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THAILAND
Bumrungyang to Expand Tread Production
An early start from Bangkok saw this correspondent arrive in Chonburi early as a meeting had been fixed with Bumrungyang at 9 am sharp. I was welcomed by Vorasak Thongnopnua and his two daughters Vorapat and Varapit at Bumrungyang Ltd Part. When I asked later during the discussion about the reason for
manufacture around 45 tonnes of tread liner per month for in-house consumption at the mother plant at Chonburi as well as a smaller plant in the North East of Thailand. The company has two 24 tyre chambers from Scholz, Germany. The company also retreads around 100 – 150 OTRs per month.
production level, Varapit replied, “The local Thai people ask for higher wages and do not want to work in retreading plants. There is a shortage of manpower, otherwise we could hike the production level anytime.” Bumrunyang has a sizeable workforce from the adjoining countries of Burma, Laos and Cambodia.
Commenting on Thailand’s retreading industry Vorasak observed, “The hot process still has the lions’ share of 70 per cent and the rest is the precure process. Hot cure still has a large market in Thailand.” Moreover, the number of retreading companies that have entered the market in the last decade have started a price war in the market. “Most of these players do not have the same quality as we have, harming the interests of
retreading industry in the country,” said Vorasak.
According to independent estimates, the Thailand new truck tyre market is estimated at 2 million tyres annually. Bumrungyang retreads both truck and bus tyres. Meanwhile, Bumrungyang is likely to hike liner production in the coming year. “We could not commit to an exact timeline for the liner expansion as the region is facing this manpower shortage. We hope that things will improve in the near future, so that we can proceed with our expansion plans,” said Vorasak. The company has the required machinery for the proposed expansion of the liner production and is waiting for the manpower shortage to be relieved.
One of Bumrungyang’s two Scholz autoclaves
The new buffer from Matteuzzi still under wraps
the early meeting, younger daughter Vorapat confided with a smile that her father is a keen golfer and he came specially to meet me, after finishing here he would rush to the golf course. Over the years Vorasak has taken the back seat and the retreading and liner plant at Chonburi is nowadays run by his two daughters, while his son has another retreading plant in the North Eastern part of Thailand.
The Chonburi plant was set up 38 years ago in 1974 and is regarded as the first precure retreading plant to operate the Bandag system in Thailand. “We set up the plant under the title Bandag Mumrungyang Ltd Part., although in the same year Bandag was removed from the title. We remain focused on the precure version and have never thought of venturing into the hot cure process,” stated Vorasak.
He set up the plant after gaining some experience by working in a hot cure plant after finishing his education. “We now retread around 3000 tyres every month and also
Bumrungyang’s second plant in the north-eastern part of Thailand, run by the son, retreads around 1000 tyres per month. Claiming leadership in the Thai retreading industry, the company boasts of number of blue- chip accounts. “We manufacture the best tread liner in Thailand but have high production costs as a consequence,” claimed Vorapat, who speaks fluent English and studied along with his elder sister in the US. It also owns rubber plantations at about 55 km from Chonburi at a location called Rayong. The elder of the two sisters joined her father in the business about 15 years ago.
As part of a regular exercise, the company replaces the old machinery with the new. It has recently bought a buffing machine from Matteuzzi. “We will install the new buffing line by next month,” informed the elder daughter Vorapit while showing the unpacked buffing machine. Bumrungyang is also facing a labour shortage as are some other plants in the Chonburi area. When asked about plans for raising the
ARW to Buy Precure Equipment Production
From the hustle and bustle of metropolitan Bangkok, it seems that life stands still about 100 km from the country’s capital, where a combination of husband and wife duo runs a retreading plant. The picturesque plant location surrounded by lush green hills seems so unbelievable after spending couple of nights at Bangkok. Just outside the plant, there was hardly any vehicle moving compared to ver y normal kilometre long traffic jams just 100 km away in Bangkok. Interestingly, this correspondent was welcomed by the couple in an open enclosure near a water pool with few ducks enjoying their time: A far cr y from the industrial units in the city.
Aroonwan Retreading works
(ARW) is located in the central part of Thailand and retreads around 150 tyres per day by the both the hot and cold processes. It retreads the majority 2,500 tyres by the hot cure process and 1,500 by the precure process, retreading around 4,000 ever y month.
When asked about the future of the traditional hot cure process, Managing Director, ARW, Thapana Khaen Kham Thong replied, “The hot cure process is our core business and we strongly believe that it will never die in Thailand, it has still long way to go in this market. The region is a home to a granite quarr y. Hot cure is mainly preferred by trucks moving in the quarries for short distances.” ARW only retreads truck tyres
Skiving a casing prior to retreading
42 Retreading Business