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INDIAN RUBBER EXPO
The Effect of Technological and Legislative Developments in the Field of Retreading By David Wilson
Towards the end of 2012 the Indian rubber Institute and All India Rubber Industries Association very kindly invited me to chair a workshop on developments in tread rubber compounding and retreading technology as a part of the Indian Rubber Expo and Tyre Show, which took place in Mumbai on 23rd January 2013. As it happened I was
laid low with influenza during the majority of January and was unable to attend the Conference, which was a major disappointment to me. However, my thanks must go to Mr PK Mohamed of Apollo Tyres, who presented the paper I had prepared on my behalf. I have reproduced the whole of my report here, amended slightly for the printed medium.
David Wilson
The Indian tyre market is on the threshold of great change. Radialisation at last has begun to be accepted and is growing apace. There are plans for significant infrastructure improvements, which may see the chaotic traffic scenes typical of India being replaced by free- flowing, modern highways. The new tyre manufacturers, both domestic and overseas, are investing heavily in radial tyre plants. Make no mistake about it. The Indian market is important, especially the commercial vehicle sector. Today it counts for 10 per cent of the world market. On its own the market is as big as that of Europe. And one thing is
certain – If the new tyre market changes then by necessity the retread market will change with it.
In India the wider acceptance of radial tyres will be the driver for
change in the market. The advent of radial tyres, of course, was a technological innovation, arguably the greatest innovation in the history of the tyre industry. Undeniably, for many reasons, which I will go into later, it has taken a while to take off in India, but nevertheless it is “technology” that is forcing the change, which brings us onto the subject of this presentation: “The effect of technological and legislative developments in the field of retreading”.
Technology and legislation have historically, without doubt, been the key influencing factors for change in the global retreading market. What I plan to look at in this presentation is what changes are in store for Indian retreaders and what the retreading industry needs to do to make the most of these changes. In doing so I will be
taking an in-depth look at how technology and legislation have influenced the world’s two most developed markets, North America and Europe as well as what is happening in other developing markets around the world.
So let us start by having a more in-depth look at the global retreading market. As it
happens, North America is by far the largest retreading market in the world – nearly 30 per cent of the market in fact. It is a highly stable market with a particularly high retread to new tyre ratio. Indeed, in terms of its structure, it’s probably the most developed retread market in the world. Why is this so? Well let’s have a look at how the