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NEWS
Retread Multi-Piece Cushion Technology Captures Industry Honour
A Goodyear innovation designed to extend the life of truck tyre retread cushion without sacrificing quality and performance has been named “Tire Manufacturing Innovation of the Year” by Tire Technology International. The Retread Multi- Piece Cushion technology was awarded by an independent, international jury of tyre professionals, engineers, and academic scholars.
“Goodyear is focused on delivering market-driven innovation to our customers and consumers around the world,” said Jean-Claude Kihn, chief technical officer for The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. “We are honoured to once again be recognized by Tire Technology International for the innovative Multi-Piece Cushion technology, which will be highly valued by our customers.”
The only product of its kind in the
tyre industry, Goodyear’s Multi-Piece Cushion contains three distinct layers, according to Jay Hofner, general manager, retread, for Goodyear’s North American Tire business.
“One of these layers is a barrier extending the product’s shelf life,” said Hofner. “This is a big advantage for Goodyear Authorized Retreaders.” The Multi-Piece Cushion’s other layers, he noted, consist of carefully selected ingredients that, when mixed together, complete the curing package. Multi-Piece Cushion is heat-resistant, eliminating the need for refrigeration, another advantage for Goodyear Authorized Retreaders. “And its round shape is unique, making it more user-friendly,” noted Hofner. “Traditional truck tyre cushion gum is flat, with edges and corners that can stick to other layers of cushion gum.”
Bridgestone Sets Up Retread Plant in Taiwan
Bridgestone has set up a TBR tyre retreading plant in the Fengchou Industrial Zone, Centre Taiwan, according to the China Economic News Service (CENS).
With an investment of NT$110 million, the new factory, which was officially opened on 15th Feb, is Bridgestone’s first retreading facility in the country and the company has set up a new business division to handle the tyre retread market.
According to CENS, a Senior Manager of Bridgestone Taiwan said that the decision to set up the tyre retreading plant at their Japanese headquarters was driven by the responsibility to protect the global environment. However, the manager stressed that the Taiwan plant will retread only Bridgestone TBR tyres from local tyre shops plus imported
Bridgestone casings.
A Bridgestone executive said that currently the plant has only one curing line with an annual capacity of 12,000 TBR tyres. The capacity will be increased according to demand.
CENS quoted that based on the domestic industr y sources, Bridgestone, Michelin and Maxxis are the three most popular brands of TBR tyres in the country. The establishment of the new Bridgestone plant is expected to affect the 12 local retread tyre producers.
Bridgestone’s retread tyres cost roughly 50 per cent less than a new tyre and last about 80 per cent as long, reported CENS. However, they are about 5 per cent more expensive than Michelin retreads.
CBM to Open New Retread Plant in Jakarta
Indonesian retreader CBM, the largest Goodyear dealer in Indonesia, has announced plans to build a new retreading plant in
in Suribaya and Kendiri respectively, producing a combined total of around 3,000 tyres per month.
Jakarta for completion later this year. The plant, according to CBM Director Sentot, is being built partly in response to Goodyear’s request for CBM to manufacture Goodyear retreads and will have a capacity of 1500 tyres per month. The new plant will be the company’s third factory. Previously a Bandag dealer, CBM has partnered closely with Kayel Rubber and Newera Equipment since 2000 and has two factories
According to Sentot, CBM’s plan is to develop and network of retread plants, each with a relatively small production capacity. “I don’t like the idea of huge retread plans”, he says. “I prefer to be close to the customer. If you produce too many, it’s not easy to produce quality”.
Sentot is pictured third from the right with Kayel representatives at the recent Tyre and Rubber show in Jakarta.
The Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau (TRIB) recently completed a multi-month project with the US Department of Transportation (DOT) to update their Retread Plant Code Database.
The database now has accurate plant details, including identifying plants no longer in operation. TRIB says this will allow the industry to re-use thousands of retread plant codes and avoid having to re-tool for a four-digit plant code.
TRIB, its board of directors, and members of TRIB pored through the almost 6,000 retread plant codes. Through various means of
communication and verification, they identified 5,023 plant codes that were no longer in use and could be recycled.
“Through this process, we also discovered two plants that were inadvertently using the same plant code and we worked with DOT and the plants to correct this issue," said TRIB Managing Director David Stevens. "We're glad that we were able to work with them to bring the database up to date, allowing for the re-use of thousands of retread plant codes and prevent the need to move to a four-digit plant code.”
TRIB, DOT Update Retread Plant Database
12 Retreading Business