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INDIA
Blackstone Expands into Overseas Market
The company entered into the European market in 2019, but the spread of Covid-19 in the following year 2020 has impacted its growth in that market. It is now expecting better days ahead in 2021 as one big order has already been dispatched to Germany and more are in the pipeline in the year ahead.
Blackstone is now focusing on streamlining its operation in the US market and is soon to start working with a Toronto based client in Canada who wants a product range under its own brand. An additional customer based in Istanbul (Turkey) is also expected to start by July 2021.
New products in the pipeline
The company is planning to further expand its product range to tighten its grip over its customer base. “We are planning to introduce products used for retreading purposes like cushion gum, repair sealants, reinforced fabric etc.,” informed Ankur Dhoot, Chief Manager, Blackstone Industries. In addition, the company has also started manufacturing repair tools and accessories. “We can now offer customers a complete
range of repair tools compatible with Rema Tip Top and Tech,” he claimed.
Production capacity hiked
Expansion in the product range as well as growth in both domestic and export markets has led Blackstone to hike its production capacity. “We have expanded capacity by about 30% in compound and repair tools & accessories. Moreover, we are fully booked for exports for the next month or so,” he said. Currently, Blackstone is manufacturing about 45 tons of patches each month, and the patch business is growing by approximately 15% annually. Currently, Blackstone has three business divisions, with one handling OTR retreading, the second operating patch manufacturing and the third operating a polymer unit engaged in the production of polymers and rubber compound. Commenting on expansion plans, Ankur Dhoot said, “Our next expansion is on the polymer side. We don’t have to buy a new land parcel for this as we already have lot of vacant land for future expansion. “
Rajasthan based rubber patch maker Blackstone Rubber used to be a company that focused exclusively on the domestic market, but in 2014 the company made the decision to enter the export market.
shipments had already risen to 30% of total sales. By the end of 2021 this figure had further risen to cross the 40% mark, partly due to the company showcasing its produxcts at international shows.
Ankur Dhoot
“We first forayed into the export market six years ago after creating a range that competes with international brands like Rema Tip Top and Tech in terms of quality, whilst also offering highly competitive price levels,” informed V Subbu, President (Technical & Operations), Blackstone Industries Pvt Ltd. “We launched new ranges of products including chemical cure, dual cure, hot cure, and clothback patches. Hardly any competing Indian company has them in their product range as it requires acertain level of technical expertise,” he added. The Jodhpur headquartered company never looked back and has expanded extensively in the international market. “The export market opened with South Asia, followed by South Africa, where we now have huge presence, in addition to Mexico, Europe, South America and the Gulf countries,” confirmed Subbu in a telephone conversation from his base in Chennai.
The growth achieved in the international business has been tremendous as Blackstone was almost exclusively focused on the domestic market up to 2013. Exports, however, surged by 20% in 2014, and by 2019 overseas
Appointing new agent in the US market
Blackstone says it is keen on expanding its footprint in the US market and is currently operating with a Florida based agent, the same agent also being responsible for the South American market. The company is also looking to appoint a further agent in the US shortly and from June onwards will further intensify its marketing drive in the US.
“The US is estimated to be worth one 20 ft container per month to begin with, and it will further build on from that level,” feels Subbu, who is spearheading the company’s export drive in the global market. Blackstone has been regularly exhibiting at the SEMA show (Las Vegas) since 2014, and the participation has helped it expand its footprint in the American market. Blackstone believes that the market for patches and retread tyres has improved during the pandemic. Subbu stated; “Customers are now preferring to retread tyres over buying new ones. Bus transport may have been been impacted during the worldwide lockdown, but goods transport has surged in the same period.”
Fortune Tire to Open Mining Tyre Facility in Odisha
Hyderabad, India based retreader Fortune Tires is moving-ahead with an expansion project involving the opening of a new retreading plant to cater to the mining sector in the East Indian state of Odisha.
“We are hiking our mining tyre capacity by starting a new site in the mining region of Jharsuguda,” informed Vijaypal Reddy, Managing Director, Fortune Tires. The dedicated site, which was scheduled to open at the end of February, will have the capacity to produce 450 tyres per month.
The Telangana based company says it is expanding in Jharsuguda to service the mining companies, largely also from Telangana, who are setting up there. “We have an almost two- decade old association with these mining companies, and since
they are expanding in Jharsuguda, around 50 per cent of the business is assured,” said Reddy. The partially mono-railed site will retread mining tyres by the precured process in a seven- tyre autoclave. Equipment is
Vijaypal Reddy, Managing Director, Fortune Tires
36 Retreading Business