Page 48 - RB-71-15-4

INDIA
Universal Rubbers Looking for Export Markets in
Asia and Africa
Okhla Industrial Estate is an industrial suburb of New Delhi in the Southern part of the city. The industrial area is divided into three phases and is regarded as a major hub of industry in India’s capital. Tread maker Universal Rubbers manufactures retreading material from its unit in Phase 1 of the complex, producing 250 tonnes of tread per month.
Universal Rubbers is now focusing increasingly on export business and is looking for new opportunities to expand overseas. “We are exporting around 75-80 tonnes per month, and the plan is to raise exports to realistic levels of at least 100 tonnes by the end of this year,” said Harinder Kumar Arora, Managing Director, Universal Rubbers. The company has succeeded in opening the markets of UAE and Africa mainly to Kenya. “We will plan to open another Middle Eastern market in the shape of Qatar soon. We are also looking for opportunities in other Asian and African markets and are in touch with several parties there,” said Arora. The company initially opened office in the UAE about three years ago to strengthen its exports in the Middle East.
Universal Rubbers also produces conventional camelback in small quantity. “Conventional tread is merely 10 per cent of our total production and is aimed at a few of our clients who are active in the OTR
retreading sector,” he clarified.
The tread maker is focusing on the overseas market as the domestic market is quiet these days and not picking up. “We are hoping that market improves once the common GST Tax (Goods and Services Tax) is enforced here by March 2015,” says Arora.
Universal Rubbers caters largely to the price sensitive market and fleet owners on the interstate routes. “We are very economical and maintain quality. Our product has good acceptability among trailers running on interstate routes from Delhi up to North India,” said Arora.
Harinder Kumar Arora, Managing Director, Universal Rubbers
Supreet Retreads
to Set Up Second Unit
is planning mass scale automation in all its plants. It is complimenting this by going in for sales force automation and a customer-centric approach by implementing an industry leading CRM solution. “We are expecting the rollout of this by April 2015,” confided Khajuria. OMNI is a leading brand in South Asia and pioneer of cold repair technology in India. Unipatch Rubber Limited is a joint venture between the business house of Khemka’s (New Delhi, India) and Tech International (Ohio, USA). Interestingly, Unipatch has already started working with the Indian Army providing cold repair technology to their core workshops, army mobile units as well as artillery. “We are also working to extend our product reach to the paramilitary force as well. We have already given a presentation and hope to start working with them in the next quarter,” Khajuria said.
Unipatch is collaborating with the paramilitary forces to provide them with special tyre repair and maintenance solutions in keeping with their unique requirements of
Supreet Retreads is setting-up a new plant in Gurgaon city (near Delhi) in the neighbouring state of Haryana. “The plant would start functioning by the end of next quarter,” informed A D Singh, Managing Director of
like cost per km will find takers sooner or later. “JK Tyres is also implementing a cost per km concept in the market with some degree of success,” Singh informed. Singh strongly believes that there is good future for global retreading companies in this market and their presence poses no threat to smaller players. “There is scope for everyone in this market,” he thinks.
The Delhi based unit caters to large fleets and OEMs like Ashok Leyland & TATA. The Delhi plant retreaded an average of 500 tyres per month last year and Supreet is steadily hiking the production in a phased manner by increasing it by 150 tyres this year and making it 800 tyres by next year.
Started in the middle of 2010, the unit used to produce around 700 tyres per month but due to competition from the low cost retreaders, the production has gone down to 500 tyres. “Now the market is picking up and we will soon reach the earlier level of 700 tyres per month,” he assured.
The retreader feels that JK’s strategy of making tread patterns on the basis of new casings it launches in the market is bringing dividends for retreaders using its tread. “The tread patterns like JGE & JUX are popular and also available in new casings, JK is the only tyre and tread producer launching similar patterns in India,” explained Singh.
Commenting on the prospects for tyre producers entering the retreading market, Singh said; “The retreading market is heading for consolidation and it may well be in the next few years that tread produced by tyre makers will survive in the market whereas many smaller tread makers may not be able to sustain for much longer.”
Supreet Retreads. The Delhi based retreader has already identified the plot of land. The proposed plant will have the capacity to retread 500 tyres per month initially. On the opportunity in the Gurgaon market, Singh said, “Most of the trucking companies and fleet owners are shifting to Gurgaon, in addition to which, the city is right on the national highway going towards Rajasthan.”
Supreet uses the precure tread rubber of JK Tread, and the Delhi plant consumes around 6 tonnes per month. “With tyre prices maintaining an upward trend, the future is brimming with positivity for the retreading sector in India,” he said. With major international companies like Michelin entering the retreading sector, mileage concepts
V K Kajuria of Unipatch
mobility, speed and varied terrains. Unipatch was established in the year 1983, with its headquarters in New Delhi and today has three state of the art manufacturing units located at Bhiwadi (Rajasthan), Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh) and Nalagarh (Himachal Pradesh). Its products are sold in over 30 countries today. The Omni ranges of repairs cater to all types and size of pneumatic tyres and tubes ranging from bicycle to earthmover. The range enables the repair of injuries of up to 225mm on tubes and 300mm on tyres.
Unipatch on Modernisation Drive
Khemka Group subsidiary Unipatch, who manufacture the OMNI brand of tyre repair materials, have recently invested in upgrading it R&D facilities in keeping with its commitment to provide products in line with the latest in the tyre technology. “We have invested more than INR 3 crore in upgrading the facility,” said Retired Brigadier V K Khajuria, Chief Operating Officer, Unipatch.
The firm has also moved from product selling to system and solution selling, in order to cater to
its key clients which include top tyre manufacturers like Bridgestone, Michelin, Apollo and Ceat, as well as automotive companies like Maruti Suzuki, Toyota, Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors and State transport undertakings like DTC and APSRTC .
Having already crossed a billion rupee turnover a few years back, Unipatch is looking at aggressively expanding its horizons in both the domestic and export markets. Towards achieving this goal it is going into a modernisation drive and
48 Retreading Business