Marangoni Group has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers Corporate Finance (PwC) as its financial advisor to assist with the company’s sales of its car and light truck tyres plant in Anagni near Rome.
While the North American tyre market struggled to create demand for additional volume in 2013, Bill Sweatman, president of Marangoni Tread North America, announced the company managed to achieve a 70,000 unit sales increase for the year. “Growing faster than the market is a key indicator that we continue to collectively provide our customers with best-in-class products, service, support and the best network of independent dealers in the industry,” he said.
For Italy’s Marangoni Group, the decision about the future of its new tyre production plant in Anagni (near Rome) and its 400 employees was not an easy one to reach. Yet after many years of losses running into the millions and no prospect of this improving in the future, in September the company penned the final chapter on its almost quarter-century long engagement in new tyre production – and despite the difficult nature of this decision it comes as a weight off the shoulders for Marangoni’s management, and they are sanguine about devoting all their attention to the core retreading business in future and making strategic investments there. Speaking with Tyres & Accessories, Marangoni CEO Massimo De Alessandri explains what factors went into making the decision, which mistakes were made in the past, why the foray into new tyre production was understandable but – in hindsight –perhaps inadvisable, and what the Marangoni Group now plans going forward.
TRM, the Marangoni Meccanica division dedicated to the sale and development of retreading machinery, is reporting that its premium “Black Dragon” tyre building machines have pushed the envelope in terms of technology and helped inspire growth in mould cure retreading in general as well. The Black Dragon, purportedly the best machine of its kind available in the market for bead to bead application, is available in two versions: the Black Dragon 90, featuring a rotating twin turret serving a 90mm extruder for tread application and a vertical extruder for sidewall application, and the bigger version Black Dragon 120 (formerly known as Alpha Twin Dual Black Swan), featuring a 120mm extruder for the tread and two sidewall extruders.
Marangoni Commercial & Industrial Tyres has announced the development of a new programme within its Marix range of retreaded truck tyres. The retread product manufacturer says the Energeco brand has the objective of improving the performance of rolling resistance, which the company identifies as a decisive factor in the decision-making process for professional users and fleets operating over long distances. It will also become more prominent when EU tyre labelling’s second phase encompasses retread truck tyre products, the manufacturer says.
Compared with producing a new tyre, retreading saves up to 30 per cent in energy and 70 per cent in raw materials. Retreading also lowers overall cost per kilometre, but despite these benefits the European retreading market has been hampered by a scarcity of the industry’s main raw material – good quality, retreadable casings – and by the availability of new imported tyres whose casing quality is not sufficient for retreading.
Mexican retreading materials supplier Galgo Group recently gained US SmartWay accreditation for one of its Pre-Q products. According to the company, Galgo has always shared the global vision to meet the highest quality standards in each market “And once again we achieved it with our United States Corporate ‘PREQ Galgo’”, company representatives said in a statement announcing the news.
Marangoni Retreading Systems reports that it has consolidated the presence of the Ringtread system in the Baltic region and the Ukraine by strengthening its partnerships with two important operators in the truck tyre distribution and service sector.
Marangoni Group has confirmed that it will end new passenger car and van tyre production at its Anagni factory. The announcement comes amidst local news reports of despondency amongst workers who expected to return to work in September after two postponements in August. Around 400 employees at the Anagni plant will be made redundant. The group said it would “assess possible solutions with relevant organisations and parties in managing this difficult period”. Unions are said to be planning solidarity events in support of workers.
Marangoni Tread North America has been named as one of latest companies to join the Retread Tire Association. The company is one of four firms whose membership was made public on 15 August; the others are Crown Worldwide Industrial, Intercontinental Marketing and Otrusa.com.
Marangoni Retreading Systems has launched the product it says “completes” its Ringtread on/off range. This final addition to the line-up, the non-directional pattern Mix101, is designed for use on drive axles of vehicles operating in mixed road/quarry applications and is a new version of the Mix100 that is aimed at less heavy-duty applications.
Marangoni Retreading Systems has inauguration a new manufacturing plant in Argentina, in the city of Alvear, Santa Fe. This new plant brings the total number of sites operating around the world and featuring Ringtread lines to five, all part of the Marangoni Group division specialising in pre-cure retreading.
Marangoni Group once again shared a large stand at Autopromotec, probably the largest in the dedicated retreading section of hall 22.
With regard to retreading, which accounts for most of the group’s business in the Italian market, Marangoni announced that important new additions have been made to the Marix range of retreads. These includinged the MD National Grip 3 for regional heavy transport, and upgraded compounds mainly in the Energeco line for long distance applications. For the earthmoving sector, the MDT Recaflex pattern, available in size 27.00X49 for heavy-duty dumpers has been added. Other products on display include patterns for 4x4s, SUVs and vans, representing a wide range that has been expanded even further.
Two Marangoni Ringtread Energeco products, the drive tyre RDA-E and trailer tyre RTA-E, have been approved by the SmartWay programme in the US. Tire Review reports that this month’s verification of the RDA-E, with a tread depth of 19.84mm (25/32-inch), follows the November 2012 approval of the RTA-E, with a tread depth of 9.53mm (12/32-inch).
During a management meeting in late February, Marangoni CEO Massimo De Alessandri discussed the company’s recent performance. In terms of the economy, he described last year as a “very tough year in Europe and above all in Italy.” Despite these conditions, he reported a rise in profitability for the Marangoni group thanks to the performance of its core retreading and tyre industry machinery businesses.
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