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INDIA
Vamshi Demonstrates Advanced Technology at Fortune Tire Tech
Vamshi forayed into direct tyre retreading a couple of years back and set-up one of the largest and most modern plants in India.
computerised autoclaves. “The advanced equipment reduces the chances of human errors,” he said. Manual inspection is still widely
K V Sarma, Director, Fortune Tire Tech Ltd
basis and we have received very positive feedback from the market. Once we have achieved complete
expertise, we will likely start commercially in the next few months,” said Sarma.
Vamshi subsidiary Fortune Tire
Tech Ltd has state-of-art imported equipment from some of the prominent global brands like Steinbichler and Matteuzzi. The plant is equipped with three 12-tyre computerised chambers and has the capacity to produce 200 tyres each day. Currently, the retreading plant is operating at half of its installed capacity. “If we are retreading around 100 tyre per month, it means we procure about 125 tyres from the market,” said K V Sarma, Director, Fortune Tire Tech Ltd. Vamshi has invested around INR 15 crore (about $2.5 million) in the
practiced in the Indian retreading industr y largely in retreading nylon tyres, not radials.
On the subject of when the plant would operate to full capacity, Sarma said, “We expect the plant to run to capacity in the next couple of years.” Vamshi plans to hike the production gradually to 10,000 tyres per month. “The plant provides a platform for technology demonstration for retreading radial tyres,” Sarma emphasised.
The plant, located in the outskirts of Hyderabad on the highway to Chennai, caters to the market that is evenly distributed among fleet
United Rubber Targeting Annual Exports of 2,400 Tonnes
plant which spreads over an area of 30,000 sq feet. The entire unit is covered by monorail and has been installed with high-end equipment like a shearography machine from Steinbichler, a nail-hole detectors, computerised buffer and tread builder from Matteuzzi and
owners and individual truck owners. “We cover almost a 250 km area from this plant,” Sarma sald.
Interestingly, the plant also started retreading OTR tyres by the precure process about two months ago. “We have retreaded OTRs on a trial
Indian tread makers are the biggest exporters of tread rubber to the Middle East and African markets. These markets remain an area of interest for the Indian companies as they are growing markets and Indians have the kind of product that suits these markets. Low cost Chinese tyres remain a major challenge but Indian origin retreaders and tread brands imported from India are competing fiercely with Chinese tyre brands and continue to hold the ground and survive in the market despite all challenges. Ankeleshwar based tread maker United Rubber is also a key player in the markets of the Middle East and Africa and the company plans to penetrate deeper into these markets to increase its export shipments. “We are exporting 90 per cent of the production to the markets of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt in the Middle East. We are also exporting to South Africa and trying to open the markets of Mozambique
and Zimbabwe in big way,” said Joseph Kurian, Director, United Rubber Pvt Ltd.
United Rubber has also exported to Mauritius, Kenya and Jordan in the past and is keen to re-open these markets again soon. The export- oriented unit produces in between 80-90 tonnes each month, while domestic sales are handled by subsidiary company Ankeleshwar Rubber, which manufactures around 60 tonnes of tread rubber each month and largely supplies to the home markets of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Both plants together produce about 150 tonnes each month.
Currently, United Rubber is operating in the South African market through a dealer that also takes care of its interest in Mozambique. “The market is a bit slow due to certain mining related issues,” said Scaria Joseph, MD, United Rubber. Established in 1995, the company has its plant in
44 Retreading Business