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GERMANY
Rösler: Positive About the Future
The Rösler Headquarters at Dortmund
Dortmund-based Rösler is one of the leading off the road tyre specialists in Europe and it is steadily increasing its influence on the global market.
Rösler deals in its own retreads, produced by the Schelkmann process, sometimes referred to as the slow cooking process of vulcanisation. As specialists the company produces its own treads at its factory in Dortmund and has full control over the products that it manufactures.
The international market is important to Rösler, there is a limited market in the domestic off the road sector and the company needs to generate business from across Europe for its retread operation.
It is received wisdom that retreading needs to be a local operation, but local is relative when we talk about retreaded off the road tyres. Rösler holds contract to service off the road fleets throughout Europe and working with customers’ own casings has vehicles ferrying casings to clients in most northern European markets.
costs as a route to make savings. Against a premium brand a retread can give savings of 30 – 40 per cent.” Dennis explained that in addition to the success of the Dortmund retread operation the company had also been successful in developing the Schelkmann process as a product in itself.
The Indonesian mining operator PT PAMAPERSADA had taken on a Rösler plant to service its own equipment. This plant was established by Rösler and has been so successful that the company has now received a second water-autoclave from Rösler to improve its service to its fleet and cut costs further. With over 1000 100tonne trucks operating in very harsh conditions the company has some 6,000 tyres that need servicing. The client has seen that retreading keeps costs down and has become a firm believer in the process as an integral part of its fleet operation.
The Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan
operations are both mining companies that bought plant from Rösler. The Kazakhstan client operates copper mines that are perhaps the harshest environment for operations and here the company has contracted to Rösler to have us operate the plant on their behalf. It is working well, and since February 2010 we have been retreading about 1000 tyres per annum for the client.
There is a great deal of attention focused on Russia, albeit for
the wrong reasons at the moment, but the Ukraine issue aside, is there potential for development in Russia? “Russia is, of course, one of key markets for us.” Said Sladek, “The difficulty is that many of the Russian operators still use Belshina tyres and the quality is not really suitable for retreading at this stage. So, we can largely deal with the clients who use Michelin or Bridgestone, or we can supply on our own casings. Russia is a market with huge potential and we’re strategically positioning ourselves. On the long term it is our goal to establish a retread facility inside Russia.”
In Europe there are still some opportunities, they are ever more challenging but the opportunity to grow in the European market remains. It is of course about taking market share. “One of the issues, for us as it is for the other tyre sectors,”
says Dennis, “is the presence of Chinese tyres which are taking a share of the market. In tight economic times people often look at the immediate saving rather than the longer term saving. So a cheaper Chinese tyre today looks better than whole life savings on premium brands using retreads to extend their casing life.
“The Chinese manufacturers on the market have no real back up in Europe. Our policy is to offer a better service, to offer better quality and to give our clients support. These are our selling points. That and our know- how and our proximity to the end user.
“We can offer assistance with administration of the tyre management, and equipment to help ease the tyre management. We know that our retreads give a similar performance to that offered by a premium brand, and we can also offer a lifetime guarantee on our retreads. That, we think, is the way forwards for Rösler in the European market. “We are not willing to participate in price competition. It is not a big challenge to sell a Chinese tyre. Everyone is selling them but they don’t know the customer needs, they don’t understand the operating
just about understanding the product, or the market, but it is very much about understanding the client.
The German company employs 100 staff and has a turnover of around 30M Euro per annum. It also has interests in the new tyre market and in tyre filling, all in the off the road sector.
Rösler is keenly aware that it needs to be close to the end users and needs to make tyre management easier for the clients and to this end Rösler will be showing two new products at Reifen Essen this year. The first is a tyre handler. Most current tyre handlers use a two point grab to handle the tyre and wheel assembles, Rösler has developed an improved tyre handler with its own patents that it believes will make tyre maintenance on site both quicker and safer for the operators.
The second development being worked on is a TPMS system unique to Rösler that will allow better management of tyres.
Rösler has also started selling its precure tread sections to independent retreaders. The Dortmund manufactured has been well received by retreaders, according to Dennis Sladek. “The retread sector needs higher quality precure products. With
Rösler’s Dennis Sladeck
The OTR tyre builder for retreading even the largest OTR tyres
However, big products need bigger markets and for the past 10 years Rösler has been operating outside Europe. “Of course,” says marketing manager, Dennis Sladek, “In times when there are tyre shortages doors open for retreaders and we have taken the opportunity of the recent shortfall in supply to access new markets and develop new clients. The market needs to keep costs down and the higher prices of new tyres allows us to use our price advantage to demonstrate the effectiveness of retreading, and also in the longer run the cost effectiveness of off the road retreading. We are a great option for the operators to make savings and cut operational costs.
“There was a time when mining companies just wrote off tyres as consumables, but as the economy has impacted on profits, even the biggest of mining operators are turning towards retreading and whole life tyre
conditions and technical requirements. That gives Rösler an advantage when we go to talk to fleet operators because we can talk to them on their level, and we can talk about more than just price. It isn’t
our treads the independent retread can be different and offer a quality differential that is attractive to his clients.
30 Retreading Business