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INDIA RUBBER EXPO
Akar Makina Look for a Break in the Indian Market
Turkish tyre and retreading equipment maker Akar Makina has been trying to enter the Indian tyre retread equipment market for some time. The company has consistently participated at the India Rubber Expo in recent years in order to promote its tyre and retreading equipment. The company is still optimistic about making a breakthrough in the market that is price sensitive and prefers largely low and mid-range machinery.
Akar Makina is also fighting increased competition from local equipment suppliers. “Sometimes it is hard to
conditions, but unless the equipment is installed and proves its performance in India, it may not be easy to convince the people. “We are hopeful that people will soon start working on our products and see the quality. Only then other will they realise the benefits in the long run,” Yasin stated.
Akar Makina offers 10 years warranty with CE standards on its autoclaves in the Indian market. “However, the autoclaves can be used for 25-40 years. They are made up of P series pressure vessel metal sheets, which Indian companies may not be using, which provide longer
convince people as the Indian retreading industry is largely controlled by the domestic equipment makers,” said Yasin Barikulak, Project Sales Manager, Akar Makina, speaking at the India Rubber Expo 2015 in New Delhi. The company has to compete with an overwhelming presence of low priced local brands.
The company manufactures retreading equipment that is comparable to European standards at reasonable prices. Nonetheless, the Indian industry still largely finds the prices to be on the high side. “We find that people need to be convinced that we maintain high quality standards. Our product is slightly lower in price but performance-wise it is as good as that of any European retreading equipment maker,” he stressed. Akar Makina strongly believes that it has a product that is suited to Indian market
working years to our product,” Yasin explained. The company is looking forward to several installations in India in 2015 on the TBR side.
The company anticipates good opportunities in the OTR segment. “India has huge mining and construction industries, both of which are expanding with increased focus on infrastructural developments. For this reason we feel the OTR market is bullish,” Yasin stated.
Akar Makina has also made headway in the new tyre sector, having recently supplied a CNC buffer to the German automobile company Daimler for testing truck tyres. Daimler has recently started making trucks in India through a joint venture.
Akar Makina will be participating at the forthcoming Singapore Tyre Expo in March to tap into customers from the Far Eastern markets of Thailand and Indonesia.
Yasin Barikulak, Project Sales Manager, Akar Makina
Kuldeep Kumar of KMT Retreading Industry
KMT Operates in Value for Money Segment
Despite the slowdown in the retreading industry and the inherent difficulties of running a retread plant such as labour issues, long credit etc., the industry continues to attract new people. Low and middle price equipment makers and plant suppliers continue to thrive on the strength of new people joining the retreading sector. Haryana based KMT Retreading Industry is supplying about a dozen retread plants annually. “We hope to supply 15 plants in 2015 and have advance orders of 8 plants in various parts of the country,” claimed Kuldeep Kumar of KMT Retreading Industry.
KMT has created a web of formidable clientele in the low and mid-range segments. “We consider ourselves to be in the value for money segment. Though we operate in the middle price segment, our quality is as good as any premium product in terms of performance,” he claimed. The production facility is based at Jind District in Haryana, which is about 140 km from Delhi.
It seems that government transport companies have increasingly realised the importance of retreading as these companies are now installing their own retreading plants in their premises so as not to have to depend upon the outside retreaders. KMT has supplied number of retreading plants to state transport corporations last year. “We have supplied 7 plants to state transport corporations of Orissa, Agartala and Tripura,” he informed.
Besides supplying retreading plants in the domestic market, the company has also made inroads in poor and developing countries and has shipped about a dozen plants in the last couple of years. “We have shipped more than dozen plants to Uganda, Bhutan, Nepal and South Africa. We are supplying on an average 12-15 plants in the domestic and export market annually,” Kuldeep Kumar claimed.
KMT joined the retread equipment business in 1995 and set up its own plant in 2008 in Jind. KMT supplies a full range of tyre retreading machiner y including curing chambers, buffers, builders, inspection spreaders, repair spreaders, envelope expanders and accessories.
Commenting on the ongoing labour crises in the industr y, Kuldeep elaborated, “New and educated people are not joining the shop floor. It’s the old uneducated class that largely works in the retreading plants and is moving from one place to other. Unless new trained people join the trade the overall standards will not improve.” The industr y feels that the government should take the initiative and start courses related to the retreading industr y in technical institutes so that a trained labour force can join the industr y.
50 Retreading Business