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AFRICA
John Laskarides, Managing Director (sitting), Laurent Colrat, Marketing Director (Right Standing) & Jonathan David, Manufacturing Director, Bandag SA
The Bandag plant in South Africa
Bandag SA to Increase Distribution in 2013
Bandag Southern Africa (PTY) Ltd is supplying equipment to four new upcoming projects and is set to hike its franchise network in 2013. “We are working on four new projects, one in South Africa and 3 outside the country in the Sub-Saharan market,” informed Laurent Colrat, Marketing Director, Bandag Southern Africa. Currently, Bandag SA has a franchise network of 31 franchisees spread across South Africa and the Sub-Saharan market as well as 36 Bandag Truck Services (BTS) franchises. Bandag SA operates as an independent entity and has distribution rights to the African market south of the Equator. While key African markets such as Kenya and Tanzania are not in its domain and are catered for by Bandag Europe, Bandag SA services other major African countries which includes Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia, Mauritius, Reunion Islands and Angola.
Bandag SA began production of pre- cure OTR tread a few years back. “We started making OTR tread couple of years back and are supplying to an OTR franchisee in South Africa as well as exporting to a Malawi based OTR plant. Obviously, we are not into large volumes, we produce a bit and export a bit,” explained Laurent Colrat. Bandag SA plans to develop this market as it seeks growth outside the truck retreading dominion in which they are market leaders and innovators.
The South African operations of Bandag are locally owned by way of a management buy-out which took place during December 2004. Bandag SA operates under a technology licensing agreement, which includes new tread products and support from the parent company. “The move gives us a lot of operational independence; we now react quicker to the market, which is highly competitive in nature,” said
Colrat. The South African market is highly developed and dynamic in its needs and expectations. Bandag SA is working round the clock to maintain an edge over the competing players in the market, with new launches at shorter intervals and by improving efficiency levels. These are some of the key areas where independence brings handsome results.
Interestingly, since becoming an
independent entity, Bandag SA has succeeded in increasing its production volume by more than 25 per cent. The company has no plans to further hike its capacity in 2013 despite having the capacity to produce 900 tonnes per month. ”We have enough capacity to meet the demand in the home as well as the Sub-Saharan market,” stated Colrat.
Meanwhile, the company launched a new product – a regional drive pattern – BDRAS in 2012. “It is important for us to be innovative all the time and to maintain the enviable edge in the market,” Colrat stressed. Bandag has to launch new products at regular intervals to beat the imitators in the domestic market. Bandag controls 28 – 32 per cent of the pre-cure tread market in South Africa where around 80 per cent of its production is sold. Commenting on the market, Colrat said, “The market has been reasonably stable over the past five years.” He further termed the transport market as a blend of sophisticated fleets and not so sophisticated fleets. This country has first world transport companies and also third world transport companies. Therefore, it is a blend of both worlds.” He further added, “The overall transport market has been consolidating among the big players during the last 10 years.”
16 Retreading Business