Page 24 - RB-79-16-4
P. 24
ARC
ARNEC in Chile is taking a lead on carbon assets
come down to service and communication. For small, independent pre-cure retreaders this is clearly problematical. These are often small, family owned businesses, who do not have the resources to develop sophisticated fleet management programmes.
This is where the suppliers of pre- cured treads come in. In many markets we have seen larger, mould cure retreaders be significantly more successful in defending their position against cheap new tyres. Smaller independent retreaders are much more likely to be dealing with small, independent fleets, and it is no surprise that it this part of the market, which is under the most pressure.
In my opinion the future of pre-cure
disastrously bad in promoting itself properly and in identifying and keeping customers. I remember several years ago carrying out a market research project on behalf of a major retreading company during which I identified a large number of truck fleets and interviewed them about whether they used retreads and whether they would consider using them. A surprisingly high proportion of the fleets I visited said they would be happy to consider using retreads if only they had been visited by retreaders to promote their products.
Even when the money for promotion becomes available it is not always channeled correctly. I remember a few years ago in the UK the government body WRAP made
retreading in many markets will depend on the ability of tread rubber suppliers becoming more than just suppliers of tread rubber. Branding will become increasingly important (and there is a precedent for this – for decades Bandag was the World Champion at branding in the retreading industry) – but also suppliers will need to help retreaders with national service networks, with fleet services, with tyre management tools, with training, with information
thousands of pounds available for tyre recycling projects and campaigns, under which a promotional campaign for retreads was agreed. When the campaign reached its conclusion, all the industry had to show for it was a few case studies in pdf format. Organisations such as TRIB do a fantastic job in North America (and further afield, I might add) – and they are properly funded. Why then is there no equivalent umbrella
coverage is good – but support in other countries is less comprehensive. Surely proper targeted communication of the key messages of the retreading industry on a regional basis has to be a priority.
And finally a brief word about the sustainability of the retreading industry. As an industry we have spent years trying to persuade governments of the green credentials of retreading, with mixed success, but one thing is certain, as an industry we have never been able to validate and monetarise the carbon assets of retreading, but perhaps that is also about to change.
One of the most interesting recent developments has been the fascinating work carried out in Chile by the Chilean Retreaders Association ARNEC together with the environmental consultancy, Sustrend, whose programme consists of a four phase process which allows national retreading industries to create a standardisation process, which will allow the retreading industry to work with individual governments in a manner, which will
Council – the first step towards completing the standardisation process.
In conclusion, then, I suspect that in the future the ability of independent retreaders to survive and flourish in the increasingly competitive tyre market will come down to a number of key factors:
• The ability to justify, measure and explain pricing as it relates to retreads and new tyres- and particularly the concept of cost per mile (PPK).
• Investment in continually improving the performance of retreads, particularly relating to mileage and fuel consumption
The promotion of retreading as a premium product and an avoidance of a price war with Chinese new tyres.
• The ability to identify and keep potential new fleet customers, the ability to communicate direct with them and service them properly
The ability to add value added services such as fleet management programmes.
• And – an area which I haven’t had time to expand upon here, the ability to spot and develop application specific niches where the competition from cheap imports is less severe or where the cost/performance ratio is more beneficial to retreads.
Overall, the challenge from cheap Chinese tyres is not going to go away. It may abate for a while depending on exchange rates, raw material costs, tariff levels etc, but ultimately it will come back, so in my opinion it is up to the global retreading industry to accept that retreading is entering a new age, and prepare itself accordingly.
validating the performance of retreads – and so on
And this brings us on to my next point – the issue of communication in the retreading industry. One of my favourite topics.
Historically the retreading industry in most parts of the world has been
organisation in Europe (and other markets) that is able to represent the interests of the retreading industry to governments, fleet bodies and the like? In some parts of Europe, such as in Italy, where AIRP has recently presented a White Paper on retreading to the Italian government,
allow the industry to create validatable carbon assets, which can then be traded on the carbon markets. In Chile ARNEC is already some way into this process, with the industry having signed a so-called Clean Production Agreement with Chile’s National Clean Production
24 Retreading Business
