Page 48 - RB-65-13-2

COMPANY PROFILE
Matteuzzi: The Name You Can Trust
There is a belief in the wider world of industry and commerce that in order to succeed a company must be a multinational corporation with all that goes with the bureaucracy of the corporate world. In today’s climate, the family business is a thing of the past.
No company exemplifies the misconception better than Matteuzzi srl. A family based business that is moving into its third generation and which provided the benchmark in tyre retreading and tyre manufacturing equipment for the global market. Matteuzzi has the reputation of being quite simply the market leader in quality and service, especially in the tyre retreading equipment sector. But the range of products Matteuzzi offers also includes machines for new tyre manufacturing and machines and complete lines for precured tread finishing.
Based in Bologna, just a kilometre or two from the city’s international airport, an unprepossessing building hides the presence of the company with the most envied reputations in the sector. Here, on a quiet street on an industrial estate Matteuzzi builds all the equipment that it supplies to the global tyre sector.
The company today is headed up by Emilio and Claudio Matteuzzi, sons of the founder Giulio, and family members take key roles in the business, ensuring that the long term future of the company remains in Matteuzzi hands.
The mechanical engineering has gradually changed and evolved over the years. The big changes have been
brought ahead by computer controls. Matteuzzi, encouraged and advised by the Matteuzzi agent for UK at that time, started using computer technology on purposely designed buffers some 20 years ago, when almost nobody believed in that technology applied to tyre buffing process. “We looked at the market and saw that there was a good opportunity for us. We sold our first computerised buffer to a retreader in Scotland and the 2nd to a company in Brisbane, Australia,” explained Emilio Matteuzzi.
“Now we can fix technical issues on the telephone or via modem. The machine user explain the problem in front of the machine, as well as allowing us to view the computer controls directly, and we can fix with many technical issues from the office in Bologna.
We have equipment in operation from Tierra del Fuego to Rekjavik, Fairbanks / Alaska, to China and Australia/New Zealand. We need to be able to contact operators and work with them without having to send engineers on flights halfway around the world to sort something we can fix from our technical department.
Computer technology has developed hugely over recent years. As Emilio says, “buffing machines with 23 year old computers can be upgraded to modern computer management, we have essentially a plug and play upgrade for older computer equipment.”
When retreaders run a Matteuzzi equipped plant, they have made the first grade of retreaders. They will be a manufacturer with a quality process, producing premium retreads which are essential for a retreading Company life.
Emilio says, “The customer is king to us and we always remember that and we provide the best manufacture possible and give the best support possible.
Matteuzzi’s computerised buffers are a market leader with over 1000 machines in operation around the world and the company sells 95 per cent of its production to a global market that includes some surprising markets such as North Korea where two complete Matteuzzi plants are in operation. Emilio Matteuzzi explains, “Since the beginning, our ethos has been to become an international player, this has given us an advantage over those producing for local or
regional markets. We started exporting to the USA in 1966 with our tyre inspection spreaders. 15 years ago we came across a couple of Matteuzzi spreaders from 1968, built by my father, and still in operation.
“The USA has become our largest single market, where we operate with Central Marketing as our agent. We now have 1000’s of pieces of equipment in operation in North America. There is also growing interest in Eastern Europe, South America and the Far East.”
Exporting on a global scale places a number of challenges and opportunities in the path of Matteuzzi. Was copying of the equipment a concern? “Initially we were concerned, but we had a change of view on this. People only copy the best, so copying in a way validates our quality. What we can do against people that copy our machines is to continuously improve the performance of our products and stay ahead from a technical point of view.
“Retreaders in most active markets are always changing. It is like a Leopard skin, there are spots everywhere,” adds Emilio, “Africa is a market with huge potential that is just starting to emerge as its infrastructure develops. Central America is becoming important, as are China and the ASEAN countries, but there is still growth in the older markets where retreading is rationalised and companies can invest in quality. The Middle East is developing, the Gulf States are now starting to deal with their waste and they are imposing strict quality measures for retreading. “The Gulf States are an important market for us and they all want the top level equipment. We have also seen increasing interest growing outside Europe in Australia and New Zealand, and that creates more opportunities for our global operations.”
One of Matteuzzi’s best selling lines, currently, is the “Spectra” nail hole detector installed on one of the Matteuzzi inspection spreader, which retreaders are finding is saving them lots of money by identifying problems such as nail holes, exposed wires and rusty cords on tyre casings, before the retreading process. It is a very popular piece of equipment that helps the retreader to avoid customer complaints. One of the largest clients for this is instrument is one of the most famous franchisers in Europe where premium quality retreads are important to whole life contracts for truck and bus tyres.
Metteuzzi is a company that is always looking forwards, aiming to grow and develop and one facet of that is the way in which the factory has been upgraded. For its 50th anniversary, Matteuzzi completely refurbished its offices and factory in Bologna: laying new concrete floors and hard standing, refinishing the exterior of the building, and upgrading facilities, so much so that the building looks brand new. Emilio outlines expansion plans that suggested not only a confidence in the company’s ability to survive, but a real belief that the future would bring ever bigger and better projects to the Matteuzzi fold.
Retreading has come of age. The market has been led by the drive to save on raw materials, particularly oil, and to cut fuel costs. The whole life tyre concept has become the industry standard. Retreading at high quality has been driven by SmartWay in the USA and by performance requirements in the EU. Whilst the days of the backstreet retreader may be numbered, the high quality premium retread sector is being driven by economic and environmental forces and that means that the industry has to set its manufacturing standards ever higher. That drives them towards Matteuzzi equipment.
48 Retreading Business