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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Spanish Retreader Wins Business Award
Montana Retreaders Benefit From Rough Roads
At just 33 years of age, Alejandro Diaz, has been awarded with Spain’s National Young Entrepreneur Award. The award was presented by the Prince of Asturias National Young Entrepreneur Award, a prize awarded by the Spanish Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs for his already distinguished career in the field of sales and tyre retreading. Alejandro Diaz began in 2002 with a small tyre shop in Gijón and after buying the Baldajos Group, the company managed to
expand to the point of having tyre outlets in Oviedo, Gijón, Avilés and Tabaza.
Now this young entrepreneur’s personal effort is rewarded with the recognition of the National Young Entrepreneur, an extra motivation to continue expanding his horizons.
Alejandro currently employs 55 people and besides the outlets, this young entrepreneur has decided to diversify its business with the launch of a retreading plant located in Oviedo.
The enthusiasm and work, he says, are some of the keys to his success. Factors that have allowed him to succeed in the business and look to the future with optimism despite the current economic difficulties.
Rough roads in the oil patch
have been good to Billings,
Montana, tyre re-treaders.
Thousands of heavy loads
hauled over rough gravel roads
in the Bakken outback have
boosted demand for retreaded
tyres in Billings. Traditional
country songs talk about 18- wheelers. But king-size trucks
pulling four-axle trailers roll
along on 36 tyres. Tyres are
replaced as they wear out, not all at once. But a set of 36 new tyres costing up to $600 apiece could theoretically cost nearly $22,000, said Al Rees, manager of Hi-Mile Tire in Billings. The crucial steering axle always gets new tyres, he said. So, a pair of new front tyres and 34 retreads would cost about $8,000, saving the truck owner about $14,000 over buying new.
"All things considered, the years 2010, 2011 and 2012, those three years have been the busiest for us," said Rees, who has been servicing and selling tyres for 30 years in Eastern Montana. The largest retread operator in Billings is Tire Rama's Interstate Manufacturing on Fourth Avenue North, which can retread as many as 150 tyres a day. Recycling tires is the original green industry, said Interstate manager Dave King. "You're reusing that tire, rather
than sending it to the landfill," he said. The Bakken oil boom is bumping business up a bit, King said. But his team mostly retreads Bandag tyres for local trucking fleets like UPS and Sysco Foods.
On a smaller scale, L.P. Anderson Tire Factory's shop retreads about 40 tyres a week and a quarter of the recaps go to the Bakken. "We do a lot for the owner/operators, the independent operators," said general manager Jared McDermott.
Trucks hauling water or oil can retread tyres about three times. Trucks hauling lighter loads or driving better roads can do five retreads.With the huge savings, the business is highly competitive and the industry is consolidating.
"Over the last 10 years, there's probably been a reduction of 25 per cent of U.S. retread stores," said Dave