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Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard
End of an Era in Wissembourg
The conclusion of the
story of Gummi
Mayer Wissembourg
(Alsace) came to the
end of its final
chapter with the
demolition of its
premises in October.
Gummi Mayer
Landau, a German
rubber and retread
manufacturer was
first established in
Germany by Hans
Mayer in 1919, and established its Wissembourg plant in 1960.
The plant specialised in the retreading of tyres. It was burnt to the ground in 1965 and at one time employed 300 staff.
The French operation of Gummi Mayer rebuilt the 15,000 square metre plant and in 1980 Gummi Mayer was a European market leader producing up to 10,000 retreads per day, the Wissembourg plant with, at that point, 150
employees produced 1,000 tyres per day.
However, a change in the market and an economic downturn saw the rapid demise of the plant and it closed in the mid 1980's. Gummi Mayer, however, retained a small sales operation from the same site until the company filed for bankruptcy in 1996.
The plant remained as a landmark until October 2010 when it was demolished to make way for a new development.
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RTA Asks Australian Prime Minister to Aid Retreading
should, become a part of the tyre program for their fleet,” he says. Brodsky says as well as a speakers’ bureau of industry experts, the RTA can arrange Australian tours of retread plants. “We hope you will take steps to
aggressively promote the use of retreads on all Australian government vehicles as a smart way to help save taxpayers money, without sacrificing safety, performance or handling of the vehicles,” he says.
The American-based Retread Tyre Association (RTA) has weighed into Australia’s political scene, sending an open letter to Prime Minister Julia Gillard asking her to encourage retread tyres on government vehicles.
RTA Managing Director Harvey Brodsky says there are numerous economic and environmental benefits in using retread tyres for cars, trucks and buses by private and publicly-owned vehicles. Brodsky admits retread tyres suffered from a poor reputation previously but he says current techniques have improved retread quality.
“Retreaded tyres produced by today’s top quality Australian retreaders look like new tyres and perform beautifully, with a safety record as good as the very best
new tyres, and at a far lower cost,” Brodsky says.
“Retreads are also extremely environmentally friendly, with one of the highest post-consumer contents of any recycled product. “Thanks to the retread industry in Australia and other parts of the world, many hundreds of millions of gallons of oil are saved every year.”
Brodsky says retreaded tyres are used in multiple applications in Australia and elsewhere, including school and municipal buses, fire engines and other emergency vehicles and small package delivery vehicles.
“We will be happy to be contacted by any government fleet manager in Australia who has an interest in learning more about how retreads can, and
Angola's Retreading Kept at a Low Level
The Angolan government regularly gives young men coming out of national service funds to set themselves up in
business. A popular idea is to become involved in retreading and tyre repairing.
Many of these businesses take street front units and carry out their business alongside car mechanics and auto electricians on the street.
The volume of repair and retread is growing due to the poor quality of Angolan roads and the reluctance of drivers to spend money on new tyres, according to retreader Gonçalves Marcolino. he added that these small businesses can repair or retread up to 20 tyres per day, a jeep tyre sells at 1000 kwanza (circa £10), whilst a truck tyre sells at 3,000 kwanza (circa £20), considerably less than the cost of new tyres sold at the few new tyre dealerships in Angola.