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INDIA
Kuldeep Singh, Director, KMT Industries Limited
200 MT and the remaining 50 MT is supplied within the domestic market.
On the matter of when the installed capacity is expected to be fully utilised, Jacob replied, “Major markets in South America and Africa are currently under the scanner and will be intensely explored for new opportunities in the next few months. This will hopefully add more volume to overall production and exports. Moreover, domestic demand is expected to pick-up once Covid- 19 related curbs on movements are gradually removed over the course of the year, which is likely to spur demand leading to full capacity utilisation.” Tread production at Kottayam started in 2005.
CRI Rubbers is also planning to further expand its tread rubber capacity as it strongly believes that the market will start responding positively in the next couple of years and existing capacity will be fully utilised.
“We have plans to build a second tread making site of similar capacity in the Kottayam Industrial Area. The plot has already been identified 5 km away from the existing plant but has yet to be acquired,” said Jacob. “The next expansion is likely to happen in two years from now.”
Meanwhile, due to the fact that India has emerged as one of the leading manufacturing and consumption hubs of off-the- road (OTR) tyres, primarily in the agriculture and mining segments, and because of an increase in construction and infrastructure projects in both the private and government sectors, CRI is also looking at the option of expanding its
tread making capacity beyond its current range, which currently only cover the truck, bus and LCV segments. “The demand for construction and earthmoving tyres is likely to increase further, and so we are planning to introduce an OTR tread range within the next year,” confirmed Jacob. Engineering Arm Manufacturing Rubber Processing Machinery
In addition to tread making, CRI Rubbers also manufactures rubber processing machinery and retreading plant accessories/equipment at the Group’s engineering division, Perumacheril Casting Industries. Established in 1960, Perumacheril Casting Industries, also based at Kottayam, has the distinction of becoming the first company in Kerala to design a 40-feet precured fully automatic press. It also offers a range of rubber machinery including mixing mills up to 26” x 84”, 21” x 24” x 36” cracker mills , grinders, 21” x 24” x 36” refiner mills, lab mills, crumb rubber mills, bale cutters, calenders, hydraulic presses up to 3,000 tons, motors and gear boxes etc. The company’s clientele includes tyre makers, tread rubber producers and reclaim rubber manufacturers including Ceat Tyres, Rado Tyres, Rubber Board RUBCO, Balaji Rubber Reclaim, GRP Ltd Tolins Rubbers, Elgi, Cochin Rubber, Eastern Tread etc.
“We have been consistently supplying rubber processing machinery to Indian companies in the domestic market and have recently supplied mixing mills to Teeson Polymers about a year back, and a precure press will be delivered soon to Crescent Rubber,” confirmed Aby Jacob.
market has
become highly
competitive and
the idea is to
further strengthen
the bond with our
clients. The
expansion
towards tread
manufacturing
would target new
and existing
machinery clients
willing to source
precure rubber
also.” The
company has
plans to introduce
precure treads of
all sizes spreading
from car to truck
tyres.
The company has a considerable supplier base in Northern India and its existing machinery customers continue to enquire about tread rubber, explained Singh. “We have a ready client base and have maintained a long relationship with these companies,” he said. KMT is likely to make its foray into tread manufacturing in 2021.
Due to increasing competition in the domestic market, it is not viable for retreaders with sub-200 tyre production to use topline brands. KMT targets these low-volume retreading sites operating deeper inside the hinterland. The Jind (Haryana) based supplier says it is consistently making efforts to improve equipment to remain viable for retreaders in the price-sensitive segments in the domestic market as well as in neighbouring countries. Almost 30% of KMT’s production goes to Nepal, where the company has already supplied two plants to Tulsipur (Dang) and Bhaktapur just before the Covid-19 outbreak. “We are supplying about 15 plants annually, 70% in the domestic market and the rest to Nepal,” claimed Singh.
The company typically supplies customised plants for small operations, which has a mini- rasper combining buffer and builder, tyre lifter, curing rings and air compressor. These budget plants can be installed with an investment of in between INR 1 million to 1.2 million, occupies less space,
and require low maintenance and labour force.
“The small plant operates with 2-3 people, gives an output of 200-250 tyres per month and can retread car to truck tyres from sizes 12 inch to 22.5 inches,” he said.
KMT, located about 170 km from Delhi, is now upgrading its machinery range. Currently, the company is working on introducing PLC based control systems in the machinery.
“We have been supplying the same model that was introduced way back in 2000, but with increasing plant automation in the domestic retreading industry, now the goal is to introduce PLC based control systems in our machinery range,” he emphasised. The move is in line with changing market trends as several clients now have plans to introduce automation in their plants.
The machinery offtake in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal and the ongoing financial year have been disturbed due to the ongoing pandemic in the country, but KMT is hopeful of covering the lost ground by the end of the fiscal by supplying about dozen plants as the orders are there to deliver. “The market is slowly picking-up and is likely to normalise in the first of quarter of 2021,” said Singh.
North Indian Machinery Maker to Expand into Tread Manufacturing
North Indian retread machinery manufacturer KMT Retreading Industries is planning to invest into a tread making venture in order to further widen its product range once market conditions
stabilise post-Covid19.
“We are considering tread manufacturing and waiting for market conditions to improve,” explained Kuldeep Singh, Director, KMT Retreading Industries. “The domestic
42 Retreading Business