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CZECHIA
throughout that period, always opting for Marangoni equipment when updating.
The Alma Pneu plant has an operational staff of four and produces between 600 and 700 units per month on average, though the business is seasonal and it can go as high as 1000 units in a month and as low as 500.
Indrák explains. “We have a certain stability to our market provided by our own outlets.
They offer the customer a well- known branded outlet and that helps us get closer to our customers. It is critical that we operate as closely to our customers as we can. Thus we can supply almost 100 per cent of our
“Most of our business is CoC. This is a ver y important point, New tyres influence the quality of the customer casing and we need to manage the use of the tyres to get the maximum life and lowest cpkm out of the tyres.”
Asked if, in this market, there were opportunities to grow, Indrák responded. “The market is saturated and most people are professional so it is not easy to find space to grow. We are developing a small outlet in Slovakia but there are no big opportunities at the moment. In Poland the situation is even tougher, so there are no doors open there either.
“Our long term plan is to keep selling retread tyres instead of
Tasy – From Recycling to Retreading
This retreader can trace its histor y back to 1991 when the founder saw the opportunity to collect and recycle end of life tyres. The founding company was in the business of tyre collection and was the main supplier of tyres to the local cement kiln. Today that operation continues and Tasy’s ELT collection service provides
elsewhere countries have put up trade barriers and the result is that China has focused its tyre exports on Europe. It is really important that Europe develops customs barriers to protect the balance of trade. We don’t currently know how long this situation will persist.
“We have to look at the
Production at Alma Pneu
production through our own outlets to our own clients.
“We have stuck to Marangoni and we have focused on the Ringtread for quality. Customers like the idea of consistency and quality from a brand they know. Companies trust Alma Pneu and they keep coming to us even though we use premium brands like Marangoni Ringtread and Nokian Noktop. They have confidence in what we can do for them.
“We have a philosophy of using good treads on good casings, though we don’t use shearography, and as a result we have a low claim rate. As far as I am concerned,” added Indrák, “there is no place for Chinese tyres in the retreading market.
“We do not sell Chinese tyres. We do offer a complete fleet service to our customers and we sell new tyres from Hankook and Nokian. If any tyre operator wants a long term business, then they should believe in good quality tyre suppliers.
new tyres wherever possible. We do have plans to expand our dealer network and we will do that step by step – that may offer us some opportunity to grow the retread business as a wider network will be able to reach out to more fleets across the countr y. It will give stability in sales.” Radek Indrák closed with this comment, “We have worked with Marangoni since we started this business and we like working with the Italian company. They do not impose controls on what materials we use or how much we have to buy. They work with us as a client and they have always been even handed in dealing with us.”
tyres for several cement kilns. Collecting tyres meant visiting tyre outlets and it wasn’t long before Tasy was also supplying new tyres to replace the ones it was collecting.
By 1997 Tasy had started up its own retreading workshop with a second hand Bandag plant from Germany. The plant today is built around that original Bandag plant but with the addition of new equipment along the way.
Sales manager Ji í Binko explained that the main distribution for Tasy was through its own outlets and three mobile tyre fitting services – the bulk of the retread business, 80 per cent, is through Tasy’s own operations. The company does, though, also supply wholesalers. The aim is to provide a whole market service. “We work with fleets, both regional and long haul. We meet the needs of local regional and long haul fleets, and we also provide a service for foreign fleets in Czechia. We also supply on/off road tyres to the construction industr y.
“However, Chinese tyres have almost closed that market as the Chinese can put tyres into that market at prices that are similar or even lower than the cost of a retread.
“We live in a global market, but
opportunities and how we can compete. If we can focus on quality tyres we can see that tyre management is better in the fleets that use premium tyres. That allows us to retread more than once, and that gives us more tools to sell in that sector.
“For example, Tesco has 140 trailers in Czechia, and they use new tyres from Barum. We tested Double Coin, which is more expensive than a budget Chinese tyre. We were surprised to find that Double Coin returned a higher mileage, a 30 per cent higher mileage on the third axle of a trailer. Now, we are testing the retread of Double Coin and so far, there has been no negative feedback. So, maybe some percentage of new tyres will be replaced by Double Coin. We don’t like it, we would rather use Czech produced Barum tyres, but, for us, the results have been really clear. If we can retread that casing two or three times, then it creates cost saving opportunities with the fleets. That could see a market of four retreads and two new tyres on each triple-axle trailer. There is however, a perception of variable quality, but our tests show results that are not so good for the European brands.”
Tasy employ a staff of four in a single shift to produce around
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