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KENYA
Pramukh to Expand in Kenya and Africa
Oline Focuses on Nakuru Plant
Hari Varsani, Director, Oline Retreads Ltd.
Pramukh Tyres & Retreads Limited took over the Oline plant based at Nairobi in 2015 and claims to have almost doubled the production in one year. Originally, the Oline unit set-up in 2005 and when sold to them, current owner Pramukh was producing in between 650-700 tyres each month till a year ago. The plant was running to half of the current capacity as it was difficult to focus on it from far- off Nakuru, where Oline is headquartered.
The new owners provided the required stability and personal touch to the operation besides which their relationship with fleet-owners brought new volumes to the plant. “We have been working in the Nairobi market for many years. We own two fuel stations, and our long term relationship with some of the major fleets brings business to the plant,” said Paras Shah, Managing Director, Pramukh Tyres & Retread Limited. Commenting on the firm’s success in the Nairobi plant, he explained, “We cut on overheads and put our system in place, which has allowed us to make a turnaround in challenging times when there is a continuous threat from Chinese tyres.” He also attributes success to the foresight of the current owners in buying the Oline plant, at a
time when retreading plants were closing in Nairobi.
The plant has an installed capacity of around 3,000 units per month, but is currently operating at half capacity. “We are working on a plan to up the production by 50 per cent, adding another 600-700 tyres by the end of 2017,” he confirmed.
The plant has three autoclave of 5, 8 and 14 tyres respectively and retreads 66 tyres per day using Supercool tread, as the firm will soon sign a Supercool partner agreement with the Malaysian firm. The company consumes 18,000 kilos of tread rubber and cushion gum per month.
Emboldened by the turnaround in the Nairobi plant, Pramukh further plans to have plants in the cities of Nakuru and Mombasa and potentially even beyond Kenya. “We are looking at running plants in both locations in Kenya, while we are keen to foray into East and Central Africa. Having retread units in Uganda and Tanzania is part of a four-year growth strategy, he added.” Although the company has inherited the equipment in the Nairobi plant from Treadsdirect, all future plants will have dedicated Supercool plant and tread rubber.
Nakuru’s largest retread firm Oline Retreads Ltd is focusing on improving quality standards by adding new equipment. The company has revamped the whole plant, replacing the older equipment about three years ago, and adding a 14 tyre autoclave to existing two 3 and 8 tyre chambers, besides new buffing, inspection and tyre building machines. “We are now planning to install a nail-hole detector, and we are considering the introduction of a tyre management system (TMS) shortly,” said Hari Varsani, Director, Oline Retreads Ltd. Oline had three plants in Mombasa, Nairobi and Nakuru respectively, but sold the Mombasa unit about five years ago and the Nairobi plant around one and a half years ago owing to increasing competition in those markets. “We are based at Nakuru, but competition intensified in far-off Nairobi the port city of Mombasa in the last five years. Therefore, we sold-off those units and have branched out into the business of new tyres, cars and the hospitality sector on home ground,” he explained. The new tyre business started in 1999, while the hotel is still under construction and is likely to be ready by year end.
The plant retreads 800 tyres per
month from 16 inch LCV (light
commercial vehicle) to 24 inch
truck sizes. 80 per cent of the
volume comes from the
upcountry market, while it
retreads 200 tyres sourced locally
from the Nakuru market each
month. 6 per cent of the retread
volume comes from truck tyres
and the remaining 40 per cent
from smaller LCVs. The company
Hari Varsani, Director, Oline Retreads Ltd.
has a strategic relationship with Nairobi based Singh Retread for OTRs and gets about 20 OTR tyres retreaded at its Nairobi unit.
The Nakuru plant opened in 1990 and currently operates with Elgi equipment. It maintained on average production levels of 1,000 retreads each month in 2015 but production has fallen to around 800 tyres monthly during 2016. “The impact on volumes is due to the surge in low price tyre imports in Kenya,” he stressed.
Oline focuses on small tyre dealers for cash business and stays away from the transport sector, which operates largely on credit terms. “We could raise the volumes to 1,000 retreads each month if we were to offer credit to fleet owners,” he claimed. Oline sources its tread rubber primarily from Goodway.
Paras Shah, Managing Director, Pramukh Tyres & Retreads Ltd.
52 Retreading Business
Nobel Tyres Enters into Tractor Tyre Retreading
Nobel Tyres has forayed into tractor tyre retreading in order to widen its product portfolio to counter the low-price tyre imports in Kenya. The Nakuru based firm
anticipates increasing scope in the agriculture tyre segment as the Kenyan agriculture sector is moving albeit slowly towards mechanisation. “Currently, we