members are not benefiting from the increase as much as others. At the same time, the retread market decreased for the fourth consecutive year, and in 2015 it expected to plunge a further 10 per cent to 4.2 million tyres.
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Michelin 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.
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Vacu-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.
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Bandvulc 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”.
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Goodyear 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 Reading The 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.
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