Bridgestone Bulldog Held 7.5% UK Retread Market Share in 2007
Bridgestone first started working with Bulldog remoulds as its preferred retreading partner in the 1990’s Everything changed in April 2005 when Bridgestone bought the Bourne, Lincolnshire-based retreader, bringing with it plans to more than double the site’s previous annual output and radically overhaul the operation. Tyres & Accessories gained an exclusive insight into what has happened at Bulldog during a recent visit to Bridgestone UK’s newly updated retread production headquarters.
Michelin’s Stoke Site Aims to be Cutting Edge Facility
At the end of last year Michelin executives embarked on a three-phase study into modernising the company’s Campbell road, Stoke-on-Trent retread manufacturing site. The plan is to take the UK’s largest commercial vehicle retread production plant to the next level with multi-million pound investment from Michelin headquarters in Clermont-Ferrand and other parties. Tyres & Accessories visited the Campbell road Remix and Encore facilities in mid-February and saw that the site spent £1 million last year gearing for the proposed improvements.
It was back in the early days of 2002 when Gary Oliver and Peter Morris formed the company called C-Tyres and purchased the assets of retreaders Colway and Motorway from the Official Receiver. Since then, the demise of car tyre retreading in the UK has been well documented and, it has to be said, one or two quizzical eyebrows were raised when Oliver and Morris announced that C-Tyres would be making retreads.
At the end of January the Colway brand and equipment owned by County Durham-based C-Tyres was bought by Polish retread company, Mark Gum. No details of how much Mark Gum paid were made available. C-Tyres managing director Gary Oliver had previously spoken of his hope that a British company would take ownership of the assets, allowing tyre production to start up again from within C-Tyres leased premises in Langley Moor.
Kim Jong Il has visited the newly built Pyongyang Taesong Tyre Factory, in Pyongyang, North Korea. The factory has a total floor space of more than 2,000 square metres and all its production processes are automated.
Whichever way you look at it 2005 was a significant year for Sapphire Energy Recovery. Not only the did the company successfully dispose of more than 100,000 tonnes of tyres, but it markedly increased industry awareness thanks to a high-profile (putting it mildly) advertising campaign. But neither achievement has gone unnoticed as the 2006 TAFF award nominations (see page 38) recognise the company on both counts. Furthermore Sapphire expects to process its 50 millionth tyre in the coming months, something that is particularly impressive when you consider that the company was only founded in 2000.
Chinese Retreading Market Presents World of Opportunity
While much has been made about the enormous potential of the emerging Chinese tyre market, the opportunities go further than this alone. For every tyre that is produced and used in the People’s Republic there is a potential money-making opportunity for the retreading and collection aspects of the tyre business.
It is not overstating the situation to say there is huge potential for retreading in China. Currently around 265 million tyres are produced in China each year, across all segments. At the same time the domestic market’s 3 million vehicles currently demand 130 million tyres annually, according to a Hong Kong Trade Development Council report.
Bridgestone UK Ltd has acquired Bulldog Remoulds (Holdings) Ltd, the companies have announced in a joint statement. The deal is said to have been the subject of discussion for “some time.” Both parties agreed that the pricetag attached to the purchase would remain “commercially confidential.”
The purchase took effect on 29 April and will not affect existing trading arrangements with Bulldog customers and suppliers, the companies have confirmed. Bridgestone says the acquisition will strengthen its long-term capability to look after and expand its Truck Fleet customers within the UK.
Marangoni begins pre-cure rubber production in Brazil
Marangoni S.p.A. has started production of precured tread rubber at Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in response to Brazils growing demand for retreads. The purpose designed, 14,000-sq.-ft. plant cost Marangoni around 13 million Euro to build and equip. Initial employment will be 60, but this should rise to 140 over time, Marangoni said. The company expects the new venture to generate sales of 6.1million Euro in the first full year of operation, rising up to 25.6 million Euro within four years.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
