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CHINA
subsidiary Tech International (Shanghai) Co Ltd on the outskirts of Shanghai at Songjiang Industrial Zone in 2001. Its regional distribution hubs are located in the four major cities at Beijing, Wuhan, Tongguan and Chengdu. It has two major business units – tyre repairing and industrial conveyor belt repairing, focusing on the mining sector. The industrial conveyor belt repairing started a couple of years ago. “We are focusing on customer satisfaction levels coupled with ensuring quality stability in our product range,” emphasised Henry Jackson, General Manager, Tech International (Shanghai) Co Ltd.
The tyre repair company controls 45- 50 per cent market share in the China market. When asked how the company would improve product quality standards and customer satisfaction, Jackson explained, “By training staff to increase high competency levels, consultation with clients on a regular basis to get feedback on improving product quality besides spending time on educating the market.”
Tech, headquartered in Johnstown, Ohio, is regarded as world leader and claims the number one position in the China market. The company feels that there is still lack of knowledge regarding professional tyre repair in China. “We are educating the people by conducting training sessions in our plant and organising seminars at regular intervals. We know all this requires lots of investment and time but it is really worthwhile in the longer
run,” thinks Jackson.
The Shanghai based subsidiary has clientele among the high and middle end tyre shops. On the retreading side, Goodway and Newera are its key clients in China. When asked about the Tech business expansion plans, Jackson replied, “We are planning to expand our business in the market of South East Asia and the underdeveloped markets of Myanmar and Mongolia.”
Commenting on the retreading market, Jackson said, “The poor state of the retreading industry owes much to the low quality cheap tyres manufactured by the domestic tyre industry.” He further stressed, “Unless the production of cheap new tyres are controlled, this problem may not be solved. Moreover, global tyre brands like Bridgestone and Michelin should hike their presence in the domestic market so that good retreadable casings start coming back into the market.”
Interestingly, it has been informed that the government is getting strict with small retreading shops who are not following any quality standards and operate with very basic equipment. “Now the authorities are not giving any certification to the low quality small plants and this will go a long way towards improving standards in the retreading industry. This would also force existing retreaders to improve their quality standards by improving on their equipment,” Jackson believes.
Driving down towards the coastal town of Xiamen City, I found another retreading plant operating below half the production volumes compared to the pre 2012 phase. The reason remains the same. The market is overcrowded with hundreds of cheap tyre brands. Summing up in few words, Zhong Jin Shun of Xiamen Cheyi Retreading Factory, “The situation is very bad as the price of new Chinese tyres is almost the same as that of retreaded tyres.”
The plant close to the highway that goes to Xiamen City retreads 400 tyres per month. “We used to retread more than 1,000 tyres per month before 2012 but with the highway bus business gone the situation has gone
chamber and regularly sources around 6 tonnes of tread rubber from Jinjiang based rubber producer Jianxin Rubber. When asked to comment on when the market is expected to turn positive, Zhong said, “I have no idea as all I have seen is a downward trend in volumes. Moreover, it is becoming more and more difficult to find casings for retreading.”
To remain in the tyre business, Zhong is planning to get into selling new tyres besides running the retreading plant. “We will soon start selling the new tyres that Jianxin Rubber plans to manufacture in the upcoming plant,” he said.
Started about a decade back, Zhong strongly believes that the government
Xiamen Cheyi Retreading Factory Seeks Government Action to Control New Tyre quality
Zhong Jin Shun of Xiamen Cheyi Retreading Factory
from bad to worse. After the government banned long distance bus fleets from running on retread tyres, we have been reduced to the current situation,” Zhong Jin stated. Retreading tyres by the precure process, Xiamen Cheyi has one 16 tyre
should initiate some kind of policy or measures to control the quality of Chinese tyres. “If the quality of new Chinese tyre improves and their prices increased accordingly, the retreading industry would once again revive,” he thinks.
Shanghai Sooner: Changing the Perception of Chinese Retreading Equipment
52 Retreading Business
China’s large but struggling retreading industry is coping with the challenges of low quality cheap tyres leaving the market with almost no casings, retreaders running operations with outdated and basic equipment and almost no margins running unprofitable businesses. In such an alarming scenario, it is difficult to find equipment buyers who are willing to pay for new updated machinery. However, small and quality equipment makers like Shanghai Sooner are an illuminating hope in an otherwise depressing scenario. The young company is looking at the export market for
growth as it feels that the large domestic market is still some way away from adopting any modern equipment at this point in time. Shanghai Sooner started operation four years ago in the suburbs of Shanghai. Their plant in the Fengxian District is more than one hour’s drive from the centre of the city. “We are focussing on the export market as we have not yet sold any equipment in the domestic market,” said the young and energetic Winson Cai of Shanghai Sooner Machinery Company Limited. Surprisingly, Winson has no engineering background and worked with the