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credentials, both as individual companies and (with the notable exception of the USA) as a united industry. We have talked a lot over the years about the retreading industry’s green credentials, about how retreads can perform as well as new tyres and how they should form part of a whole life cycle approach to tyre management, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, and the daily grind of running a business, too much of the market has allowed the sector to be brought down to the lowest common denominator,
work its way through the current problems and emerge stronger.
So let’s have a look at some of the latest developments.
In many markets the increasingly low prices of Chinese tyres has meant that a good proportion of retreaders have felt that the only way to respond is to reduce costs by using cheaper compound and by reducing costs in other parts of the production process. Of course this is happening in most developing markets where awareness of the benefits of PPK and tyre management issues in general is
fleet. I realise that we are a long way from this in some markets, but this has to be the long term goal for the whole of the retreading sector. Budget retreading may be around for a while yet, but Quality Premium retreading is the future.
Fortunately, the good news is that many companies, including suppliers and some retreaders have recognised this requirement. It is worth noting that in Europe, where this trend has begun to take off, the premium sector of the market seems to be holding its own whilst much of the
decrease in retread production is occurring in the budget sector, which is coming most under pressure from cheap Chinese tyres. Here are a few examples from the European market.
Possibly the most interesting response to market developments in recent years has been Marangoni’s introduction of the Blackline range of precured treads. Blackline, says Marangoni, is the company’s response to the evolution the market has undergone in recent years, where larger fleets in particular have been demanding retreaded tyres with reliable performance, improved durability and rolling resistance which is comparable or superior to
quality new tyres in order to guarantee savings. Bearing in mind that Ringtread has always been positioned as a premium product, Blackline is effectively a premium/premium product. The objectives of the Marangoni Group’s Advanced Research Division during the development of the Blackline range of products, was to achieve at least 15% increased mileage, a 10% reduction in rolling resistance, a 3% reduction in consumption, as well as a 10% increase in adhesion and, for the on-off road tread, a 20% increase in mechanical wear-resistance. Those goals were actually exceeded through the use of new materials, increased natural rubber content, a new generation carbon black perfectly incorporated in the compound through a revolutionary mixing process, and a new generation of moulds – so a comprehensive approach to providing top level premium products that provide measurable benefits and improvements over budget competition from the new tyre sector. The need to provide fleet customers with guaranteed performance has also been recognised by Bridgestone Bandag, who earlier this year introduced their “Bandag Contract of Trust” a contract to be signed
between Bandag dealers and fleet customers. Again, a key aim of this is reassuring fleets that Bandag retreaded tyres are not only a safe and reliable alternative to a new set of tyres, but a further solution for reducing fleets’ tyre related costs per kilometre. The Bandag Contract of Trust covers three key guarantees. The first is a Bandag retread warranty that provides trouble-free performance as good as you would expect from premium new tyres. The second guarantees a lower tyre cost per km with Bandag retreads than the fleet’s fitted tyres, with the third delivering 100% retread suitability of Bridgestone and Firestone tyre casings.
Kraiburg’s response to the need to prove and guarantee performance has been the decision to put its retreads through regular and extensive on- road tests in conjunction with a local transport company as part of its product development activities. The aim was to prove that retreads can match up to new tyres in terms of rolling resistance, wet grip and rolling noise. Kraiburg has summarised its latest test results in a brochure, comparing the perfor- mance of its treads with new tyres. According to EU law anyone selling new truck tyres has to show labelling information to the purchaser before a sale is made, but this does not currently apply to retreads, at least until the end of 2017. However, the brochure allows Kraiburg to provide users with comparable information in a clear and concise way. All the tyre test results published in the brochure were obtained by an accredited and independent test laboratory with reference to the standards and specifications applicable to new tyres. We are also seeing some larger retreaders paying greater attention to the development of premium products with measurable benefits to fleets. Not only that, we are seeing some players taking advantages of specific niches where they know they can outperform competitors from the new tyre segment.
An interesting example of this is the UK based retreader Vacu-Lug, which since the acquisition of Bandvulc by Continental a couple of months ago is now the largest independent retreader in the country.
Over the course of the last couple of years the company has developed a new range of tyres called Logistik, which, as the name suggests, have been specifically designed to target growth in the logistics sector and are positioned at the premium end of the market.
Key to the success of this range has been investment in a 12 segment press, which has allowed the production of a tyre with a significant increase in ‘true roundness’ which has helped optimise tyre life. The
Source: ETRMA
pitching retreads as a budget product competing against cheap new tyres, with price as the deciding factor. This, of course, is understandable to a degree, it doesn’t take much effort to cut prices and services with it – and you’re not going to turn down ready business that requires minimum marketing effort, are you? It’s an easy option – but it breeds laziness, inflexibility and a lack of entrepreneurial innovation. That said, of course, this approach is OK if you can produce and sell at prices below those of new tyres and still make a profit, which for many years was the case.
However, when new tyres suddenly became cheaper than retreads, too much of the industry has simply thrown its hands up in despair and said “That is the end of retreading.” The fact is we have become far too lazy. Retreading has plenty going for it and there are many good economic and environmental reasons why the industry can have a bright future. However, it needs a different approach to that which has sufficed in the past. Fortunately, it appears that this message has begun to get through – not everywhere, I hasten to add – but there is enough innovative thinking to give us hope that the retreading industry will
less prevalent. Many of the interviews written by our correspondent covering India, the Middle East and Africa are characterised by retreaders complaining about reduced volumes due to the impact of Chinese imports. However, this has also been a factor in major western markets with the established premium suppliers coming under pressure from mid-range and budget imported tread brands.
There is, of course, a valid role in the retread sector for product and customer segmentation based on attitude to price. There is also an increased necessity for a focus on improving efficiency and therefore also optimising costs in the production process, but this is different to downtrading in terms of quality as a response to market forces. This, in my view, is a mistake, and can only result in a further weakening of the position of retreading vis-à-vis Chinese new tyres, whose quality, of course, continues to improve.
The only answer, in my opinion, is to continue to improve the quality of retreading, to push to market towards more premium products and to validate the process in terms of efficiency and cost savings for the
20 Retreading Business
