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POLAND
winter tyres to companies operating in Scandinavia, that is a difficult market, but we are pleased to say that there have been no claims at all this winter.
“It is worth noting that most of the winter treads that we supply are for customers’ own casings, so we don’t carry a great deal of stock. In fact, we try to keep our stock levels to a minimum. We take the casings that we can retread and sell and we carry the treads that we can use. There is no warehouse full of tread stock. With suppliers being so efficient today we can operate on a supply as needed basis.
Where will Domat be tomorrow? What plans are there for the future? “Right now,” says Czarnecki, “we plan to survive. That is our aim. Right now we are looking at potential clients in the German and Czech border areas to expand our markets. We are approaching tyre dealers in those areas.
“The challenge is Chinese tyres, but when our salesmen visit fleets and tyre dealers, people are still interested in retreaded tyres. The quality and the price are good. Many operators have tried chines tyres and lower proced budget tyres and have discovered that they ofer poor performance. They might put a Chinese tyre on in the autumn and it might last till the summer. However, put the same tyre on in the spring and it will only last three, maybe four months.
“People disappointed by the performance of these low cost Chinese tyres will come back to use our retreads, I am sure.
“Of course we have had to address
Argum
As is often the case, one retreader is linked to another. Geyer and Hosaja is one of Poland’s large rubber producers and a key retreader in its own right. That company has been the spawning ground for many people in the Polish retread sector. Indeed, Marek Wrazen, my guide and interpreter for part of my visit to Poland now works for Marangoni, but started out with Geyer and Hosaja.
Arkadiusz Pilek, managing director of Argum has been in the retreading business for 20 years, starting out at Geyer and Hosaja, working through Domar and in 2004 stepped out on his own to form Argum as an independent retreader with support from Ellerbrock. Argum is based South of Warsaw close to Warka, home of one of Poland’s most famous breweries. It shares a market of agriculture and fruit farms with its local competitor Domar.
With a staff of 25, including the
costs in the factory and as I have explained we keep stocks at a low level – suppliers such as Galgo and Marangoni can have supplies with us very quickly.
“With our production down we have a lot of capacity and can rebuild production when the market demands are correct. Although we have had to lay off good people, sadly there is not a lot of alternative work in this area, so we can usually rehire skilled staff whenever there is a need.”
“The big problem that we face is that it is difficult to sell a high quality premium retread at the moment. When the case is proven we will be able to warm people to the idea, but it is a long hard sell trying to get people to buy premium retreads.
“We are also trying to support the salesmen who are visiting the prospective clients. We are trying to understand their issues and offer solutions that help them meet the end user’s needs. So, when the end user needs premium tyres we can supply them.”
The Domar plant itself was a tidy operation, and has a Marangoni shearography machine as part of the inspection process right at the start of the quality control. The buffing and building equipment was a mix of machiner y, largely manually operated at the moment, but with plans for automatic buffers when the tide changes direction. This production line feeds two 22 chamber autoclaves, so there is ample capacity to rebuild output to the previous figure of 15,000 units per annum.
sales team and drivers the company had been developing steadily and has built a sound reputation both regionally and nationally in Poland. Argum opened business as an Ellerbrock company and that relationship resulted in Ellerbrock’s new owners continuing that supply agreement through to 2007/ 2008 when Marangoni was the sole supplier of tread and materials. At that time changes in the market drove the need for an alternative supplier, with a less costly product line and Argum became a Galgo client alongside the premium Marangoni products. Pilek says, “Today the mix is about 50:50, it puts us in a better position, being able to supply to both the premium buyers and the cost conscious sector at the same time. Some markets don’t need a premium tread and we need to be able to deliver a solution that meets their needs. However, as the market develops we
are seeing a slight recovery in the Marangoni share of the deliveries.” Argum still has a focus on the tyre dealers. “Tyre dealers are still our main outlet.” says Pilek, “However, that is starting to change and we are seeing an increase in direct sales to the end users.
“We are trying to create a careful balance. We don’t wish to abandon the tyre dealers but the tyre dealers interest lie in making the sales that interest them, that is not always a retread sale.
“Our next aim is to develop our
opening the doors with winter tyres where we can offer added value. We can offer high quality retreads that match new tyres on performance and price. We have to take a more sophisticated approach than in the past.”
Will these outlets be an opportunity to develop tyre management in a more meaningful way?
“Yes, absolutely. The target is to have the centres work towards educating the fleets and offering proper tyre management, That should enable us to offer the best
Arkadiusz Pilek, managing director of Argum
own outlets and fitting stations. We already have one outlet where we can specialise in fitting retreads to our fleet customers, and we are looking to open another two or three regionally. These outlets will offer a mix of new tyres and retreads. We may even offer some car tyres. They will become our point of sale and also collection points for casings. They will only carry low levels of stock and will be 100 per cent owned and controlled by Argum.
“We do also plan on developing our direct sales to fleets by targeting the managers and owners with premium quality retreads that we know perform well and give good returns. Our key tool in this market is
value to our customers. We want to be ver y active in supporting our customers. We want to put quantity before volume.”
The next question on the table was how does an independent retreader in the East of Poland, away from the industrial heartland of the South West find casings? We have heard of poor road conditions, overloading and incorrect tyre maintenance and that must impact upon casing quality. How does Argum find the quantities that it requires?
Pilek responds. “We are increasingly operating on a customers’ own casings basis, either from the fleets or from the tyre dealers. The CoC share is at 50 per cent or more. The balance comes from casings sourced
30 Retreading Business