Page 22 - RB-79-16-4
P. 22
ARC
Haemmerling’s own retread brand – and the company make it perfectly clear that Athos is perfectly retreadable.
Vacu-lug have a similar approach, marketing the Westake brand pro- actively as part of a multi-brand strategy and a fleet management package that includes Pirelli, Yokohama, Westlake and Vacu-Lug’s own retreads. What they do not do is sell budget Chinese tyres as an alternative to their own retreads. Again, it is made clear that the Westlake casings are actively retreaded.
One retreader that has done a u-turn on the sale of Chinese tyres is the UK retreader Bandvulc, which at the time was independent. A couple of years ago Bandvulc was importing and marketing Boto new tyres from China and marketing them alongside its own premium quality retreads. However, according to Bandvulc’s Managing Director Patrick O’Connell, the company eventually realised that selling any Chinese
successful, not only because their profit margins are bigger, but because they are able to have a direct influence over the end user.
Again – an example from the UK – and I use the UK not just because I’m British, but because the leading UK retreaders have been very successful in transforming their businesses from retread only operations to comprehensive fleet management companies.
Bandvulc, now in its 45th year, and recently acquired by Continental, has long been a major player in the retreading industry, but in recent years the company has re-invented itself as a significant fleet management provider. The company is broken down by sector and now includes several divisions; Bandvulc Mixing, Bandvulc Tyres, Bandvulc Plus+ Tyre Management, Bandvulc Fitting Tyre Maintenance Ltd and Bandvulc FIRST wholesaling. The tyre fitting company has depots in Gateshead, Leeds, Nottingham, Lutterworth and Luton and operates
new press has also helped achieve an upgrade in terms of curing pressure, which has helped eliminate micro- porosity in the cured compound, thereby helping improve performance in terms of mileage and well as fuel efficiency. The success of the Logistik range shows that it is not beyond the retreading industry to access the most demanding sectors of the commercial vehicle market.
As Vacu-Lug Sales Director Dave Alsop says, “Clearly, there is still a strong demand for premium retread tyres in the HGV sector, as it would appear that some of the very cheap imports are not proving to be as cost-effective as expected.”
This brings me neatly onto the question of whether retreaders should sell Chinese tyres in an “If you can’t beat them, join them” approach to the market. All over the
world we hear of retreaders doing this. The argument is that the customer wants a cheap Chinese tyre – not a retread, and if the retreader does not offer such tyres in his range, the customer will go somewhere else.
However, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that unless the retreader is marketing one of the top Chinese brands like Westlake, Double Coin or Sailun, this is more likely to be counter-productive and will eventually result in the cannibalisation of the retreader’s core business
One retreader, which sells Chinese new truck tyres as part of a cohesive strategy is the German retreader Haemmerling, who market a private branded new tyre made in China under the brand name Athos. However, this is a proper branding exercise which incorporates
tyres was directly against their interest as a retreader, so they stopped the practice.
So the advice has to be – and I accept that this is easier said than done - only sell Chinese tyres if they are part of a structured and comprehensive marketing strategy – not as a defensive reaction to price conditions in the market place.
Next I’d like to talk a little about how retreaders approach fleets. In general, those retreaders who are able to market their products as part of an overall fleet tyre management concept and full life package and those who have direct access to their fleet customers are best equipped to survive. Those who have to sell through distributors and those whose products are in direct competition to cheap Chinese tyres are the companies who face the bigger challenge. Retreaders who are already tyre distributors have been shown to be more likely to be
a call-centre, which is in operation on a 24/7 basis.
Bandvulc Fleet Management (BVPlus+) is now the largest arm of the Bandvulc Group, with a clientele including many of the UK’s leading supermarket chains (the company’s tyre management service supports over two-thirds of the UKs supermarket activity) as well as a plethora of well-known haulage fleets.
Companies like Bandvulc are at the forefront of modern retreading. Retreading is at the company’s core, but it has developed into a total fleet management company, which can show that retreading is a valid and valuable part of a total tyre management concept.
Of course, I’m perfectly well aware that not every retreader has the resources to do what Bandvulc has done. Nonetheless, the future of retreading in the light of the challenge from budget new tyres will
22 Retreading Business
