Page 50 - RB-83-17-4

COMPANY PROFILE
Obo Banden’s factory in Hardenburg
Building OTR retreads is a skilled job to ensure high quality output
Managing Director, Peter Schrijver
Obo and the Magna Effect
Magna connection, a number of new sizes in the pipeline.
“We are exploring new chances to get Obo into the marketplace. This has required some changes in personnel and systems and a change in how we market our products.
“We need to become more customer focused. We need to take Obo to the end user, so we will be attending, in partnership with Magna, a number of agricultural and construction sector exhibitions and will introduce our brand and our products direct to the end user. That is critical to developing the
awareness and building brand awareness with our target user groups.”
The big question is, where is Obo going in the future?
“Our future lies in the growth of the circular economy and our ability to sell a product that makes the highest contribution to a greener world. By retreading we can offer agriculturalists and the construction sector three lives to their tyres. That makes an Obo retread one of the greenest options available, it gives the lowest cost per hour to operate. “As the drive towards the circular economy filters down more
Obo Banden in Hardenburg, Netherlands, has long been a speciality lawncare, agricultural and earthmover retreader, often retreading in sectors where others fear to tread, or with specialist patterns designed specifically for turf care.
In fact, Obo’s knowledge of turf care tyres has seen customers buy new tyres of the size they need and have Obo buff and retread
Business, “There is a great future here with Obo. We have spent much of this year restructuring our plant here at Hardenburg, where all our retreading is now done. We still have a sales office and a warehouse in Leipzig, but the retreading operations all happen here at Hardenburg.
“We have taken steps to streamline our production, in the past there was some crossover in
the processing of the tyres and that had the potential to slow things down. By re-arranging the factory layout we have a more streamlined process that ensures that buffed casings do not come into contact with the incoming casings. “Not only has the redesign of the factory speeded up our process, it has created space for expansion in the future, we have already brought in new machinery and more will follow. We expect to have an official re-launch of the factory later
in 2017 or early 2018.”
Asked about the benefits of the takeover by Magna Tyres, Schrijver responded that there would be some close working with Magna. In fact, Magna have four sales staff based at Hardenburg and they are able to offer a whole life package for Magna Tyres. As a Group, we can offer new tyres through to retreaded tyres for the agricultural and earthmover sector. We have, as a result of the
business in the future,” said Schrijver. “The retread customer generally already well educated about the product. It is the end user who does not yet use retreads that we need to reach out to.”
“Our sales will still be done by telephone and by visiting sales representatives. The idea of the online shop has been shelved in the short term, but we may revisit that at some point in the future. In the meantime we believe that we need to focus on consumer
people will be driven to look at the greenest options, and that is where they will find Obo. Moreover, carbon footprinting is becoming an increasing factor in business choices, and inevitably this will also inform decisions made in tyre purchase. We can offer a product that meets the requirements of the circular economy and offers a lower carbon footprint. When businesses are audited for their carbon footprint, their choice of tyres may have an impact on their
is
them for their own specialist needs.
In late 2016 Obo took on a new Managing Director, Peter Schrijver, who took on the task of reshaping the retreading process at Obo Banden. Then, in January 2017 Obo Banden was sold to another Dutch enterprise, Magna Tyres, itself owned by a larger rubber specialist based in the Netherlands.
Schrijver explained to Retreading
50 Retreading Business