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have all been cancelled, we got back to working the phones, email, and marketing channels. Today, as travel is slowly opening up, our sales folks are venturing out and we’re getting back to a more balanced approach.
What is your outlook for the balance of the year and into 2021? Expansion, additional employees, etc.
We’re optimistic for a modest to strong Q4. For 2021 we’re projecting a healthy expansion of the U.S. economy and most of the
Has the demand for plant supplies and accessories during the pandemic been up or down and what are the most sought-after items?
Generally speaking, demand spiked initially, then fell off, and today
we’re seeing healthy orders for all plant accessories related to truck tyre retreading. Demand for plant supplies in other segments such as aircraft and to some degree earthmover retreading, remain soft.
Have you experienced an interruption in your supply
chain?
Yes, despite our efforts to be proactive about inventory and input materials, there are parts of our
supply chain that have been negatively impacted. Lowered capacity due to closings of some factories and/or shortages of workers as a direct result of COVID have caused delays and longer lead times. This has been compounded by logistics
problems and even severe weather issues. Combine this with a cautious and unknowable sales outlook, and the inventory supply
chain requires closer management than usual.
Have you had requests for equipment from retreaders opening new plants?
We’ve had more requests than usual for companies looking to
All the new equipment we are delivering today is from capital expenditure decisions that were made pre-pandemic. New capital investments were being postponed or delayed starting in March. In August pending deals were revisited, and we are starting to
Shamrock Marketing Corporate, Louisville, KY
open new retread plants. Normally, conversion rates are quite low on these types of enquiries. For existing retreaders, I think COVID- 19 caused decisions about plant consolidation and cost cutting to happen faster than they would have otherwise.
When do you expect a rebound to happen?
The economy was severely injured, and even a so called “V-shape” recover y is likely to have
receive new POs for equipment. We have also been selling more used equipment lately, and we’re getting a lot more activity, enquiries, and quote requests.
The retread industr y has navigated some ver y tough times, particularly in the last 10 years. We are a resilient group, and we’ll get through this latest crisis. As a supplier to the retread industr y, we are challenged with finding new ways to bring value to our customers, especially under these conditions.
Doug Conley
countries we export to. Demand for retreads should improve next year. We are hiring and looking to expand our business in 2021.
limitations. Logistics challenges and shortages are a problem that will bottleneck or slow the recovery. There are still a lot of negative signals in the economy, the biggest of which is the increasing unemployment in the air travel and hospitality sector. For the time being, we are seeing that the rebound is well underway for truck tyre retreading. In sectors related to the ports, schools, aircraft, and OTR, we don’t see very many signals of a rebound yet.
Are retreaders investing in equipment during the pandemic and, if so, are they buying new or used?
Our new equipment offering is becoming more automated and closing the gap with plant labour problems. We are offering new services such as expandable rim refurbishment and plant audit programmes. We’re looking for distribution partners and agents to help us go to market in key areas. I encourage you to have a look at Shamrock and contact me directly with any questions.
For more than 25 years Shamrock Marketing Inc. has been the exclusive supplier of Bulldog curing envelopes
24 Retreading Business