Retreading
A small family business in southern Italy is achieving excellence in the tyre repair niche. Founded in 1980 by Giuseppe Ferrara’s family, the company is named RFP, but the brand is better known in the industry as Tap-Rap; a name that is synonymous with specialist and advanced know-how in repairs. What distinguishes Tap-Rap is not only its specialised product, but also its patented technology, which Ferrara calls "a real transplant surgery."
When US publication Popular Science Monthly enthused in March 1935 over “modern scientific methods” that enable a tyre casing to be “rebuilt” instead of discarded after a working life of 20,000 miles or so, the retreading industry was still a relative newcomer on the scene. It was less than 20 years since Oliver Rubber introduced pre-cure retreading, and when the Popular Science Monthly article hit the newsstands, one aspect of retreading remained very labour intensive – buffing a tyre was still partially carried out by hand, with steel brushes used to prepare the casing for retreading. This was soon to change; in the second half of the 1930s, a German named Nanno Collmann looked into ways of simplifying this part of the retreading process, and in 1938 his company introduced the world’s first specialised tyre buffing machine. Three quarters of a century later, the Collmann brand is still a name respected by retreaders the world over and the company, under new ownership, retains a strong interest in the sector.
Kraiburg reports that it has maintained its high annual customer satisfaction rating, roughly a year since the last analysis was done. According to the company, the news is confirmation that Kraiburg Austria’s customers are “very satisfied with their supplier of quality precure and hotcure materials.”
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European retreading industry organisation Bipaver is one of the five latest entities to join the Retread Tire Association. Membership in the US-based retreading association has now passed the 300-mark and, upon announcing the latest additions, Retread Tire Association managing director Harvey Brodsky commented that “we continue to be very pleased and gratified at the amount of support our exciting new association continues to receive from retreaders and others in the retread and tyre industries.
Earlier this month, Continental’s Malaysian operation, Continental Tyre PJ Malaysia Sdn Bhd, announced the official local launch of the Conti360° Fleet Services tyre management system. Currently the programme is offered in ten Malaysian states – Kedah, Penang, Perak, Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Selangor/Kuala Lumpur, Negeri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor – and Continental says it will expand Conti360° Fleet Services to the states of Sabah and Sarawak in the near future.
GT Radial has added two new sizes to its GAR820 regional all-position pattern tyre, increasing its medium sized truck portfolio. Initially available in 215/75R17.5, the brand has added 205/75R17.5 and 225/75R17.5. Two more sizes, 235/75R17.5 and 245/70R17.5, are currently in development and due for release later in the year.
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.
Steinbichler Optotechnik is a worldwide leading supplier of optical measuring and sensor technology. The ‘Intact’ tyre shearographic inspection systems by Steinbichler are used at numerous major names within the industry for the non-destructive testing of passenger car, truck, aircraft, OTR as well as Formula 1 racing tyres, and have proven their functionality around the world.
Quebec-based company Groupe Robert Bernard has inaugurated its new retreading plant. The facility, which is the largest of its kind in Canada, was built at a cost of $3 million and is the eighth retreading plant in the country to use Michelin Retread Technologies (MRT). It is the 80th MRT plant to open in North America.
Continental has much to talk about having recently begun a series of planned third generation commercial tyre launches with three coach and bus tyres. The third generation is being marked by an increased level of application specialisation in the commercial segment, the details of which can be found on pp. 52-53 of April’s Tyres & Accessories. The Conti Coach, for long distance travel, the Conti CityPlus, for regional, or intercity use, and the Conti Urban, which has been optimised for typical city-based usage. All three tyres are grouped under the more traditionally Conti-style product number, HA3, though increased branding is one of the focal points for Conti’s third generation.
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The heads of rival US retreading associations, the Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau (TRIB) and the Retread Tire Association (RTA), will both make an appearance at the China International Rubber Tire & Auto Accessory Exhibition (ChinaGRTAE 2013).
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Bridgestone Europe has released a new Bandag brand all-season coach and bus tread, a product claimed to offer “impressive mileage performance with [the] same tread depth and lighter to equal weight than its predecessor.”
Every three years Bauma, the international trade fair for construction machinery, mining machinery, construction vehicles and equipment, takes place in the German city of Munich. The show also serves as a focal point for tyre makers, wholesalers and equipment suppliers serving the off-road segment. And although many within Europe’s tyre industry are not experiencing the best of times at the moment, most Bauma exhibitors were nevertheless in very high spirits and saw themselves, as companies active within the OTR tyre sector, as an “island of the blessed” surrounded by a highly contrasting situation in the passenger car and truck tyre markets. Many exhibitors expressed hope of once again experiencing sound growth within their market segments in 2013, yet one thing was clear: Everyone in the market realises that, in the long-term, real growth will only take place outside of Europe.
Summing up its first quarter 2013 experience in a single sentence, Michelin states that in the three months to 31 March the “market environment was weak in Europe in passenger car and light truck tyres, disappointing in North America and expanding in the new markets.”
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