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TURKEY
Akar Makina – Truck and OTR Retreading Equipment
Turkey is situated at the crossroads between Europe and Asia with a population of over 75 million, and is the 16th largest economy in the world. Economically, the country has been in the continuous growth pattern in the last decade with its gross domestic product reaching close to 800 billion USD. The country has a strategic location with its close
Eskisehir, and will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year in 2015. Connected with quick transportation routes from the major airports in Turkey, Akar continues its operations in two manufacturing facilities in the Eskisehir Industrial Zone, with a workforce of over 120, and over 30,000 sqm manufacturing facilities. Akar offers complete tyre retreading
proximity to the world’s growing markets in Eastern Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Former Soviet Republics, Africa and Asia. Turkey’s biggest trading partners are Europe, Russia, the Middle East, as well as North America.
Turkey is also an important player in world markets in the tyre and automotive industries. As for the tyre industry, the country hosts major tyre manufacturers such as Goodyear, Brisa (Bridgestone), Pirelli with their established high volume and export oriented tyre manufacturing plants. Local rapidly growing tyre manufacturers include Petlas and Ozka. Among them, Petlas has seen significant growth in recent years and recently created a partnership with Sumitomo Rubber Industries based in Japan to establish new tyre manufacturing facilities in Turkey. In addition to the tyre industry, Turkey is also an important player in the automotive industry with the world’s well-known automotive brands such as Toyota, Honda, Fiat, Renault, and Mercedes choosing the country as one of their major production hubs in the world.
The country is not only hosting the major tyre manufacturers but also has an established value chain for the tyre industry including machinery and equipment manufacturers. Among them is Akar Makina, located in the western city of Eskisehir, with close proximity to the major cities of Istanbul and Ankara. Akar was established in 1990 as a small machinery manufacturing company in
plants and single machinery to the tyre industry in both truck and OTR tyre retreading. The company manufactures its retreading machinery at its state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, with minimum reliance on outside suppliers, and provides its products to its customers looking for high quality well-engineered European made equipment with good after sales service. The Managing Director, Business Development and Sales, of Akar Makina, Sadettin Ak, outlines the company’s position as follows; “We are the best alternative to the market for its retreading equipment and plant needs from A to Z. Akar has the equipment portfolio for every customer’s requirement from budget start-up packages to upscale packages involving computerised CNC control equipment. As a one-stop shop in our customers’ projects, we serve our customers better in the total value they receive, in terms of being a single source for their equipment needs, the best price/performance ratio and perhaps most importantly, exceptional after sales service.” As for truck tyre retreading, Akar’s machinery portfolio includes initial inspection machines, complete monorail systems, envelope spreaders, pre-cured tread builders, three types of buffers (AKR240C CNC Buffer, AKR 240HCX CNC Buffer and AKR240T Automatic Buffer) as well as autoclaves with 12-16-20-24 tyre capacities.
Akar continuously emphasises its research and development activities to minimise its customers’ costs and
make their plants more efficient. One of the recent innovations includes the automatic tyre loading system for the autoclave monorail where the operators are not required to enter into the autoclave to make each tyre connection to the vacuum lines as well as for loading and unloading the tyres. The system allows the operators to prepare the tyres in front of the autoclave at the specially designed automatic autoclave monorail system. The complete tyre set for autoclave curing is pushed into the autoclave and the easy vacuum connections can be made without entering into the autoclave, making tyre loading and
upgrade their existing machinery with more technologically advanced new equipment. The plants are engineered, and layout studies are made by the experienced Akar tyre retreading project group and engineers, to provide the best work- flow, and the monorail systems are manufactured accordingly. In addition to supplying turn-key plants, prospective customers, particularly new to the retreading business, are able to receive process training from Akar’s engineers, as well as hands-on experience at Akar’s partner retreader companies
As an important milestone in
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unloading to and from the autoclave the most efficient. Furthermore, Akar has also recently developed its own cushion gum extruder building machine to complement its existing line to target customers with significant retreading volume. Depending on the customers’ retreading projects, Akar has different retreading plant packages for customers who are new to the industry and would like to start with small capacities and are willing to upgrade their equipment as their business grows, if they desire. Alternatively, customers can also choose high capacity sophisticated plant equipment to start with, or
developing the overseas markets, Akar and Shamrock Marketing based in Louisville, KY, USA, established a demo tyre retreading plant in 2013 at the Shamrock Marketing facilities. The demo plant has received great interest from potential and existing customers. Shamrock is the representative of Akar for retreading equipment in North and South America.
In addition to truck tyre retreading, Akar offers a
comprehensive portfolio of equipment for OTR (Off-The-Road) tyre retreading. In recent months, Akar has established four OTR plant packages from the smallest OTR tyre