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NEWS
Kurt Asmuth Celebrates 90th Birthday
this ends, it will definitely give our industry, which has been going through stormy times for many years, a new boost of confidence”, commented Holger Düx, Head of
Sales Retread Materials. “By the first “Tire Cologne” in Cologne, Germany, we will know more about the enforceability of anti- dumping.”
Kurt Asmuth (left) with Ellerbrock MD Klaus Zimmerman
Marangoni Invests in Lawer Metering Technology at Rovereto Plant
The Marangoni Group has announced additional investments in the compounding system at its plant in Rovereto, Italy.
Following the installation, in 2015, of an advanced Intermix compounding system featuring rotors with variable clearance, the company has now introduced a new automatic metering solution proposed by the specialised company Lawer. The completion of this investment is expected to further raise the quality and precision standards of a Marangoni’s compounding system at national and international level.
Gianluca Merlo, head of Operations Italia at Marangoni S.p.A., stated: “The industrial tyre sector is driven by the ever- changing demands of end users and by the very high speed of
technological developments. As for the compound room of the Rovereto plant, this new generational leap will bring higher quality to our production. Once again, this
Kurt Asmuth, the veteran of the German and European retreading industry celebrated his 90th birthday this February, together with family, friends and industry fellows. He is pictured here together with former Ellerbrock MD Klaus Zimmermann.
Asmuth spent his whole life in the retreading industry. He started his apprenticeship during WWII and performed his master exam (vulcanisation) in 1954, later
working as plant manager at Reifen Guenther. In 1961 he joined Ellerbrock based in Hamburg and was in charge of company sales for four decades, retiring in 2002 and passing on responsibilities together with experience to his son Christian Asmuth. Ellerbrock is nowadays doing business as Marangoni Retreading Systems Deutschland GmbH.
Kraiburg Maintains Stable Sales in 2017
investment also demonstrates that Marangoni sets the benchmark for businesses engaged in the innovation of production processes, such as Lawer, which aim to implement high-technology projects.”
Kraiburg Austria is reporting a satisfactory business year in 2017 with sales of 67.9 million Euro last year. This marks an increase of 13 per cent in com¬parison with 2016, mainly driven by passing on increased raw ma¬terial prices. The turbulent cost development in natural and synthetic rubber made various rounds of price increases necessary, says the company.
“A decisive contribution to the ultimately positive overall picture was that we achieved growth in the premium hot-cured compound sector again, and we were able to keep sales in the pre- cured tread business largely stable”, said Stefan Mayrhofer, the company’s Vice President. “We are also very pleased that we were able to achieve a 25 per cent increase in sales in our Ergolastec division which produces many differ¬ent types of workplace mats.”
Kraiburg also invested in the Gerets¬berg site in 2017. The replacement of an old compounder by a new, highly modern unit with a budget of millions was booked under material investments. On the
human resources level, Kraiburg brought in re¬inforcements in the key areas of product management and sales. Decisive measures were also taken with regards to the 3PMSF labelling legislation: “By close cooperation with associations on a national and European level, we succeeded in giving our customers optimum support and ensuring a trouble- free changeover in the new year regarding the snowflake label”, explained Product Manager Christoph Priewasser.
The provision of “service to the customer” in the form of concrete on-site support is also at the top of Kraiburg’s list for 2018. Sales will still be focussed on Spain, and new Sales Manager Alessandro Bottesini Campos has been already successful in winning customers in 2017 and will continue to work the market. “This year we are expecting a number of impulses which will revive the retreading market in Europe. The anti-dumping campaign against truck and bus tyres from China will also play a role that is not to be underestimated. No matter how
New Accessories Catalogue from Italmatic
Italmatic produce, at their headquarters in Cassina de’ Pecchi (Milan/Italy), a complete range of accessories and consumables for tyre retreading and, in particular, buffing blades and carbide tools. The company has now announced the availability of their new catalogue for tyre retreading accessories, which can be downloaded at
http://italmatic.com/catalogo/?lan g=en.
4 Retreading Business
GIIB to Sell Warehouse for RM 6.8 million
It has been reported in the local Malaysian press that Goodway Rubber Industries Bhd has signed an agreement with CK Rubber Industries Bhd for the sale of their warehouse and office facility in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, for a fee of RM 6.8 million. GIIB is reported
to have told the stock exchange that the facility includes a single storey detached factory together with a double storey office building situated on leasehold land. The size of the site is 108,925 sq. feet.