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RUSSIA
First Steps for New Russian Retreader
2016, the plant retreaded its first tyre and started to accept orders from its first customers.
“We are working with R22, R20 and R19. We do have envelopes for these sizes, and we don’t for low-profile R17 and R16. It turns out that the demand for the low- profile tyres is not so big, and as long as one envelope in Russia costs up to Rub 16,000 (US$240), it is simply economically unreasonable to purchase stock to handle some single orders for 4-6 tyres,” Uvenchikov said.
The entire production line consists of the European equipment, primarily Marangoni and Matteuzzi. The company recently has added an ultrasound machine, also of German-origin. “We need this machine to issue a warranty on tyres not simply for 100,000 km mileage and a period of half year, but for the entire service life of the tyre up to complete tread wear. We are still testing and trying this machine, because it is not brand new. It was manufactured in 1989 and additionally it is not part of a complete set, but we believe we will set it into operation within 2- 3 months and everything will be okay,” Uvenchikov stated.
Up to six tyre lives
The company’s concept is that every good tyre of the European brands, such as Bridgestone, Michelin and Goodyear with good retreading can have up to six lives with a total mileage of around 850,000 km. The only question is how the tyre has been treated during its operation.
For most clients of Recycl Tyre it appears very surprising that tyre retreading is an option to cut operational costs originally laid down by the tyre manufacturers themselves.
“I’m used to buying the casings from my clients when they are coming to change the tyres in my fitting centre. We have numerous long-standing customers, that is, transport companies with fleets from 100 to 250 trucks, who are regularly changing tyres. We are not just working on the casings of the clients, we are also accepting casings and returning back immediately the retreaded tyre of the same brand, charging only for the cost of retreading service,” Uvenchikov explained.
To do this, it is very important to know the quality of ever y tyre, especially when it is not the first
time that it has been retreaded. The company has its own database, with an information card on ever y single tyre the company has even dealt with. On this card, the information on
ever y, even most miserable, defect is mentioned, together with the information when the tyre was manufactured, when and by whom it was retreaded and with what raw materials.
“Yes, we also have manufacturing defects, but, as practice shows, in 90 per cent of cases where something goes wrong with the tyre it is associated with so-called exploitation defects, that is, for example, when the driver failed to avoid the potholes in the road. In the rest, maybe 10 per cent it could be our fault and if inspection confirms that, we either offer to retread tyre once again or offer to repay the difference between promised and actual mileage,” he said.
“For example, when the promised mileage is 100,000 km and the tyre costs, let’s say, Rub 10,000 (US$160), and if it served only for 60,000 km, then we pay back 40 per cent or Rub 4,000 (US$60). As an alternative customer can pay us another Rub 6,000 (US$100) and receive a tyre with a warranty for new 100,000 km mileage. At the same time, I can say that we have never had such faults as a delamination of the tread on our tyres,” Uvenchikov said.
Word of mouth
The company’s main competitive advantage, according to Uvenchikov, is that it has been working with tyres for already ten years, so it is perfectly aware where ever y particular problem may come from. The same thing cannot be said about its competitors in the Urals.
“In terms of our competitors I can say that we were purchasing tyres from some retreading plants in our region and a couple of plants from Omsk Oblast. We were cutting them and were horrified, because of such things as the complete failure to cure the interlayered raw rubber, tread delamination, the stitching divergence. With no doubt, these things occur due to non- compliance with the basic technology rules of the retreading process, and we are pretty sure that such a tyre would not stay functional for long,” he said.
“We have a competitor in Kurgan
A lot of retreading companies in Russia were originally tyre repair or fitting centres. When you have a workshop, where you are servicing tyres, including from trucks, and you have some form of sustainable client base, you are able to assess the state of demand in the market, and so, the launching of the retreading facility can appear to be very justified way of business expansion.
This is exactly how it worked for the Recycl Tyre Company, which is operating in the small city of Shadrinsk, in Kurgan Oblast, Russia. This is in the country’s south-east, located not far from the border with Kazakhstan, and it is commonly considered as an industrial region, where many plants, factories, as well as logistics and transport companies are based.
According to Alexander Uvenchikov, the company’s
founder and the general director, Recycl Tyre had been operating as a tyre fitting centre from 2007. Initially, the idea to open the retreading plant crossed his mind back in 2013. Searching for equipment he went to China, to the Canton Fair Exhibition. However, his first experience in this field was discouraging.
“Well, it seems that in China, there is no order at all, as at the same place there were such things as condoms, bras, lines for the manufacturing of macaroni, equipment for blowing plastic and also some things for tyre retreading. So just to find something useful you needed to run all over the place for at least five days,” Uvenchikov said. Additionally, it turned out that Chinese agreed to set up and commission a retreading line in Russia only on the condition of the 100 per cent pre-payment. As
the result, Uvenchikov said, he returned to Russia and decided to search for the equipment within his own country. A year later, he signed a preliminary agreement with Retreading Technologies Service, a St. Petersburg company, engaged in the distributing of retreading equipment of various brands.
In the following one and a half years the construction and installation works took place. They ended when the new plant had passed an inspection by Russia’s technical regulator Rostehnadzor and the company had received a permission to begin its operation. On October 6,
42 Retreading Business