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PORTUGAL
EIB’s rubber compounding and twin mills is state of the art technology that is virtually fully automated
The gentler sex is more attentive to detail on the finishing and packing line
EIB - Portuguese for Retread Materials
compound.
“We had an example recently. A client had specified tread with a standard compound and the end user was reporting high levels of wear and damage. It seemed that the end user did a lot of work in quarries where the tyres were facing a great deal of abrasion. We mixed a harder wearing compound for his tread and found a solution where the customer and the end user were happy.”
The export market is where the future of EIB lies, Bruno adds, “We have agents in France and Finland, and have just added Ian Smith as our agent in the UK. We are looking for the right people to be our agents in other countries, especially in Northern Europe. We are looking for people who know the business, and who can add EIB to their portfolio.”
As a business built on supplying materials, largely to the retread sector, the impact of retread labelling must be of interest to EIB. “Indeed,” said Tiago, “The retread sector is still not sure about what will happen, or what can be done. The tyre manufacturers have solutions already so it can be done, but the independents retreaders
are lowering but there is not as much movement as we saw in previous years.
“The retread market has also dropped due to the crisis. Retreaders are seeing fewer casings coming in, and those that they do get are often used beyond the point of retreading. Companies with half a fleet laid up are cannibalising tyres from laid up vehicles to keep their best vehicles running. Eventually they will have to start buying retreads, but in the meantime the market is tight.”
EIB is a rubber compounder and the main hall is filled with a near fully automatic rubber mill with two compounding machines producing masterbatch for both EIB’s own use and for clients in both the hot and cold cure sectors. The company has invested heavily in plant and equipment and is in the process of upgrading some of its older kit, putting in a new mixing line. The compound retained for EIB tread making goes to the extruders where it is built up and pressed on one of the company’s tread presses. It was interesting to note that in this male dominated industr y the tread finishers were female operatives.
Empresa Industrial de Borracha, or EIB, is a Marinha Grande based supplier of rubber and rubber materials to the retread sector. The company is relatively young, being
Administrator of EIB adds, “We have the capability to manufacture whatever the client demands but we only produce good quality rubber products. We can adjust them for
started in 1988 as a small rubber producer, doing exactly as it does today, but on a smaller scale. The company has always produced tread and rubber compounds and very shortly after entering the market EIB decided to go into the export market, since then business has been built on growing the export trade.
“The initial exports were to Italy, which at the time still had many, many retreaders, and if the Italians could sell tread in Portugal, we could sell tread in Italy.” Said Bruno Carvalho, Sales and Marketing Manager, “However, today we no longer sell into Italy. Italians are looking for extended credit as the economic crisis bites and we don’t want to expose ourselves by giving extended credit. It is a risk that we cannot take.
“The Spanish market has been very good and remains strong and due to its proximity we can work the Spanish market from Marinha Grande, we don’t need agents, or a local office.
“We are also exporting to Morrocco, Dubai and Saudi as their retread sectors develop. There are also opportunities in the ex-colonies, but these can be difficult markets for many reasons but we are party to one proposed operation being developed in Mozambique.
Bruno continued, “The state of the market is not as good as anyone would wish. We need to get people to understand the issues with tyres, to improve retread use: To improve the demand for quality products. We don’t make cheap rubber at EIB, we make the best quality possible.” Tiago Coutinho, the Executive
adhesion, or wear resistance to suit customer needs, but we don’t drop the quality to gain sales in the budget sector of the market.
“It is important that clients understand that they cannot compare top quality with the low cost products from India or elsewhere. They have to understand that quality has long term advantages. Whilst the customers are all still looking at the price, it is important that they understand that by using EIB products they will still save over the longer term. Spending more saves more.”
Of course, the more retreads being sold, the more rubber and compound EIB sell, but quality has to be key. One of EIB’s larger clients is Goodyear, and the company supplies rubber to Goodyear in Germany, which then supplies it to its authorised retreaders, like Pneus do Alcaide about 20km down the road from Marinha Grande. EIB also supplies Continental with compound, so this Portuguese rubber manufacturer has made good inroads into the mainstream tyre manufacturing market.
Tiago points out, “Our big advantage over a tyre manufacturer is that we are big enough to produce a good volume, but small enough to be able to do custom batches of compound for specific purposes or to meet specific client demands. We can move faster than the big manufacturers and can work with individual retreaders to ensure that they get the compound that they want. If they have a customer problem, I can talk it through with them and we can always give them a solution through changes to the
need to establish some way of labelling their tyres. As things stand the manufacturers are drawing in huge volumes of casings for their own operations. The independent retreaders will have to reinvent themselves in order to survive. Labelling is both a threat and an opportunity.”
As a rubber producer, has EIB seen issues with rubber pricing? Have there been fluctuations in natural rubber prices that have impacted on the business? “This year the buying price for natural rubber has remained reasonably stable. The price varies but not as much as it did in the past: Depending upon what happens in the Middle East, that may drive changes in the market. At the moment the prices
“When we established the factory there was a shortage of male workers,” said Tiago. “So we used female workers. Over time we discovered that female workers are more attentive to the detail of the finishing and packing so we now tend to keep these roles for female staff. The male staff still operate the compounding and the heavier work around the plant.”
There are some 130 staff working at the EIB plant, and production of tread and rubber compound is in excess of 10,000 tons per year.
22 Retreading Business