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THAILAND
Wittaya Sakoldiloke, Asst Managing Director, Sompong Rubber Retreading Co Ltd.
Suppakit Jitmart, Managing Director of Kitkarn Yang Chonburi Co Ltd
Sompong to Double Compounding Capacity
Precure retreading is gaining popularity in Thailand and compounders and retreaders are expanding their production facilities to meet the demand. Having said that, the traditional hot cure process is in decline but still has a firm footing and has many more years to
and mixing mill for the proposed expansion,” Wittaya said. He added, “The construction will commence at the beginning of next year.” However, he declined to comment on the funds allocated for the expansion.
Sompong Rubber was set up in
solid tyres. Sompong began precure retreading in 2006, adding a tyre chamber in 2011 and it now has three operational chambers including two 24 tyre and one 12 tyre chamber. All the tyre chambers were sourced from Ferlex of Brazil, represented by Newera. It retreads bias truck tyres by hot cure, bias and radial truck tyres by precure and bias and radial OTR, agricultural and giant earthmovers by the mould cure process respectively.
In 1997, Sompong Rubber formed a separate group company TTR Rubber Co Ltd to produce all kinds of raw materials used in the tyre retreading processes and the rubber industr y ranging from precure liner, cushion gum, camelback, orbitread strips, sidewall veneer, extruder gum through to speciality rubber compounds. “We consume 70 per cent of the tread liner and 30 per cent is supplied to various retreaders in Thailand and exported to other countries,” Wittaya said. Interestingly, Sompong has also
acquired an expertise in retreading OTR tyres over the years and it claimed to be the first in Thailand to retread giant OTR mining tyres in size 2700R49, bringing back to Thailand OTR business that had previously been lost to Malaysia. “Previously, customers send this size of OTR tyre to Malaysia to be retreaded. It took almost two months to return the completed tyres. We do the same job in one month,” Wittaya stated. The OTR retreaded by Sompong are claimed to be good for 9,500 hours,
whereas the OTR retreaded in Malaysia were only good for 7,000 hours of operation. “We have tested both the OTR tyres and found ours better,” Wittaya claimed. Meanwhile, Sompong plans to establish its first distribution centre in the North-Eastern part of Thailand in the second quarter of 2013. The distribution centre should help it to serve its 300 dealers in Thailand quicker and with more efficiency.
go before it vanishes. Moreover, the bigger players, besides eyeing the domestic market, are also gearing up for the future prospects in the region with the formation of the Asian Economic Community (AEC) – a regional grouping of 10 countries.
Chonburi is home to Sompong Rubber Retreading Co Ltd, which is one of the biggest retreading, compounding and equipment makers in Thailand. “Currently, we manufacture 2,900 tonnes of tread rubber annually. With the growing demand of precure rubber in the Thai market, we are planning to further ramp up tread production to 4,600 tonnes by the end of 2013,” informed Wittaya Sakoldiloke, Asst Managing Director, Sompong Rubber Retreading Co Ltd. The company has already bought land and also finalised the equipment for the proposed expansion. “We are buying a new banbury, extruder line
1990 with the production of hot cure retreads and later diversified into marketing, supplying complete tyre retreading accessories and after sales service. When asked to explain the reason for expansion, Wittaya replied, “Our order book for compound surged by almost 30 per cent, forcing us to go for expansion.” Moreover, Sompong Rubber also plans to focus aggressively on the export market. “The regional grouping of 10 Asian Economic Community is coming up in 2015. We have plans to spread our export market through the group countries,” he emphasised. Currently, it is exporting to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Korea, Laos, Burma and Cambodia.
The company retreads around 6,500 tyres every month; 70 per cent by the precure process, 10 per cent by hot cure, while 5 per cent each of the total production is OTR and
Kitkarn to Double Precure Production
About 60 km from the Thai capital, the province called Chonburi is located on the Bay of Bangkok. The province is bounded by the Khao Khiao mountain range that stretches from the north-west
connecting road with few potholes. He slowed down in front of a big retreading plant. Just in front of the parking, there was an open enclosure covered with a shed. A young man was sitting on chair
to the south-east of the province, while the fertile plains of the north have long been used for farming. Laem Chabang, in the south of the province, is one of the few deep- water harbours of Thailand. My driver turned towards left from the main road going towards the beach resort Pattaya, it was not a good
made out of a tyre carcass (a good creative idea but it cannot be made for mass production as it keeps soiling the clothes) with his back towards us chatting on the telephone. My driver who was a regular visitor to the factory with a Newera representative murmured, “We are lucky to get this man, we
44 Retreading Business