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ARGENTINA
Neumaticos del Sur Diversity Helps to Spread the Risk
One of Argentina’s biggest retreaders, Neumaticos del Sur, manufactures an accumulated total of 6,000 tyres per month at its three bases in Buenos Aires, Neuquen and Cordoba. Despite having 30 years of experience in the market, what is most intriguing is the diversity of the business done at each of these three bases, with each one having a different emphasis to its sister branches. This geographical coverage means that the Vipal
unusual about Neumaticos del Sur is that they are the only retreader in Argentina retreading 385/65 super- singles for use on long haul buses. In the eyes of Adrian, the Vipal tread they offer is performing well against their major competitors such as Marangoni and Michelin. Additionally, on the competition within the Federal Capital and Buenos Aires, Adrian explained about the ferocity of the local market and how the company has
retreader has the capability to reach out to all corners and the diversity of the Argentinian market.
In the south, in Neuquen, most of the business is closely linked to either the oil industry or the fruit farming in the area. This is in contrast to Mendoza, where the emphasis is on mining and wine. Due to the geographical proximity of this workshop to the Chilean and Uruguayan borders, it has to deal with the phenomenal number of fleets crossing the border to buy tyres that are sold at substantially cheaper prices. According to the manager, Adrian Guerra, this is a key factor as to why the retread market has declined in that particular region. As for Buenos Aires, the main source of business is the long haul bus market rather than the city buses, who operate their own retread plants. In relation to the long haul bus market, what is
to fight against tiny retreaders located in poor areas, who have an extremely low base cost. It is this cost advantage that in times of economic downturn is affecting their ability to compete in an effective way, due the obsession with price.
Finally, an interesting side note to emphasise the diversity of Neumaticos del Sur is the fact that they also run a small tyre recycling facility, creating crumb rubber for tiles and artificial soccer pitches due to the popularity of the 6-a-side form of the game in Argentina. They are the only retreader in Argentina that offer this recycling function, and with a production capacity of 30-40 tonnes per month, they have the capability to use all of their own buffing waste, whilst also being able to purchase buffings from other retreaders.
invest time and resources into opportunities that come their these personnel to ensure they way.
are fully equipped for the future
Norberto Grippo Looks to Expand by Focusing on Quality
Situated in Ituzaingo, a neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, retreader Norberto Grippo is aiming to expand through a culture that concentrates on quality and improvement rather than price and a cost orientated outlook. According to Grippo, quality is the key component for success. He does not want to work in a cheap way that could compromise the quality of the product – for Grippo price follows quality and not the other way around. This is a critical principle of his business model.
“It is OK to work from home, he says, but you need to work well with the best materials. Fortunately, with Marangoni, we are using the best products in the world.” Norberto Grippo is one of 16 Marangoni retreaders in Argentina and the company currently manufactures 750 tyres a month,
60 per cent of them using the
Ringtread system. They supply mostly to transport companies within the Buenos Aires region. The ISO 9000 and ISO 14001 retreader now has plans to expand his operation by increasing the size of the workshop through the introduction of new equipment into the area at the back of the plant, which he concedes is too small at the moment.
During our visit to his plant, Grippo talked over the challenges facing the Argentine retread market by asserting that one of the key problems that the industry needs to overcome is the issue of credibility. “Lots of companies within the sector are not credible, which in turn affects the credibility of the higher quality retreaders,” he said “Lots of people are selling and using second quality material and selling it to whoever they can.”
Bandasur Makes Moves in Argentine Retread Market
44 Retreading Business
One of the ongoing success stories in the Argentine Retread market is Bandasur, who are currently making investments to further improve the
service to fleets to provide the required added value, which in turn helps its competitiveness against the smaller retreaders.