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km. So far, the strips we produce have mileage from 80,000 km to 120,000 km, depending on the vehicle and operating conditions. We are well-presented in the budget segment, where big mileage is less important than low price, but with this development we would be able
to work with different kinds of customers,” Sedlov said.
“We are now competing with Bandamatic, Avon and Midas, while we want to achieve the level of Galgo and Nokian. Of course, it would be hard to achieve the level
of Ellerbrock or Michelin. Now we had one production line, and it will stay intact even after we will design the premium product. This means that we want to be presented in two different price segments,” Kalinkin said.
The mileage of 200,000 km is not the upper boundary, just a temporary point – in future the company believes it would be possible to increase mileage even further. It is important that the production costs on that new tread strips would be limited to only Eur 4.5 per kg. At the moment, Veguma sells its tread strips at Eur 3.20 in the European Union and Eur 2.80 on export markets, including in Russia. In future, Veguma sees the opportunity to raise the mileage even higher. At the moment, Veguma has 4 basic rubber mixtures and slightly over 40 available tread patterns.
Veguma has recently purchased advanced laboratory equipment in order to conduct an analysis of the rubber mixture on a regular basis. This is necessary for the 100% control of the rubber mixing process and excludes any chances that poor-quality mixtures could reach the other production stages. “Already at the current stage, this
approach reduces the risks of getting any complaints from the customers about the occurrence of defective products. We have been running this equipment for already a year and during this period we several times had a situation, when we detected some spoiled mixtures that without the in-depth control at all stages of the production process, we would have released on the market,” Sedlov admitted, adding that the 100% control of mixtures excludes the possibility that the poor quality material could reach the customer.
When it comes to the rubber mixtures, Sedlov has vast and very valuable experience. For several years, he held the post of the chief of technology in Cordiant – a leading Russian tyre manufacturer – and previously he headed a rubber compounding laboratory at another Russian tyre company. From this job, Sedlov learned all the peculiarities of the rubber compound fabricating process that he plans to apply now in Veguma. One of the most important parts when you are producing rubber treads is to have reliable raw materials suppliers. The company has already a well-established pool of natural rubber and other
components suppliers. According to Sedlov, in this industry the list of your suppliers is considered as know-how that nobody would be ready to share.
Regum has a long history of producing tread strips. The first production in that segment was released on the local market in 1998. At that time, the company was working primarily with the ready-to-use rubber compounds from the UK and France.
Right direction
2018 was a groundbreaking year for Veguma, as the company managed to expand its production in the tread strips segments by 150%, compared to the previous year, Kalinkin said. This was because the company hired more qualified stuff and set the target to cut the production costs through the effect of scale.
The capacity utilisation factor ranges between 50% and 60%, and it is still rather low. For comparison, in 2017 it amounted to only 30%, according to Sedlov. There are clear opportunities to boost this figure. The increase in capacity utilisation factor is possible even though the economic conditions in the
Retreading remains a core element of the business for Veguma
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