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NETHERLANDS
Eef Brinks points out the quality of finish on one of the specialist OTR tyres
pre-cure are large in diameter but instead of cassettes of 12 or 20 tyres they will take perhaps just 2 or three agricultural tyres at a time. The company added to its press line in 2012. In a move to develop its presence in the larger OTR sector, Obo set out to buy two CIMA presses capable of handling up to 26.5 inch tyres, and ended up with the two presses it intended to purchase, plus another eight smaller presses that bolstered the production line. In one move Obo went from having seven presses to seventeen.
Eef joked, “It is typical, you send someone out to buy one thing and they come back with more than you asked for. However, the additional presses have increased our production. With more presses there is less necessity to change the moulds and we can carry out longer production runs of one type of tyre, or multiple production runs at the same time.”
Having come so far, where does Obo see the challenges and opportunities in the future? “We see opportunities, only opportunities.” Says Eef, “We have a wide and varied range of products and often specialise in fields where our competitors have no offer, or do not have the ability to compete. We can do short runs, so we can specialise in the unusual and the specialist. We are specialists and we have solutions for the market.
Ursula: “We see the future in our green image. What we offer is environmentally beneficial and the market we deal with, especially the agricultural market is increasingly conscious about its environmental impact. It uses the green argument to support its production, processing and sales; everything has to be green. You can see the emphasis of the green on our banners and it is no accident that we are presenting a green image.”
It is certainly true in the Netherlands that the environment is to the fore almost everywhere you look. Farmers advertise Bio- this, and Bio- that, even on the hotel
menus you will find an emphasis given to environmentally sourced
produce. In such a market it becomes essential that the very tyres used on the agricultural equipment are also green, and Obo is providing a solution to that demand, certainly in the Netherlands.
Evidence of the success of the green approach is that Obo offers two standards of quality, a standard quality and OBO Ecotrac. The latter uses a better compound of top quality rubber for the tread and offers better wear and increased mileage.
Another speciality from Obo is its recycling of aircraft tyres. Aircraft tyres are often retreaded several times before being scrapped. However, a scrapped aircraft casing is often still suitable as a high
quality flotation tyre retread for use in agriculture and Obo has built a reputation for remoulding aircraft tyres for agricultural use.
Obo Banden may not be the largest player in the retread market, however, it has a growing reputation and a growing presence in the grasscare, industrial and agricultural sectors, and with the continued enthusiasm of its management team Obo is sure to take on the opportunities that the market offers in the coming years. As Europe pulls itself out of the recession, Obo Banden is sure to be in a strong position to grow even more prominent.
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