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customised steel-cord patches. “We also carry out nylon OTR repairs for select customers,” he added.
“We will do it more aggressively in bigger numbers at the new location.”
Fine Tread Continues
to Trade on Plant Upgrade
Fine Tread & Allied Industries Ltd has upgraded equipment in its Nairobi based plant over recent years. The retreading company has phased out the old machinery and replaced it with new equipment, installed a monorail system and is now running a systematic operation with separate sheds for conventional and precure processes used for OTR and truck tyre retreading.
“We started a plant upgrade in 2010, which was completed in 2013. Earlier, the plant was small, but later on we acquired adjoining plots and built the plant afresh, and phased out the old machinery, replacing it with new equipment,” said Baljinder Singh Randhawa, MD, Fine Tread & Allied Industries Ltd. “We installed good equipment and focused on service and quality. As a result, we are not receiving any claims and our clients are satisfied,” he added.
Fine Tread retreads around 400 truck tyres and 30 OTR tyres each month. The plant is installed with autoclaves from Magnabosco and Bandag and sources its tread from Malaysian supplier Eversafe, who have supplied the company for the last two decades.
The firm says it makes its own rules and tries not to compete with other retreaders. “We are not part of any kind of price war. We strongly believe if we maintain quality, customers will keep visiting us and give us more business,” he said. Despite the slowdown in the retreading industry due to the presence of low-price tyre imports, Fine Tread has kept its affection for retreading alive.
“If there is a market for low- price tyres, there is also a market for retreads, and despite the market being flooded with Chinese tyres, the retreading
industry is still moving. Therefore, there is room for both of us in this market,” he concluded.
Baljinder Singh Randhawa, MD, Fine Tread & Allied Industries Ltd.