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ESTONIA
LLP Polven’s Retreading Division Gains Momentum in Estonia
employs 15 people, including members of the administrative department. According to Poluyanenkov, the company has recruited staff rather quickly, primarily because in 2015 numerous regional companies began large cuts, so a lot of people were looking for a job.
The plant’s workers have also quite quickly mastered equipment during the time, when the plant was operating in test mode, Poluyanenkov indicated, saying that average monthly salary at the plant stands now at EUR 1,000, and this corresponds to the average Estonian level.
So far, LLP Polven is retreading 150 passenger tyres daily, but aims to double this figure during 2017. The company imports casings from Western Europe, primarily from the Netherlands, Austria and Germany. In addition, rubber
is imported from Austria, and spikes from Finland.
Prior to retreading, each casing is verified by X-ray and multiple detectors to make sure that the casings are of suitable quality. To attract customers LLP Polven’s engineers have introduced an aggressive winter tyre design featuring a deep tread pattern in the form of Christmas tree.
“The technology is
developing rapidly
and the quality of
materials is also
constantly
improving, so we
are pretty sure that
we are not far off
the time, when the retreaded tyres will not be distinguishable from the new products”, Poluyanenkov believes.
Speaking about long-term business plans, Poluyanenkov reveals that he expects the payback period on the project to be no more than five years, but the company’s management is already now considering to increase capacity to 1,000 tyres per day.
According to Poluyanenkov this task will require the purchase of additional equipment and an increase in production space, so the company once again will try to look to raise support from European funds. As long as all the plant’s communications are built with a good margin, the expansion will not require very large investments, he suggests. For a start, LLP Polven plans to expand the office space and
warehouse, and this is expected to be completed shortly.
So far, most aspects of the plant’s operation are being carried out according to the initial plan. For instance, during the trial operation period the company has already retreaded 100,000 passenger tyres, exporting nearly 80 per cent out of this amount to Russia.
“Although the Russians have been actively developing their own tyre industry over past years, we are not major competitors for them. At the same time, we try to do everything possible to be competitive.” Poluyanenkov emphasises.
“At the moment we send tyres to Moscow and Siberia, while in St. Petersburg we plan to open our own office. The rest of production we are supplying to Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Belarus, Ukraine and Norway, where there is snow and
Sergey Poluyanenkov, LLP Polven’s General Director
Polven has invested 3 Million Euro in the new retread plant
In late 2016 the Estonian company LLP Polven finally received the enabling documentation to start the full-scale operation of a new retreading plant in Voka in the country’s North-East. As a result, the company is already targeting production of 300 units per day. The total declared capacity of the plant is close to 200,000 passenger tyres per year.
“We have built the plant very quickly, in almost four months, but we had to wait almost three times longer for the issuing of various permits,” complained Sergey Poluyanenkov, LLP Polven’s General Director.
“It is good that we have been always supported by regional community offices, which helped us to solve various organisational issues during the construction and commissioning of the plant. I also had to closely
tests have been carried out, and LLP Polven’s first retreaded tyres have already been tested in real traffic conditions. Over the past years, the company has supplied trial batches of winter tyres to Russia’s Siberia and to Finland. So far, everyone is happy with the product quality, Poluyanenkov stresses.
“After conducting some market studies, we decided to rely on treads adapted to the conditions of the Nordic countries. This is a market segment, where there is a niche for us. Although, I have to admit that the market is quite full, and it is difficult to break into, the competition does not frighten us. We don’t have a lack of experience, as over the past decade the company has had to fight for a place in the sun,” Poluyanenkov explained.
LLP Polven has raised EUR 3 million for the construction of the plant.
Matteuzzi buffers make short work of preparing casings
interact with the local citizens, assuring that our facility does not harm the environment and will not cause any trouble for them”. According to Poluyanenkov, all necessary papers have now been obtained, all necessary laboratory
The company’s management initially hoped to get some support from European funds, but this aid has actually not been allocated, causing some delays in the construction process.
At the moment, the retreading plant
frost. In warm countries, this niche [of retreaded passenger tyres] is already occupied. We are retreading tyres from 15 to 18 inches as well as tyres for minivans.
Over the past few years Estonia has suffered problems with used tyres, as according to market participants, the tyre collecting and recycling system in the country is not operating effectively. In this regard, the head of the country’s Tyre Union Kaur Kuurme has welcomed the construction of the new plant, also expressing hope that it will help to solve country’s problem with tyre dumps.
In total, Estonia now has seven retreaders, and almost all of them have to import casings from abroad, primarily because the quality of domestic casings leaves a lot to be desired.
According to Kuurme, Estonia has
32 Retreading Business