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SOUTH AMERICA
Rode Bem Pneus Expands its Scope with Elgi
service, from new product retail to the end of the tyre’s lifespan”, recalls Vicente. In the course of three months they installed the modern machinery in a warehouse next to the BTS and started the training of the new employees, all with Elgi’s broad technical support. The site, with a total production capacity of 1000 tyres per month, exhibited a learning curve similar to the production curve. “The machines are easy to use and maintain, together with the technical training it was even easier to start; in a month we were ready to go”, describes production supervisor João de
weight at any given moment of the process”.
Working properly for 15 months, it’s already possible to weigh the pros and cons of the endeavour. After a initial semester hindered by the usual challenges of a business diversification, the CEO affirms the site has already passed its breakeven point and uses its production numbers to foresee an optimistic scenario. If last year’s average production did not exceed 300 retreads per month, now the employees’ familiarity with the workflow has allowed a goal of reaching over 600 tyres per month
Rode Bem Pneus Manoel Vicente and his team
Two years ago, after more than two decades acting mostly in his known market of new tyre retail for large sized vehicles, founder and CEO of Rode Bem Pneus Manoel Vicente felt it was time to explore new territories. After more than two decades serving multinational tyre manufacturers, Marcelo Ancora decided to take on a new challenge as the CEO of Elgi Rubber’s branch in Brazil. These
economic decline, and the retail of new tyres was not enough to sustain the commercial balance of Rode Bem anymore. Vicente searched for new partners to face the setback, studied the market and closed a franchise deal with Bridgestone, thereafter offering his clients
menhad never met, but the recent intersection between their business is symbolic in a delicate time in the country’s economy.
While many see an impassable crisis, some look for the opportunities. In the inland part of Pernambuco state, in the Brazilian northeast region, Rode Bem was well established in the local retail market with its imported new tyre products. Mainly in the last decade and a half, the company followed the high tide of the commodities super cycle, a period of booming economy in the country. At some point, the table started to turn. The oil price rose while the cargo transportation prices went the other way. Truck drivers started to feel the ripple effect of the
Bridgestone’s BTS truck maintenance service. The bet on an improved overall service payed off, reaching once again commercial equilibrium. However, the CEO saw a new window of opportunity: since he was already providing new products and maintenance services, why not close the cycle and give new life to his clients’ old tyres?
The company then met Elgi, as recommended by Bridgestone’s consultancy. At the beginning of 2016, the retreading machine manufacturer run by Marcelo Ancora presented a full project for a retreading plant site, and Rode Bem entered head-on into the endeavour. “We saw an opportunity to increase our revenue while offering a full
Araújo, present since the beginning of the site’s planning. Responsible for the production line and the employees’ training, Araújo says he’s proud of the company’s safety record and lack of work-related accidents and believes the Elgi-designed monorail can be held accountable for this: “our local competitors use a dangerous single-bearing loose monorail; ours is a safe monorail, the operator doesn’t have to lift the tyre’s
before the end of the year. Manoel Vicente has made his plans: “we hope we will reach capacity sometime during next year, and the plan is to eventually expand our production structure in a few years; with all the technical support and assembling efficiency of Elgi. If I am to build a new retreading site I will surely renew my partnership with them”.
Manoel Vicente feels that his investment in Elgi equipment has already paid off and Elgi is the prime candidate supplier when the company expands in the future
28 Retreading Business