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AUSTRALIA
Overview of the Metro Tyres retread plant
noticeable difference in the quality of Chinese casings, with some retreading well and some not so well.”
Storey’s views on the quality argument were unsurprisingly forthright, “a retread outdoes a Chinese tyre every time because the rubber quality is just better than the new tyre compound. A lack of government support to help and protect manufacturing doesn’t help anyone either.” This argument is supported by the fact that some companies have been sending their tyres to Malaysia to retread them, before being returned to Australia.
When asked if the recently disbanded association in Australia could have done more, Storey responded, “the retread association was a bit of a toothless tiger. In reality we haven’t had any support from anyone”.
However, Storey did concede to us that they have been some positive aspects to the phenomenon. “It has had the positive effect of keeping the top four honest and their prices to a
minimum, and with so many Chinese tyres out there, it has forced us to sell them as an alternative as well. Our hope is that the Chinese government stops subsidising the industry, helping us to get busy again and reach full capacity again, from the 70 per cent we are currently at.”
In the midst of the chaos of this situation, Metro Tyres has committed to investing further in their operation to maintain their
competitiveness. Five
months ago, a new
autoclave was purchased,
which was shortly followed
by a new building machine,
which is awaiting
installation. At this stage,
there are no additional
plans for future
investments.
As mentioned earlier, Metro
Tyres Services PTY LTD
retreads using Vipal tread
rubber. Storey explains why,
“the quality of Vipal’s
products is exceptional:
The tread is so consistent,
and its wearing qualities are thoroughly impressive. Our
only worry is ordering,
because it takes four
months to realise an order,
meaning we have to keep
100,000 dollars of stock to cover it.” Brett Storey finally gave his opinion on how retreaders need to approach business in these turbulent times. “If you’re only running as a retreader these days, you will struggle. It is all about service. We do this by making sure the details are correct and do what we promised the customer in terms of paperwork, delivery time and turnaround time.”
Metro Tyre’s new building machine, awaiting installation
Storey interestingly notes, “considering that the privatisation of the bus industry is in the pipeline, we are hoping that more work with bus companies does come our way.” Metro Tyres currently retread through a casing exchange system, whereby they mostly retread the major brands. The retreader, in general, does not retread many Chinese casings, but Storey did admit that, “there has been a