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own outlets both in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia, and most sales are through in-house operations and through its mobile 24-hour non-stop service.
Carling also services local fleets and is trying to build its share of the fleet market. Managing Director of the Retread operation, Vladimir Skoupil, says, “We have
for both economic and environmental reasons. It is crazy. The way things are developing. Some Chinese tyres have increased in performance and quality but there are still many that cannot be retreaded.
“I did think that as the quality of the Chinese tyre increased, so too would its cost. However, we are
“The EU needs to take action. After Brexit there have to be changes at the EU and one area they can help is with anti- dumping duties on tyres, and of course steel and other commodities.”
Production at Carling is on the third floor of their new build, which is having a fourth floor added. Tyres coming into the factory are kept in a drying room before being passed through a shearography machine, a recently installed Intact from Steinbichler has replaced an older machine. All tyres are then checked in a Matteuzzi Spectra nail hole inspection unit and are pressure tested before going for repair if needed.
In 2016 Carling bought a new buffer from Marangoni/TRM and uses a Ringbuilder for tyre building. Skoupil says that they are trying to focus on quality with Marangoni’s Ringtread rather than simply cut quality and prices by using budget brands. However,
the company uses materials from Marangoni, Goodyear NextTread, Kraiburg and Vipal amongst others. He adds, “In 2015, when we produced 19 000 units, we were more optimistic and we invested a lot of money in production equipment. Now we have to work at surviving in this difficult market.
The buffing is done by a recently purchased Marangoni/TRM buffer and a second, older, Matteuzzi RAS30 with a template system for non-standard sizes. The process is finished off in one of two autoclaves of 24 and 18 places. 12 staff operate the plant and the shift pattern varies, currently on a single shift, but in busier periods they work a twin shift system. Skoupil says, “We have to operate a flexible manufacturing system to be able to match market fluctuations. We have to be close to our customers and we have to manage the customers’ own casings operations as pathways to develop the business.”
to be as close to the customer as is possible.
“We operate our own tyre management programme and co- operate with Goodyear to help cover their fleet obligations in Czechia and Slovakia. The relationship with Goodyear has been good in the past, but since they started to focus on hot cure at Wittlich, that element of the business has not been as good as it had been. Some of the precure that we supplied has been replaced by Goodyear’s own hot cure.”
Carling production had been as high as 20,000 units in 2013 but there has been a reduction, possibly to 15-16,000 in 2016- 2017. “The market is becoming more and more difficult.” says Skoupil. “We have to increasingly compete with Chinese tyres. The West was hit before we were. We have to focus on fleets where we can be in more control of the costs. Because we have that fleet business we may be able to withstand the competition longer than some of our colleagues in retreading.
“The change in the casings market is derived from the import of Chinese tyres. As they increase their share of the market they make more premium tyre casings available in the short to medium term.”
Asked about the opportunities for the future, Skoupil responded, “I hope that retreading has a future
seeing improved quality and still prices are falling.”
Vladimir Skoupil is the Czech representative to BIPAVER and asked about the BIPAVER stance on Chinese tyres, he commented, “I believe that the only answer can be for there to be some form of import duty placed on Chinese tyres. The selling price is below the cost of raw materials, plus there are the costs of transport, these tyres cost more than the selling price so the manufacturers are being subsidised for their exports.
“Other countries are defending their markets with anti-dumping duties, I cannot understand why Europe is not doing the same. Prices have dropped by 40 Euro in the last two years it is obvious that the Chinese government is subsiding these exports. I don’t understand why Europe says that we can’t defend our domestic industr y.
“The situation is getting worse. It was bad at Autopromotec in Bologna last year, and at Essen this year it was even worse. “There has to be some hope that we can recover the situation. There has to be a way forward. Tyre labelling was the issue that was at the forefront of ever yone’s minds last year, but today that has been overshadowed by the decline in the market due to Chinese tyres. If nothing is done, then tyre labelling for retreads is not going to be an issue.
Pneu Vraník – The New Kids
The youngest of the retreaders that we visited, Pneu Vraník was established in 1998 as an importer of Italian retreads. Given the size of the Czech market and the number of players, importing and successfully selling Italian retreads suggests something about the ability of founder, Luděk Vraník as a salesman and entrepreneur.
Vraník, having established a name for selling retreads, then decided to make his mark with his own brand of car tyre retreads and established his retread operation in an old factory unit near Slušovice. In time, Pneu Vraník grew to become perhaps
the largest retreader in Czechia. Certainly the largest of the car tyre retreaders with an output of around 150,000 car tyres per annum plus another 12 – 15,000 pre-cure truck tyres.
General Manager Petr Vanča explained that the range of production gave a certain stability to the market – in the non-truck production there was a wide range of car tyre sizes and patterns covering car, 4x4, sports, summer and winter tyres, plus truck tyres, with an option of up to three different qualities of tread to choose from. Vanča pointed out that they had a wide range of moulds available for car tyres,
Pneu Vraník’s custom built factory
28 Retreading Business