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AUSTRALIA
large number of Bandag dealers are also Bridgestone Family Channel dealers. The remaining Bandag dealers are a part of the Bridgestone service network supplying Bandag retreads to Bridgestone store locations and key accounts.
Said Moffatt; “Bandag Australia operates just one tread manufacturing facility in Wacol, Queensland. This factory produces the treads for our entire Bandag retread network, as well as exporting to the Asia Pacific region and produces more than 550,000 units per year.”
As mentioned elsewhere in our review of the Australian retread market, many retreaders and players in the market have been keenly affected by the threat of Chinese tyres. We were intrigued as to how Bandag combat this ongoing threat effectively. Moffatt added, “Bridgestone and Bandag are conscious of the threat cheap Chinese tyres pose, but through reinforcing the quality and cost benefits of Bandag retreads and the advantages of Total Tyre Management solutions, we are confident we will be able to combat this threat.”
Bandag manufactures the treads in Australia and, as such, holds status as the sole producer manufacturing locally. The company provides compounds and designs that meet the challenging road conditions of the region’s various markets. Moffatt continued; “Local production is
ver y important to Bandag. We offer scheduled factory tours to selected customers and media at specific times throughout the year, to enable them to see first-hand the measures taken to ensure quality, and re-use of rubber waste.”
As curious observers, we wanted to know how Bandag publicises its local production. Moffatt was pleased to answer, “We publicise this fact through targeted local marketing initiatives and through Bridgestone’s strong relationships with the trucking and commercial media in Australia and New Zealand, as well as industry initiatives like the presentation of the Bridgestone Bandag Highway Guardian Award, which recognises truck drivers who go above and beyond the call of duty.”
The subject of promotion brought us onto how the Bandag brand is marketed to fleets in Australia. Moffatt explained; “The Bandag brand plays an integral part within the Bridgestone Total Tyre Management model. Bridgestone and Firestone TBR products are designed and manufactured with quality in mind.”
“This means they can be retreaded multiple times with Bandag products that offer the same tread
quality as the original tyres. Bandag also offers low rolling resistance compounds as part of the integrated product line up.”
Taking this into account, Bandag clearly fulfils a key role in Bridgestone’s complete tyre solutions offering and many of Bridgestone’s large fleet customers utilise Bandag retreads as an important part of their tyre solution and desire to achieve lowest CPK. During our time in Australia, we saw retreaders making the best of turbulent business conditions, but Bandag continues to hold a strong position in the market, despite what has been a challenging time, and according to Moffatt, the company has a more positive outlook for the retreading situation in Australia. “Retreading continues to have strong prospects in Australia,” he said.” Industr y body and Bridgestone partner, Natroad, estimates there are more than 40,000 trucking companies in Australia, from owner/drivers through to major fleets. Bandag retreads form part of Bridgestone’s Total Tyre Management model, which is highly popular and successful.”
Moffatt continued; “We work hard to ensure Bandag retreads offer a competitive quality and cost benefits, so we expect to see demand rise in the future as more operators look to make their business more efficient both in terms of cost and waste.”
On the topic of investments, Moffatt told us that Bridgestone Australia and New Zealand has made a number of investments in their Wacol tread production facility in recent years, particularly in the area of environmental sustainability. Their goal for the Bandag factory is to not use town water and have zero waste, so they have taken significant steps to reduce their environmental impact, installing rain water tanks throughout the site to harvest rain fall for use instead of town water, as well solar panels to reduce energy use.
Moffatt also stated, “we are working on a plan to recycle 100 per cent of cured and semi cured scrap locally and expect to achieve this by the end of 2018. In 2016 Bandag also introduced the use of slip sheets for all export customers significantly reducing the number of wooden pallets used for these markets while reducing freight costs.”
Finally, we asked Andrew Moffatt to outline the long-term future plans and aims for the Bandag brand in Australasia. He revealed to us that collectively, Bridgestone and Bandag aim to reduce waste and be more sustainable across all business areas, whilst passing these benefits onto the customers. Moffatt highlighted
how they are going to achieve this, “This is through improving productivity and reducing our environmental impact through further investment in ways to reduce energy and water use and increase
recycling initiatives. Through continued efforts to strengthen Bandag’s sustainability, we will further reinforce our position as the leading retread provider.”
Investments and Efficiency Savings Key as Metro Tyres Stay Competitive
Managing Director Brett Storey (centre) was on hand to talk to Retreading Business
Penrith based Vipal retreader, Metro Tyre Services PTY Ltd is staying competitive despite difficulties thrown its way, predominantly by cheap Chinese new tyres, through key investments in solar power systems, a new building machine and an autoclave.
Metro Tyre Services PTY LTD was set up in 1999, starting as a truck tyre retail shop, in advance of moving into the sale of earthmoving products. To this day, the retail store continues to sell a lot of earthmoving products, so busy in fact that they have had to buy another truck. With a lot of infrastructure work in process at the airport, Metro Tyres has noticed increased demand in the earthmoving sector.
As a retreading outfit though, the company entered the market by purchasing a factory in Singleton when it came up for sale, before subsequently moving the operation to its current location in Penrith. Why did they move into retreading? Managing Director, Brett Storey tells us“atthetimealotofour competitors were being approached to do retreads, so we thought it was a natural step for us to take to add a retreading operation, which has seen us invest gradually as time has passed us by.”
Unfortunately, over time, the retreading business has slowly declined due to the debilitating effect of Chinese new tyres. Despite this, Metro Tyres have managed to
maintain their quality levels and stabilise their production. Brett Storey expands, “we have remained competitive by investing in a solar power system installed on our roof. To take advantage of this investment we changed our shift patterns around to make full use of solar patterns. We have achieved a cost saving of more than half, which is critical for our ability to compete and remain sustainable as an operation.” In the pre-solar system days, the company’s shifts started at 2 am, with a split shift being run. Nowadays, a couple of the production staff start at 4 am, with the rest at 7 am, as the shift runs through to 2:30 pm. Metro Tyres produce around 70 retreads a day. This figure has declined over time, by 30 per cent per cent to be exact, but thankfully this has not affected the company’s staffing numbers. Notwithstanding the staffing numbers, it has affected the overtime that the workers can take advantage of. The operation employs 10 people, which is made up of one driver and 9 people involved in production.
As for geographical coverage, Metro Tyres’ core work is situated across the metropolitan area of Sydney, going as far as Gosford and Yarra. This core work, which translates to about 70 per cent of their business, is mostly with bus companies, with the remaining clients in the garbage and earthworks sector. On potential future clients and opportunities,
34 Retreading Business