MD Quits Kraiburg
Kraiburg Austria and Managing Director Ludger Boeck have agreed to part company by mutual consent and with immediate effect. The reasons for this are differences of opinion relating to the strategic alignment of the company.
Kraiburg Austria and Managing Director Ludger Boeck have agreed to part company by mutual consent and with immediate effect. The reasons for this are differences of opinion relating to the strategic alignment of the company.
Kraiburg Austria aims at increasing its market share by integrating end-users. As part of this strategy the company offers its retreader partners a comprehensive service package which includes modules for improving productivity and for providing support in advising users and selling the right tread patterns.
To enhance this service, Kraiburg has brought an additional industry expert onto the team. Thus, since October, Michael Schwämmlein (40) has been assisting Kraiburg in providing customers with advice and support
Snow-covered roads, icy tarmac, wet, slush – those who want to be able to drive as safely as possible even in wintry conditions will need special tyres. The better the tread is able to transmit the traction forces, the less the vehicle will be likely to skid – regardless of whether it is a car, a truck or a bus.
Retreading specialist Kraiburg Austria’s range of products includes a variety of winter tyre profiles specially developed for commercial vehicles – both in the Kraiburg standard range as well as in the Kraiburg plus premium range.
Kraiburg Austria is expanding its high-performance standard range with five additional profiles. Two new designs of the Kraiburg brand are now available for the application “Mixed Application/Off-road” – namely the K208 and K212. These are joined by three new designs for special applications –the K213 as a traction tread specifically for use in winter, the K75 as a Unimog tread and the K63 as a forklift truck or gantry crane tread. Altogether, the Kraiburg standard range for 2005 now includes 59 tread designs. For the second half of the year, the company is planning to introduce further tread designs for long distance applications.
As such, the company can offer its retreader partners all the latest products currently in demand in Europe and, with more than 50 years of expertise, Kraiburg can offer the right tread design and the optimum compound for every application.
Gummiwerk Kraiburg is continuing to develop its international market position. This is why the Austrian corporation will invest in a new rubber mixing facility in China which will be built without any local partners. From 2006 onwards the company will produce “rubber for non-tyre applications,” Thorsten Schmidt, vice president Gummiwerk Kraiburg Austria, explains. The greenfield project will cost about 6 million euros and the new company will be a 100 per cent Kraiburg subsidiary. Now that Kraiburg has acquired the necessary real estate in the Shanghai area, construction work is about to begin.
Gummiwerk Kraiburg closed the 2003 financial year with positive results. The company reported reports sales up by nine per cent in comparison with the previous year, and a rise in turnover amounting to six per cent. With sales up by 20 per cent, the „hotcure“ segment showed above-average progress, while „precure“ remained steady at two per cent up. Kraiburg report that the Central European market is holding up at last year’s level and the Eastern European markets are growing.
Related news: Kraiburg Aims to Boost Customers’ Productivity Kraiburg Shows New EM Products Kraiburg Hikes Hot and Cold Retread Material Prices Kraiburg Austria offering LD envelopes only from now on
Related news: Kraiburg report strong financial year Kraiburg Treads for Safer Winter Driving Kraiburg Reports Sales Growth Kraiburg Updates All Three Ranges to Increase Economy
Even before the dramatic changes in the worldwide economy after September 11th, the retreading business, as well as its suppliers, was facing hard times. Reduced demand, increased competition and price pressure characterised the depressed market. It was not unusual for material suppliers to experience a decrease in their third quarter results of around 20 percent. Uncertainty, pessimism and negative forecasts represented the collective mood in wide areas of the business. But Kraiburg, the Geretsberg (Austria)-based retreading supplier, is swimming against the stream and reports stable economic results and new strategic activities to meet future market challenges. Kraiburg’s turnover in 2001, up till end October, is just half a percent below the company’s performance for the first ten months last year. In addition, an agreement for a joint venture with the Bulgarian company Zebra was finalised in October. Since 1997 the Sofia based company Zebra has produced thin and light tread patterns which would have been uneconomic to produce in Austria. Kraiburg has invested around one million Euro in Zebra’s tread pattern production and 95 percent of the joint venture shares belong to Kraiburg. Within the next two years the Bulgarian production will be increased from 800 to 1,800 tons per year – using the same machinery and equipment.
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