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CHILE
Denis Triggs (right) with Diego Barbosa of Vipal
South Chilean Retreaders Support Introduction of Retreading Standard
The retreading market in the South of Chile is very different to that experienced by the operators in the North and in the area around Santiago. The region is dominated by the forestry business and subject to larger tyre sizes than elsewhere. Much of the business is for on-off road applications, truck working in timber yards and on tracks. The main roads are also relatively poor, so tyres get damaged easily, which means retredable casings are in short supply. This situation is not helped by the large amount of Chinese tyres prevalent in the market, many of which are not retreadable.
The two largest retreaders in the region are Neumaticos y Servicios Bacon based in Temuco and Riosan, based in Talcahuano near Concepcion. Bacon distributes Michelin and Double Coin new tyres and manufactures 10,000 retreads per annum using Michelin and Galgo treads. Riosan is a Goodyear dealer and makes 9,000 retreads a year using Goodyear and Marangoni rubber. Each retreader covers a radius of 2-300 km from
their home base.
We spoke to Leonardo Ortiz, Managing Director of Neumaticos y Servicios Bacon and Pablo Hauck, Managing Director of Riosan, during the recent ARNEC Annual Meeting in Santiago.
A key issue for both retreaders was the preponderance of smaller unprofessional retreaders in Chile, a particular problem in the South. Most of the 35% of the market taken up by non-ARNEC members consists of these small operators, who Ortiz and Hauck believe are making the market difficult. There is a deperate need in Chile for a minimum retreading standard, and we hope that the efforts of ARNEC in this regard will help improve both the quality of the retreading industry and a whole and the image of the industry,” said Pablo Hauck. Ortiz agreed. “The retreading industry in Chile is caught in a vicious circle,” he said, “and we are caught between the high price of retreads, the low price of Chinese tyres and the bad quality and poor state of new tyres and casings.”
Pablo Hauck of Riosan (left) and Leonardo Ortiz of Neumaticos y Servicios Bacon (right) with Jorge Torfan-Bdewi of Rio Puelo
also developed the business in Curico, which today includes a car and 4x4 dealership, a tractor business, a battery servicing business, a Michelin truck tyre dealership and a truck service centre. The company’s retreading plant was established some 25 years ago and currently makes 1,250 tyres a month using Vipal materials. The retread factory services the whole of the area
Like many retreaders in Chile, the company has to provide a wide and diverse range of products to service customers ranging from mines to transport companies and the forestry sector.
Denis Triggs says he would like to grow the retreading business but trade is suffering at the moment, due to the fact that the Chinese manufacturers are maintaining their
Triggs head office in Curico in the south of Chile
from Santiago in the middle of Chile to Puerto Montt in the south. Thirteen sales men cover this area with activities split into two regions (Santiago to Concepcion and Concepcion to Puerto Montt). 90% of business is through direct contact with fleets.
prices or reducing them. Triggs, however, does promote retreads actively, and in a prominent position in the tractor and truck service office is reserved for a display of all the key Vipal tread patterns, allowing the company to emphasise the quality of the company’s retread process.
Tyres are buffed in the Triggs factory
Triggs Maintains Quality Retread Service for
the South of Chile
Vipal retreader Triggs is based in the medium-sized town of Curico, about 200 km south of Santiago, which lies in the middle of an agricultural area dominated by fruit growers and vineyards. The company is a third generation enterprise and, during our visit to the company’s headquarters, modern day Executive Director Denis Triggs Sanchez explained how his grandfather Paul Triggs O’Connor, an
Irish immigrant, founded the company some 58 years ago.
At the age of 24 Paul Triggs married a Chilean woman and moved to the south of Chile to set up an automotive business. However, within a year of arriving in the country, his wife died leaving him alone as a “gringo” in a foreign land. Triggs, however, went on to marry again and had seven children. He
20 Retreading Business