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WORLD NEWS
DPaschoal Invests R$200,000 to Gain INMETRO
Brisa Opens Propratick Chain
The Sao Paulo, Brazil based DPaschoal Group is striving to retain its market leading position as the leading truck tyre retreader in Brazil. Dpaschoal claims to retread more tyres than any of the other 1300 retreaders in the country; with an output of around 16,000 units per month. Currently the company is the
inspection in order for DPaschoal to retain its certification.
DPaschoal believe that companies that do not follow this same route are bound have to close their doors. "With the ordinance, the number of firms must fall by at least 30 per cent," noted Bartels. The manager acknowledges that the expenses
incurred by the group in meeting certification will have to be transferred to prices: Research by INMETRO shows that about 70 per cent of consumers would pay up to 10 per cent more for a certified tyre.
Also present at the event, Fábio Real,
an INMETRO expert in technical regulation for the automotive sector. Real explained that the manufacturers that do not follow the rules will still be able to produce the tyres if their units are not closed (if only some of the tyres are uneven), but they cannot market them, as this would place the safety of consumers at risk. The same rules apply to domestic and imported products.
According to Real, Brazil is the second largest retread market in the world, producing 15 million retread tyres per year. It is second only to the United States. INMETRO intends to inspect 90 per cent of the retreaders in the country periodically. It is, he admits, a difficult task, because the institute has only 150 inspectors to check all product segments.
In 2013, INMETRO inspected over 47,000 retread tyres. Of these, 3000 had some type of irregularity and 661 had to be withdrawn from the market. Also last year, of the 1900 retreaders visited by the institute, 790 were not up to standard.
Real acknowledged that there are flaws in the current process of supervision both of the plants and retreads, but he added that INMETRO is already trying to simplify procedures and reach more regions of Brazil. Real revealed that the institute is working for both new and retreaded tyres to carry the INMETRO seal, as already happens with vehicles participating in the Program Vehicle Labeling of the institute. The label attached to the tyres will include notes on rolling resistance, wet grip and noise level. INMETRO may even indicate how many times each tyre can be retreaded.
Brisa plans to increase its presence in the Turkish market by developing the chain across the country. The investment is targeted at improving market penetration and increasing sales to both the fleet and independent operators.
Brisa Commercial Products Marketing Director Zeki Bilsel, said in a statement, "In developed countries, in ever y industr y, the concept of specialisation comes to the fore. At Brisa, we are following this transformation and this will be closely followed by a customer
and bus fleets in the market will see customer expectations change. The customers will expect much more specialised services. For the fleet operators, fuel is the largest cost after tyres, so if we can provide proper tyre management we can reduce our customers’ costs. In fact, we are aiming for as high as a 40 per cent reduction in cost per kilometre.”
The Izmir store is the first of the chain, with another 10 to follow shortly. “In this way we will open Propratik stores to cover the whole
largest in the sector according to the Brazilian Retreaders Association (ABR). The group concluded investment of around R $ 200 thousand in its 11 retread units and hopes to increase business revenue by 10 per cent this year.
The investment has taken place since 2010 certifying of all of its plants according to Ordinance 444 of the National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Quality ( INMETRO ), which required that from November 2012 retreaders had to implement a strict system of process control and product quality control. DPaschoal got this certification and takes a step ahead of more than 600 Brazilian retreaders that have not yet obtained certification and are subject to fines, warnings and even the suspension of their activities.
At an event in Sao Paulo in January, Alex Silva, manager of DPaschoal services, explained that certification generates more credibility for the company and more safety for the consumer. "Even after 32 years of experience in this segment, which represents 10 per cent of our sales, we knew it was essential to update and standardise our procedures," he said.
According to Eliel Bartels, retread engineering manager of the group, the 18 months of work at the Group saw modified plant layouts, proper disposal of waste materials and updating of equipment. All 230 employees in the retread operation were retrained to meet the latest standards. "We raised both our standard of quality that of our retread operators to the same level as can be found at new tyre factories." Every 18 months both the plants and the operators will undergo INMETRO
related approach that will make us the first in the market. Our business partners are in the process of specialising in order to incorporate this change and develop the concept of Propratik.
Bilsel, in terms of Turkey's commercial vehicle park located between Europe 's largest markets expressed that, said, "Today, the rapidly increasing size of the truck
of the Turkish market and our customers will see a standardisation of products and services irrespective of where they are in the country. We will also be contributing to improved road safety by ensuring proper tyre maintenance in our clients’ vehicles.”
Tolins Develops Updated Website
Indian tread manufacturer, Tolins, has begun updating its website. The new look website will be easier tonavigate and offers clients an overall view of the company and its
products with details on camelback, precured tread, bonding gum and vulcanising solutions, tyre flaps, curing bags and envelopes, curing rope and repair patches.
58 Retreading Business
New VP at Bauer Built
Mike Weber started out at Bauer Built in June 1994 at the company’s Durand vehicle maintenance store. He has been director of manufacturing since 2012, where he supervised seven manufacturing facilities and four wheel finishing operations. On
6th of January 2014 Mike was promoted to Vice President of operations and manufacturing.
As vice president of operations and manufacturing, Weber will have added responsibility for store operations, the dealership said, where