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TURKEY
Orkap’s manager,Emre Yildiz
Managing Director of Oto Lastik, Mr Ismail
Orkap Promoting Quality Retreading in Eskisehir
the pre-cure sector in the mid 1990s. Orkap has been a Goodyear agent since 1974 and currently makes around 500 truck and 100 OTR retreads per month, covering the Central Anatolia, Aegean and Marmara regions of Turkey.
Orkap has a strong customer base among independent truck fleets and logistics providers as well as among local bus companies. However, the company’s strongest area is in construction and mining, particularly in the supply of tyres for the big trucks used in mining marble and sand. The company is a key customer of Akar Makina, having bought an AKR 510 REX CNC buffer when it started Orbitread retreading in 2010. According to Yildiz there are too many players in the local market. “Two hundred plants in a country like Turkey is a lot,” he says. “The level of competition has resulted in a reduction in margins.” For Yildiz, however, the solution to the problem is to increase the size of the overall market. “Retreading is only 25 per cent of the market in
Turkey,” he says. “It has to go higher than this. One of the main problems is that retreads are seen as a generic product. If we want to improve the market share of retreads we need to get them more widely known by their brand names.”
All retreaders need to help increase the retread share,” he adds, “but we need to make good products. All plants need to use good machinery, good materials and have good workers. We need to break the idea that retreaded tyres are somehow inferior and get the message across that retreaded tyre performance is the same as, or close to, that of new tyres.”
A major threat to this, however, is the proposed removal of anti- dumping legislation. “If Chinese tyres come into the market in great numbers, then this will certainly have a major effect on retreading,” says Yildiz. “However, if we can convince the user that retreads manufactured on good casings give more mileage, then it will be ok. Otherwise they will need to keep the anti-dumping law.”
Goodyear retreader Orkap, based in Eskisehir, is one of a growing band of Turkish retreaders who have identified the potential for the growth of retreading in the Turkish market and are focusing their efforts on improving the image of the industry with a quality
approach.
Orkap is a third generation family business managed by Emre Yildiz, whose grandfather set up the business in the 1960s. The company started hot cure retreading in 1968 for both TBR and OTR sectors, expanding into
Eskisehirliler Oto Lastik Relies on Kraiburg Quality
Another traditional retreader/commercial tyre dealer who is ploughing the furrow for quality retreading in Turkey is Eskisehirliler Oto Lastik, which began life back in 1975 as a Michelin truck tyre dealer, before expanding into hot cure retreading in 1988 and finally into pre-cure eight years later.
The company is still a major retailer of Michelin TBR tyres in the area around Eskisehir, but does not co-operate closely with Michelin in the retreading sector. Instead the company mainly uses Kraiburg pre-cured treads, producing around 500 truck retreads per month.
According to Managing Director Mr Ismail the company’s status as
a Michelin dealer and the fact that the nearest Recamic dealer is in Bursa 150 km away means that the company is able to source a regular supply of quality Michelin casings, which are then retreaded with Kraiburg rubber.
The fleet service offered by Eskisehirliler Oto Lastik is focused heavily on the mileage performance achieved by the combination of Michelin casings and Kraiburg rubber. Says Ismail; “Better mileage can be achieved with Michelin and Kraiburg and we try not to compete with cheaper brands. In addition, Kraiburg allows us to retread 435 and 445 trailer tyres, which others can’t offer. In addition, of course, the Michelin casings can be
retreaded several times.
Ismail runs a traditional commercial tyre business that is based heavily on his own expertise. He is highly experienced in repairs and casing analysis, personally checking everything that goes through the business. This, of course, is used as an integral part of the company’s customer care package, alongside the quality Michelin and Kraiburg brand names.
Mr Ismail says he has plans for growing his business, but believes that if the government revokes the
existing anti-dumping legislation, this will result in a shortage of good casings. “The retread ratio is still only 25 per cent in Turkey so the anti-dumping legislation is important, as is the implementation of ECE 109. The quality and future image of retreading in Turkey will depend on such things as the maintenance of the anti-dumping restrictions and the level of retread plant inspections. If this happens the market will achieve growth – but inspections are important to increase quality levels.”
20 Retreading Business