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CZECHIA
WETEST pneu
– The Oldest in CZ
WETEST pneu spol. s r.o based in Mělník was founded in the year 1991 and is the first cold retreading company in Czechia. The next retreading companies were created around the year 1992.
Managing Director Engineer Václav Šubrt explained that by 1992 the company was already producing 1,000 units per
AKR 172 builder as back up or for special operations. There is also a Collmann buffer for OTR retreading operations.
The WETEST plant has three autoclaves of 10, 15 and 22 places, which gives the company some flexibility in production. The main suppliers to WETEST are Kraiburg, Vipal, Continental and Marangoni, who supply
Managing Director Engineer Václav Šubrt
month. Since then, the production has never dropped below 1,000 units per month. The original equipment had been purchased via Kraiburg, but it has now been considerably updated. One example was that when the company started inspecting casings by shearography they opted for an SDS shearography machine and in recent years replaced old manual buffers with new Matteuzzi RAS 90 DC 4 Ultra and 30 buffers.
Building is done on an AZ-SB1 with extruder builder, and an
envelopes. The Continental treads can, however, only go to Conti customers. Until June 2016, WETEST operated three shifts, but that had been reduced to two shifts due to the changes in the market conditions and holiday time. In 2015 the company produced 25,000 truck and bus tyres at the Mělnik plant, this was down from the best production years when the output reached 40,000 units in Mělník plant (that was in 2006). All tyres entering the plant are recorded and their processing is followed through digitally. The
tight controls before, during and after production give Wetest a very good claim rate. The data on rejected tyres is also recorded to the delivery notes and that information is available to the suppliers so that they can verify the rejection.
Casing supply is managed from within Czechia. In the past there was a good supply from the
and it sells almost exclusively through its retail customers. Production at Wetest is exclusively pre-cure and today, according to Šubrt, pre-cure is the dominant retread method in Czechia, hot cure never having recovered from its poor reputation from the old days. Asked about opportunities for the future, Šubrt shrugged, “It is
The WETEST premises with stock awaiting inspection
Netherlands and Germany, but today there is not so much need as there are sufficient tyres of the right sizes in Czechia. The company is proud to have been the first retreader in Czechia to receive ISO:9001 and did, until recently hold ISO:14001 but allowed that to lapse due to the costs incurred in maintaining that standard. Wetest has two sister companies, one near Brno and another in Ostrava.
The company is a founder member of the Czech retread tyre association (SVPČR) and that, in turn, is a member of BIPAVER. WETEST does not sell new tyres, it is purely a retread operation
difficult to grow in the current climate. We may start selling new tyres to allow us to remain competitive.”
Was there the possibility of exporting retreads?
“We used to send some tyres to Germany. In particular, we worked with partners in East Germany, but today that opportunity has gone as even in Germany they are struggling to find markets. We don’t particularly want to look to the East, and trade with Russia is not possible just now.” said Šubrt.
SDS provide the shearography at WETEST and this has helped maintain a low claim rate
32 Retreading Business