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cost/performance ratio is more beneficial to retreads
So, let us move on to discuss what the various suppliers to the market have been doing in recent years to help the retreading industr y to produce better products in a more cost- efficient manner.
retreaders, they also want and need direct contact with the fleet, partly in order to create a demand for their own brand of rubber, but also to prove to the fleets that having a retread policy can improve the cost effectiveness of the fleet. Rubber suppliers have long
Let’s start with the manufacturers of tread rubber. There are plenty of them, and therein lies part of the difficulty. Tread rubber manufacturers are somewhat different to other suppliers in that in addition to creating added value for
since realised that a connection with the end user is vital. Retreaders can change brand loyalty, whilst independent tyre dealers have no specific incentive to support the retreading industry, so over the years they have sought a
triangular relationship with their retreader partners and the end user in order to maintain control over their destinies.
So here are a few examples of areas in which tread rubber suppliers have sought to assure the supply of better and more cost-effective products and services for their customers.
The concept of application specific treads is, of course, nothing new, but nowadays the leading tread rubber suppliers have become much more aware of the need to continually invest in R&D to achieve the best combination of compounds and designs, in order to develop the
best tread for each application. This graphic comes from Kraiburg’s website.
A good example of the strategy of maximising a range of application specific treads is Vipal. The company’s DV-UM3 tread has proved to be a successful solution for the urban segment in many countries, whilst the recently launched the DV-MTE tread was designed to reduce tread punctures and to protect the casing against damages. These are in addition to the DV-RT4, VL140A, VM729 and VT110 treads, whose quality widely acknowledged by the market.
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