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NEWS EXTRA
Buying Decision Pays Off
Marix Energeco Looks to Meet Labelling Requirements
A year after seeing the Easy Stacker at Reifen 2012 Ants Astover finally took the decision to invest in increased efficiency in its warehouses by acquiring an Easy Stacker.
Sepa Rehv OU is Recamic retreader and its sister company in Tartu, Hinkus AS, is one of the biggest tyre dealers in Estonia. Its main focus is on retreading truck tyres and selling and servicing other tyres. They know what it takes to run a warehouse efficiently and organised in order to stay competitive. Both companies are now using the Easy Stacker 1200.
The tough winters in Estonia make it especially crucial to have an efficient organisation. “If the winter does not come as expected we can have serious challenges,” Ants Astover explains, and continues, “So the Easy Stacker also helps us to respond faster in these situations where the activity is peaking.”
Once the decision to invest in the Easy Stacker 1200 was made, it was promptly supplied by the dealer for the Estonian market, Awre OU. And it was received well: “It was exceptionally easy to get used to the new Easy Stacker,” 36 year old driver Roman Samsonov explains, and
continues. “Usually a new attachment can be quite hard to get used to. The operation might be rather difficult and it takes months of training. With the Easy Stacker 1200 it was different. It took me about a week to learn how to operate it. It was really easy.”
Having used the tool for 6 months, it has proven to give Sepa Rehv OU and Hinkus a number of advantages. Astover explains; “Loading and unloading now takes about half the time compared to before. Moreover, handling of tyres is now much safer - before the stacks often fell over when using just the forks for unloading.” “Also, now only 2 people are needed when loading the truck or warehouse with truck tyres. We are saving at least 50 per cent,“ he states with a smile. Now his companies can sell more tyres and service more customers. They do not need to worry about safety and tyres running loose in the warehouse.
“I am very happy to recommend the Easy Stacker 1200 to any retreader around the world. Feel free to contact me on the following number: +37 25 159 279.” Ants Astover concludes.
The increasing attention long-distance transport fleets are now paying to reducing fuel consumption is clearly evident by observing the changes in size, aerodynamics and engine capacity of recently registered vehicles.
Further confirming the significance of this factor along the entire component supply chain is the priority on reducing rolling resistance compared to the other aspects defined by truck tyre labelling, in other words wet grip and noise.
The principal tyre manufacturers have for some time now been committed to improving performance in this regard in the segments and applications where it has the greatest impact, specifically long-distance transport, without however excessively penalising improvements in other characteristics, such as traction, wet grip and the duration. The retreading sector, which already ensures significant environmental benefits by reducing the consumption of raw materials and energy, is also gearing up to respond to the planned extension of the labelling requirements to retreaded tyres. While the reasons for extending the requirements are self-evident, the actual procedures for applying these have yet to be defined.
Considering the size of the retreading market (currently in Europe around 6 million truck tyres are retreaded each year) and the potential for development that still exists in numerous markets and certain segments, failure to apply the labelling requirements to retreaded tyres would, in the long term, be negative for the sector, making the functions, qualities and image of the products more anonymous.
Awaiting introduction of these legislative changes, Marangoni Commercial and Industrial Tyres has initiated an important development and innovation program for its MARIX range of retreaded truck tyres, with the objective of improving the performance of one specific parameter - rolling resistance - which will be a decisive factor in the decision making process for
professional users and fleets operating over long distances.
Marketed under the Energeco brand, which conveys the objective of energy savings and low environmental impact that are typical of retreaded tyres, the MARIX range of retreaded tyres for long distances covers a wide selection of the truck product catalogue, and has recently been upgraded with the objective of achieving equivalent levels of rolling resistance to new tyres.
This has been made possible by adopting a series of measures and innovations involving both the product and the process. The development of treads with differentiated configurations has been the main focus of the work carried out at the Marangoni Research and Development centre, using both the company’s own tyre tester and measuring footprint pressure distribution during testing.
Using this technology, it is possible to achieve constant rolling resistance levels, even in the presence of casings having different characteristics in terms of age, use and original pattern. At the same time, checking that pressure on the footprint is uniform allows mileage to remain unchanged in the different segments of application.
With a catalogue including over 56 references and 33 sizes, evenly distributed between the different axles, the MARIX Energeco range of retreaded truck tyres offers a solution for the needs of all users operating over long distances, and includes an increasing variety of models available in the bead-to-bead version to ensure a perfect finish and impeccable appearance of all the tyre’s components.
Marangoni manufactures its retreaded truck and earthmoving tyres at its Rovereto plant (Trento – Italy). Distributed on the Italian market through an extensive organisation that deals with both sales and the collection of used casings, the MARIX range is also available in most of Europe, either through direct subsidiaries (France, Germany) or specialist distributors.
Goodyear Activates E-Casing
Goodyear has added to its retread customer service with an area on www.tireportal.com devoted to the management of casings and retreaded tyres. This service has been rolled out in Italy.
This new service will allow customers to manage independently and quickly, a number of important activities, including: the creation of purchase orders for retreaded tyres under processing and exchange
standards, the creation of orders for carcasses taken for examination, the monitoring of the status of the order for each carcass, the historical archive of carcasses sent and useful references for the billing of carcasses sent.
E-casing is available in the "Support" area and is already active for all clients in the network Truck Force, the network of affiliated dealers Truck Goodyear Dunlop Tires Italy.
Marangoni’s New Tyres Venture for Sale
One of this writer’s first tyre factory visits was to the Marangoni plant at Anagni and the enthusiasm of the team at the plant was palpable. They were taking on the world and they felt that they could not only match
the competition on quality, but they could best them on price. This was a business where the staff loved their roles, they had taken ownership of the tasks ahead.
Many, of course, had been re-