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Marangoni Sponsors Ultimate Street Car

Maragoni Tyre is to act as title sponsor of the forthcoming Ultimate Street Car (USC) show. The announcement follows the success of Fast Show and more recently Jap Show. Marangoni is returning to Santa Pod, as title sponsor for the USC event, on the 1 – 3 August, 2008. The Marangoni stand will feature a live DJ, girls, project cars and a live Marangoni Pit Stop Challenge. Project cars on display include “the mighty Progetto Marangoni Toyota Yaris” and the UK debut appearance of the Marangoni Fiat 500 Road Car.

Marangoni expects the USC to draw in crowds of over 30,000 visitors, making it the largest modified car event in Europe. The marketing department’s hope is that visitors to Marangoni Fast Show, Jap Show and Marangoni USC will not fail to recognize and accept the brand as a top quality UHP tyre choice.

10th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Marangoni Adds 8 Sizes to Summer Performance Tyre Range

Marangoni has added eight new sizes to its 2008 UHP range, four in the Verso line-up and four in the Mythos line. The new offerings in this segment confirm, states the Italian manufacturer, its increasing specialisation in high and ultra-high performance tyres.

The Verso line has been extended with four new sizes for premium mid and larger-sized vehicles such as the Audi A4, Alfa Romeo 159, Mercedes C Class and Saab 9-3, as well as for MPVs such as the Fiat Ulysse and the Renault Espace. The new sizes are, 205/60 and 215/60 for 16-inch rims and 215/50 and 225/50 for 17-inch rims. The Verso 2008 range now includes the following sizes:

13th June 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Marangoni Licensed to Produce ContiTread Retreading Materials

Marangoni Group and Continental AG have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will see Continental transfer the production and marketing of ContiTread pre-cure treads. “Marangoni and Continental have been working for years in various fields together successfully. This cooperation is another important and complementary facet,” said Eckhard Wilanek, Continental’s Managing Director of Fleet & Retread Business. No details of the financial side of the arrangement have been released, but both companies hope to benefit from faster growth in the global marketplace – Maragoni in the retreading segment and Continental in the new tyre business.

11th June 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Broadening the Base of the Business

International News, Product News

Starco GB Ltd has appointed Chris Wilson (who joins from Summit Tyres) to spearhead a new industrial tyre aftermarket sales team. Wilson brings with him almost four decades of experience in the sector, which includes work at the sharp end of running a mobile fitting business. As a result of this – and the recent addition of the GlobeStar forklift tyre range – Starco’s management hopes to develop a real focus on the forklift end of the industrial to complement its growing OEM supply operation.

Up till now, Starco GB Ltd has remained relatively quiet about the ins and outs of the company’s generally OE-focused strategy. However, now that the business has made the strategic decision to move more into the aftermarket (while also continuing to develop its business to OEMs), the Europe-wide specialist tyre distributor invited Tyres & Accessories into Starco GB’s headquarters in Rugeley, Staffordshire.

T&A met managing director, Bob Cooper and account manager, Chris Royle, who explained that up till now roughly 90 per cent of Starco’s current business is OE related. When Bob Cooper joined the company 12 years ago sales amounted to somewhere in the region of £1.5 million a year. According to Bob Cooper, sales this year will be approaching £20 million, a clear demonstration that the OE-facing part of the business has served Starco well. In the future Starco GB is aiming to generate “very significant growth in the industrial tyre aftermarket” in addition to this, perhaps as much as doubling sales generated in this side of the business. Bob Cooper was keen to stress that the company has no plans to reduce its OE-focus. On the contrary, the strategy is to grow this part of the business too.

With offices right across Europe (plus one as far east as Kazakhstan and another in the US), you can’t help wondering if the decision to increase aftermarket focus is part of a pan-European move? In short the answer is both yes and no.

Some of the businesses Denmark-based Starco operates around Europe (take the company’s German branch for example) run on quite different strategies to the UK operation. In Germany the OE/replacement breakdown is the mirror image of what it is over here – roughly 90 per cent aftermarket sales and 10 per cent OE supply. So while Bob Cooper points out that there is an overarching drive to broaden the group’s base in general terms, the company is not in any hurry to change what is already working well.

Starco takes on GlobeStar forklift range

In addition to its existing range of Kenda pneumatic tyres and its own brand offering, Starco recently took on the GlobeStar solid forklift tyre range. With all the leading forklift tyre manufacturers feeling the pinch of increased raw material costs, and most now asking for raw material surcharges the cost/performance balance is as important to customers as ever. Not surprisingly the GlobeStar range is said to excel in this respect, offering good performance for a competitive price. At the economy end of the market, Starco have also brought in the Performer line for those seeking industrial tyres at a lower price entry point.

The new industrial aftermarket team, led by Chris Wilson, is comprised of three sales staff with backing from all the other departments of their business. At any given time, Starco’s Rugeley warehouse holds roughly £3 million of stock. Up to a third of this can be described as industrial, including brands such as TVS, Gommasol and Marangoni. The rest of the stock comprises of ATV, wheelbarrow, turf, high speed trailer, small materials handling and other specialist wheels and tyres.

Starco GB has also invested in high speed automated tyre fitting machinery, which allows the company to send more 12 to 16-inch tyre and wheel assemblies to OE customers than it ever could with man-power alone. The company has also invested in the construction of temperature controlled curing rooms in order for the company to expand the tyre-fill service it offers it’s customers.

Planning for the expansion of the industrial aftermarket side of the business began three years ago and the company has been operating in the wider industrial segment for around eight years now. So, if Starco’s acquisition of a new brand and “very significant” investment in stock is anything to go by, it is clear that the company is preparing for the long-term.

10th June 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Brenno Benaglia Appointed New BIPAVER President

BIPAVER, the European federation of tyre retreaders’ associations, has named Brenno Benaglia as its new President. The decision was made on 23 May during the Reifen 2008 exhibition in Essen, Germany. During the meeting, a number of changes were made to the Board of the Federation, in line with the organisation’s constitution.

Brenno Benaglia, represents both AIRP (Italy) and the Marangoni Group and replaces Peter Hülzer of BRV (Germany), who becomes one of the Federation’s two Vice-Presidents. Also appointed Vice-President was Jan Driessen, Chairman of the Retreading Sector in VACO (Netherlands).

Retiring from the board was Richard O’Connell, representing the RMA (UK). BIPAVER Secretary Ruud Spuijbroek thanked O’Connell for his services as President between 2006 and 2007 and as a Vice-President during the past year as well as for his valuable contribution to the Federation’s Technical Committee.

During the General Assembly BIPAVER members approved a change in the Federation’s Constitution, which will allow Federation officers to serve two years in office as opposed to one year, as was previously specified in the constitution. This means that Brenno Benaglia will now serve as BIPAVER President from 2008-2010.

In his acceptance speech Brenno Benaglia commented: “Retreading is going through a complex period and BIPAVER now needs to carry on what it’s doing through strong co-operation with those new tyre producers, who are committed to producing retreadable casings. BIPAVER is an open and independent association and the ideas we have developed over the past year will be framework for our future work together.”

29th May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Marangoni Reports Strength in Russian Market

Ellerbrock, the German subsidiary of the Marangoni Retreading Systems Group, has reportedly taken leadership in the Russian truck retread market after a decade of growth. Marangoni report that at least half of Russia’s retreaders are directly supplied with Marangoni/Ellerbrock products.

The size of the market is about 48 million car tyres (including OE) and about 7 million truck tyres (including OE). Over the past three years, truck sales have doubled in a country with over 700,000 kilometres of roads and 30,000 kilometres of expressways and highways. Marangoni says that unofficial but reliable estimates indicate a truck retread market of about 150,000 to 200,000 tyres, of which one third are retreaded locally and two thirds are imported, mostly from Central and Western Europe. Official figures for 2007 indicate 7.3 million units in the European truck retread market, which means that the Russian market accounts for about 2.4 per cent of the overall western, central, and eastern European market.

27th May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

MTNA Celebrates Dual Ringtread Anniversary

Marangoni Tread North America celebrated the 32nd birthday of Ringtread retreading system and the 4th anniversary of its introduction into the US on April 27. The very first Ringtread was produced in Ferentino, Italy, on April 27, 1976, and exactly 28 years later the company’s facility in Madison, Tennessee produced the first American made Ringtread retread.

The company reports it marked the occasion with cake, as the Ringtread moulds are too hot for ice cream!

2nd May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Marangoni Title Sponsor at Santa Pod Fast Show

A crowd of over 15,000 attended the Marangoni Fast Show at Santa Pod on 9/10 March. For Marangoni, the Fast Show was a huge success. The informal and involving Marangoni roadshow feature with its ‘hand’s-on’ approach reportedly proved popular with show visitors, particularly the Pit Stop competition with its top prize of a white-knuckle ride up the strip in the Santa Pod 2-seater dragster.

21st April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Zimmermann Retires After More that 40 Years of Leading Ellerbrock

Klaus Zimmermann has retired from headling Ellerbrock Reifenrunderneuerungs Technologie GmbH, in order to “dedicate time to his private life.” Mario Marangoni, president of Ellerbrock’s parent company (Marangoni Spa) and Giovanni Marangoni, President of Marangoni Pneumatici Spa, presented him with a commemorative plaque as an expression of their esteem.

From 1980 to 2005, Klaus Zimmermann was Managing Director of Ellerbrock, heading the company from the beginning of the partnership with the Marangoni Group until the takeover of Ellerbrock GmbH by Marangoni in 1992. During this period, his managerial role was always distinguished by great enthusiasm and detailed knowledge of the truck retreading market, both in Europe and abroad. He was widely recognised for his professional credibility and greatly appreciated as a partner by both customers and colleagues.

11th April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Production to Continue at Ellerbrock Despite Fire Damage

Easter was not such a joyous affair for the German retreading materials producer Ellerbrock, whose facility near Hamburg was partially destroyed by fire on Easter Saturday morning. The factory was not operating over the Easter break, however two employees from the nearby production plant heard a fire alarm sound at about 11am and attempted to extinguish the fire themselves. When it became apparent that their own efforts would not be sufficient, the fire department was called.

25th March 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Marangoni: ‘Maxo is top Choice for Lifestyle 4x4s’

Maragoni is aiming to fulfil the needs of so-called soft roaders with the release of a further 18-inch size. From school run, supermarket shop, Friday night dash to the seaside for the weekend or hauling horsebox to the pony club, Marangoni says its Maxo is the all-season tyre choice. However, at the same time Marangoni announced that the newly introduced Mythos 255/55 R18 is available for SUV drivers requiring an 18-inch size tyre.

With family drivers seeking proven safety and quality issues the Marangoni Maxo ticks all the boxes, says the Italian manufacturer’s promotional literature. At the heart of the Maxo’s design is Marangoni’s FOM-IC (Filler Optimised Mixture – Improved Compound) resulting in what the company calls “substantial increases in grip, performance and control.”

4th March 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Competing on the Premium Level

As a leading independent retread operation, Bandvulc Tyres has learnt to adapt its business model to the various market conditions it has encountered over the years. However, the Ivybridge, Devon-based family business remains unwilling to compromise on either quality or the ambitious targets it sets itself. With production expected to be around 200,000 units this year and having attained IS0 14001 in 2007, the company now aims to set the pace in terms of environmental tyre production.

One of managing director Patrick O’Connell’s targets for 2008 is to increase international sales. Bandvulc’s
number one target market is Germany, something that is evidenced by the fact that the company appointed a German speaking salesperson to cater specifically for this market at the end of last year. Bandvulc currently exports a total of around 5 per cent of production and has been selling tyres in Germany via the well-known, Conti-owned retail chain Vergoelst for four years now. O’Connell is very
positive about progress in the market: “Germany has a lot of potential,” he commented.

Bandvulc punches above its weight in terms of tyreproduction and development too. Speaking to Tyres & Accessories in late February, managing director, Patrick O’Connell revealed that Bandvulc re-invests £1 million a year into its manufacturing process alone.

As far as product development is concerned, the fact that Bandvulc does all its own compounding through its Devon Rubber division means the company is well-positioned to develop the new low rolling resistance compounds fleets now demand. In order to fulfil these demands Devon Rubber recently started using a specialist carbon black in its tread compounds and, as a result, all Bandvulc tyres are expected to benefit from the wear characteristics it provides.

Bandvulc is also using some of the latest digitised tyre footprint analysis systems and as a result will soon launch a number of updated products which have been optimised to improve mileage and handling characteristics. This range of tyres is known as the Plus range.

Equipment investments

The latest machinery update at Bandvulc is the addition of a new high speed shearography machine from Steinbichler in Germany. According to the company, casing shearography has been shown to save on inprocess rejects due to casing failures which would otherwise not be detected until each tyre is finally inspected before leaving the factory.

Following its installation, this £150,000 machine is now handling 250 (mainly 385 width) casings daily. Through further automation and potentially extending the period of operation, this will increase the quantity processed close to 80 per cent of total volume through the manufacturing facility.

However, the machinery upgrades don’t end there. During Tyres & Accessories’ factory tour, O’Connell revealed that Bandvulc is currently upgrading its entire collection of curing presses (42 in all). So far, the company has already installed and is running five bagomatic presses which are monitored in great detail by a bespoke-designed piece of computer software.

In addition to the sheer scale of curing presses that are installed, the fact that the Ivybridge plant is the only retread production site in Britain that uses three Marangoni Alpha Twin tyre building machines demonstrates Bandvulc’s quality orientated production philosophy.

Casing the joint

All retreaders need a steady supply of quality casings. That’s why at any given point Bandvulc has a stock of around 20,000 casings in its yard pre inspected. During the checking procedure, detailed notes of damage, husbandry and usage are stored in the company’s unique CCC (centralized database) system. To date this system has logged 10 years worth of inspections, relating to literally millions of casings. And all this gives Bandvulc a deep insight into the manufacturing consistency of various tyremakers’ overseas operations. It also enables the retreader to select from a wider range of casings than some retread producers. This gives the company the flexibility of reusing the range of tyres that may be fitted to a fleet’s vehicles.

Following inspection all tyres are barcoded using Bandvulc’s unique ‘Merlin’ product tracking system, which was installed last April. Next, approved tyres are conveyed to an adjoining building where casings are buffed down on 4 TRM computer automated machines (after inspection all casings are transported around the factory on an overhead monorail system). Following repair in one of Bandvulc’s eight “knights of the round table” themed repair bays, tyres are once again checked for defects including nail holes, using Hawkinson machinery.

After curing, the newly reborn tyres go through a post production test procedure that includes visual test, inflation test and the less common sonic testing. The latter sees the newly cured and trimmed tyre submerged in water and then showered with ultrasonic frequencies in a process not dissimilar to the ultrasound scans expectant mothers have. According to O’Connell, this technique is more effective than any other at detecting porosity. Again the software was designed by Bandvulc and custom produced for the independent retreader.

Greener than green

At the beginning of last year Bandvulc began an 11-month long project to obtain ISO 14001 certification. This was headed up by Matteo Littera, the company’s then Knowledge Transfer Partnership graduate. According to Bandvulc every single one of the 250+ workforce in Ivybridge was involved in its implementation.

While many manufacturing companies have achieved ISO 14001, what is unusual about Bandvulc is its whiter than white transparency about the details of its green policy, and the company’s attention to detail in this respect. How many other companies volunteer the information that switching the company boiler system to automatic start will save 443,136kWh per year (83 tons of CO2)?

Bandvulc’s Green thinking approach stretches as far as the boardroom, with company management keen to highlight the fact that its retreads have saved (at the time of going to press) 2 million litres of oil and 1.3 million kilos of rubber this year alone. Outside of the boardroom, Tyres & Accessories heard that certain senior managers’ company car choice is now heavily influenced by the amount of CO2 vehicles emit. Even company literature is printed on recycled carbon neutral paper!

29th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Santa Pod Partnership Marks Marangoni’s 2008 Tuning Market Offensive

Following its debut appearance at Autosport International, Marangoni Tyre is aiming to build the brand through a title sponsorship agreement with the ‘speed’ venue. The sponsorship deal sees Marangoni and Santa Pod Raceway joining forces, linking high performance rubber with the adrenaline-pumping motor sport venue. The Marangoni message is set to reach over 60,000 performance-minded drivers during the Summer show season.

14th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

MTNA Creates New Sales Region, Appoints New Managers

Marangoni Tread North America (MTNA) reports that it experienced record sales in 2007 and anticipates continued incremental growth. The company adds that increasing its salesperson to dealer ratio is viewed as a priority, and thus MTNA has created an additional US sales region, to give the company a total of four; Northeast, Southeast, Central, West. A new region sales manager, Doug Edwardsen, will be responsible for the newly established Central region. Edwardsen, a former Bandag Executive, has worked within the tyre and retreading industry in the US and Canada for over 25 years and possesses, reports MTNA, extensive experience in the distribution and development of fleet and dealer sales.

14th January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Marangoni Aims to Take Tuning Market by Storm

Marangoni has announced major sponsorship deals with Santa Pod Raceway at Autosport International 2008. This begins with Marangoni being title sponsor of the first major tuning show of 2008, The Fast Show on 9 March, then associate sponsor of Jap Show on 22 June. Marangoni will then be title sponsor of 3-day USC tuning show between 1 – 3 August 2008. Marangoni is making its debut appearance at Autosport International in association with Santa Pod Raceway on Stand 12790 in the ‘Piston Head Halls’ (11 and 12). Highlighting the Marangoni presence will be the sensational headline-grabbing Progetto Marangoni Toyota Yaris that has uniquely linked the go-faster, tuning and enthusiast markets directly with a leading European tyre manufacturer.

11th January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors