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NEWS
ReTyre Funding Approved
Uniresearch has announced that the RETYRE project has been finally approved by the EC. The Commission will now prepare the final document, the Grant Agreement, which will contain the final description of the work to be carried out. It is anticipated that all necessary documents will be signed by the end of November with a view to the project commencing on December 1st.
The project is necessary to assist small to medium retreaders compete legally in the future market, and enable them to comply with tyre labelling regulations. Retreading Business carried an extensive analysis of the Re Tyre proposals in its most recent issue. (2011/3), which is available to registered readers on our website (www.retreadingbusiness.com) BIPAVER, the European Federation of Retreading Associations, has been looking to find ways of testing
retreads for noise, wet grip and rolling resistance for several years, in order to protect the retreading industr y against the negative effects of future legislation.
At BIPAVER’s annual general meeting in Bologna, the Federation, in announcing that they had achieved initial approval for the 2.5 million Euro project and were now due to attend a final negotiation meeting to secure the necessary funding, left members in no doubt that the ver y existence of retreading within the EC was at stake, should the project not be successful.
Part of the problem is that the EU has established new regulations. One is the General Safety Regulation 661/2009, which replaces 92/23, our tyre bible, as of November 1, 2017. This regulation is related to the Type Approval of vehicles and their components, including tyres, and operates by defining families of products and
testing the worst case product within each group. Once the worst case product is compliant, the whole group receives type approval. Without type approval retreaded tyres will become a thing of the past.
The second important piece of legislation is 1222/2009, the labelling regulation, which becomes effective in 2012. Here the situation is more complex. The Eco-labelling of a series of tyres requires the noise, wet grip and rolling resistance value of each tyre to be ascertained. However, since retreading is not a mass-production process and because retreads can be composed of a wide variety of treads and casings, with many variables, retreading tyres would, in principle, need testing individually, an obvious impossibility.
With testing in the region of 5,000 Euros per tyre, the position is clear. The retreading industr y must find,
within 4 years, a way of labelling retreads to the satisfaction of the authorities if SME retreading in Europe is to survive.
The Retyre Project
The aim of the testing programme, which will take place under the Retyre Project is to create an IT-tool, which will allow BIPAVER to provide retreaders with predictive information on the likely wet grip, noise and rolling resistance values of their retreads without them having to test every single tyre. By carrying out a series of measurements, an algorithm will be able to be produced as the basic element for this IT-tool. The idea is that the use of this algorithm will become a part of ECE 109. In other words, every retreader within the EC will need to access the algorithm in order to be able to print Eco- labels and hence to produce retreads that are legal under EU legislation.
Matteuzzi Reaches 1000 RAS 90DCs
Matteuzzi srl has announced that its popular computerised buffing machine, RAS 90DC has now sold over 1000 units globally, a reflection of the Bologna based company’s strong position in the market. Emilio Matteuzzi, who is always difficult to pin down at any trade show , was proud to talk about the enduring popularity of the machine. “We launched the RAS 90DC over 21 years ago”, he said, “but the machine is still very popular”. Matteuzzi were again one of the few companies to display machinery on their stand. However, one machine the
company was keen to emphasise was the Tilting Rotator 451, intended primarily as a skiving station and aimed at larger retreaders for whom labour efficiency and worker safety are paramount. The machine was first demonstrated a year ago but initially had a skiving unit combined into the machine. However, according to Matteuzzi the tilting unit has been more popular as a stand-alone unit. In addition to skiving the Tilting Rotator is also useful for putting reinforcements in the shoulder area of the tyre.
Italmatic Takes Over MGT Italy
Italmatic Italy has taken over MGT Tyre, a leading company in the production of OTR and aviation tyre retreading equipment, by taking over the brand and the related technology and know-how.
Dr. Massimo Ghitturi, CEO of Italmatic Italy, points out that the takeover of MGT is a further important step in the investment program in technology and human resources, to become the leading company in the worldwide retreading equipment market. “Today MGT and Italmatic customers” says Dr. Massimo
Ghitturi, “have available the best and latest technology supplied by the most experienced group and this combination assures the best service and performances”.
After having appointed Mr. Stefano Staico as new Sales Manager for retreading equipment, we can now count also on the support and co- operation of Mr. Fabrizio Manfredi, Managing Director of MGT Italy and today the Italmatic team is one of the most professional and skilled in the world.
Italmatic Italy, with over 7500
machines working all over the world, has specialized since 1966, in the supply of complete retreading plants and accessories for the retreading of any tyre and, with the acquisition of MGT Italy, has the most advanced range of computerized equipment for OTR retreading up to 63” and aviation tyres.
MGT Optima One 63” is the most advanced 8 axis extruder strip winding building machine, peeling, buffing, grooving for
OTR from 26.5R25 up to 55/90R63 (including 70/70R57) which, combined with an Italmatic autoclave, can satisfy the requirements of the most demanding OTR retreaders.
8 Retreading Business