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THAILAND
installation, mixing capacity will be up by 30 per cent from 90 tons to 130 tons per month,” revealed Yap. A new extrusion line is the next to be installed.
Currently, Kitkarnyang sources about 35 tons of compound from a mixing facility nearby. Once the new Banbury becomes functional, it will discontinue sourcing compound from the outside. “The hike in
mixing capacity will further help us to reduce the cost of tread rubber production in the future,” he said.
In addition to its retreading operations, Kitkarnyang also sells hot cure retread casings in the price- sensitive neighbouring South East Asian countries of Cambodia and Laos through middlemen.
cross purposes, cutting prices and creating unfair competition for each other.
However, the three companies have now formed a co-operation, sharing strong points, market information, and maintaining price parity. The idea of coming together is working in their favour, and is reflected in increasing volumes. “While SPR is expert in handling the construction and mining sector, one of the other companies specialises in transportation and logistics companies and the third company is strong among small fleet operators. We now operate independently in our strong areas with no interference from the other partners,” explained Wittaya.
Sharing a positive approach towards the retreading industry, he stated, “We agree that the retread market is going down, but there is still a large market for quality retreading. We have to identify customer aspirations and transform ourselves to offer the right product to the client.”
He further stressed, “We have to make products that last longer and offer the right product as per the required applications at the customer
end.”
When asked how the company continues to hold on its customers under tough market conditions, Wittaya said, “We offer retreading that is spread over various segments like truck, bus, industrial and OTR with both processes as well as offering new OTR tyre distribution, which brings better chances to access the customer. We have something to offer to each customer in order to expand our reach and business.”
SPR caters to the retread market in the North, North East and Central Thailand. It also sells precure treads in the South of the country. The Chonburi plant also produces 20 tons of precured tread and camelback largely for its own consumption. The company also exports solid tyres and OTR retreads to Japan and Australia. SPR produces about 200 solid tyres each month for industrial applications.
The company says it is also considering exporting casings to the adjoining ASEAN countries. “We are also working on a plan to sell retreaded tyres to Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia in the near future,” added Wittaya.
Sompong Rubber Growing Double-Digit Annually
Wittaya Sakoldiloke, Marketing Manager, Sompong Rubber Retread Co Ltd.
With the retread market scenario in Thailand reflecting indications of marginal recovery, the volumes of one of the key players in the Thai hub of the retread industry, Chonburi, has also recorded significant improvements in the first quarter of ongoing calendar. “Volumes are up by about 15 per cent in the first quarter of 2018, while we continue to register double- digit growth, which is quite positive for us,” claimed Wittaya Sakoldiloke, Marketing Manager, Sompong Rubber Retread Co Ltd. SPR maintains 10-15 per cent growth annually.
Founded in 1999, SPR retreads 60,000 – 70,000 tyres annually including TBR and forklift tyres as well as about 7,000 OTR tyres by the traditional process and about 900 by the precure process in sizes 1400/24 up to 2700/49. These are largely mining, industrial and agricultural tyres as well as those used in sea ports. Gold, coal and copper mines are based in the northern part of Thailand, and SPR has strong presence in the mining sector. Sompong operates both the conventional and precure processes, retreading 20,000 tyres annually using the hot process and 40,000- 50,000 tyres by the pre-cure process.
The plant is installed with four Newera autoclaves as well as 25-30 hot cure moulds.
On the subject of new segments forayed in the last couple of years, Wittaya responded, “We ventured into OTR retreading in 2016 and now retread about 70-80 tyres by the precure process each month. Meanwhile, we have made significant improvements on the hot cure side, retreading almost 7,000 tyres yearly.” On expansion plans Wittaya added, “We have no plans of setting-up a new retread plant in Thailand, although we do have major upgradation plans in this plant in the next six months.” SPR plans to transform the whole plant into a modern retread factory by replacing old equipment with new buffing and building equipment as well as a cushion gum extruder. Expansion, however, will be driven by whether the market shows further signs of improvement.
According to Wittaya, SPR’s constructive approach to business has brought back volumes to the retread company along with two immediate neighbours in the last few years. Sompong shares the market with two retread plants in the same area of Chonburi owned by same family, but earlier all three worked at
The traditional hot cure process is surviving in Thailand despite the growing influence of the precure version with the entry of tubeless radials. There are hot cure retread plants that continue to function profitably, and it seems hot cure will continue to endure and maintain a 70 per cent market share.
B S Tire Center started operations in 2012, a new entrant compared to neighbouring partners SPR and Boss Rubber. The plant shares walls with neighbouring Boss Rubber, retreading 2,000 tyres per month solely by the hot process. “We also get 700 tyres retreaded by the precure process from our next-door partner
Sompong,” informed Boonchu of B S Tire Center Co Ltd.
The plant has 40 moulds and operates to the optimum capacity. “Our plant is running to its full capacity throughout the year,” he said.
The hot cure retreader is all set to embark on expansion soon. “We are planning to add 20 more moulds in the six months.” The expansion will add 200 more tyres to the existing monthly capacity of 2,000 tyres.
The Chonburi based retreader even plans a second hot cure unit soon. When asked the capacity of the proposed plant and the timeline for the second retread unit he said; “The
Chonburi Retreader Plans Second Hot Cure Plant
Boonchu of B S Tire Center Co Ltd
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