KRAIBURG Austria has announced that it is co-operating with Bulgarian retreader Medina-Med regarding the expansion of the latter’s retread plant with the addition of a hot cure retreading facility.
Bulgarian Retreader Invests in Hotcure and OTR Retreading
KRAIBURG has worked as a partner of Medina-Med since the installation of the Bulgarian company’s first precure retread plant in 1996, and since last year the two companies have been working on the planning and installation of the new facility, culminating with the training of plant employees in recent weeks.
“We are very pleased that we are now able to supply Medina-Med with our high-performance compounds for the company’s own hot-cured retread brand REMEDINA in addition to our KRAIBURG designs,” Holger Düx, Sales Manager KRAIBURG Austria commented.
“Medina-Med holds a market share of about 30 per cent in Bulgaria, and this encouraged us to invest in the new plant,” explained Medina-Med’s owner Ivan Panchov. “This ensures that we get much-needed, high quality carcasses for the hot-cured retreads.”
KRAIBURG Austria has announced that it is co-operating with Bulgarian retreader Medina-Med regarding the expansion of the latter’s retread plant with the addition of a hot cure retreading facility.
The plant equipment includes an extruder, five presses and seven moulds. The 1.3 million Euro project was subsidised by the EU within the scope of the Poncho “EU Innovation and Competitiveness” programme.
This year, Medina-Med also started building a new, light-flooded factory hall to assure quality and competitiveness. A new buffing machine and an EM-autoclave are being added to the existing OTR production plant where the biggest OTR tyre in the world will soon be produced. The investment of around 1.5 million Euro is being subsidised to 55 per cent by Innovation Norway.
Medina-Med, founded in 1992 by Ivan Panchov and his wife Iliana in Stara Zagora, has invested continuously in its production facilities over the years. The first plant for cold retreads went into operation in 1996, and In 2002, the company invested in its first OTR machines. In 2005, a larger, modern truck retread plant was added as well as a buffing machine, a building machine, three autoclaves – and an inspection machine to improve the quality. Parallel to this, Medina-Med has expanded its service station network – from one in 2003 to eleven today located across Bulgaria. The company collaborates with all notable brand manufacturers across all tyre sectors including car, truck, agricultural and OTR. Medina-Med is certified in accordance with ISO 9001 and homologated in accordance with ECE-109.
Medina-Med has developed very successfully over the last three decades: Last year they achieved sales of almost 35 million Euro with a team of 211 employees. By comparison: Sales in 2006 were around twelve million Euro. Approximately 17,000 retreads (cold and hot) are produced or sold to customers annually, mainly in their own country.
In addition to its activities in the retreading sector, Medina-Med also has interests in tyre recycling. Together with a major tyre dealer, the company founded the Eco Mediana in 2014 and built up a recycling plant with a capacity of 27,000 tons of used tyres per annum.
“We always have our customers in focus and guarantee the best cost-benefit ratio with our premium retreads,” said Ivan Panchov. “In order to assure the best possible quality additionally to our initial inspection via shearography we have integrated a second shearography and high-voltage spectra into the final inspection. This makes us one of the few retread companies in Europe to make such huge efforts.
In all projects concerning retreads, Medina-Med has been working in close cooperation with KRAIBURG Austria since 1996. “We are convinced that KRAIBURG makes no compromises in quality and has the best patterns and compounds in their portfolio”, Ivan Panchov emphasises. By their participation in the stereography European legislation committees, KRAIBURG are also active in the drafting of new standards and specifications for products and processes. With this partner by our side, we feel well-equipped for the future.”
