Page 64 - RB-98-2021-3

INDIA
Tread Rubber Producer Braza Forays into OTR Tyres
the domestic and export market indicating quality of the product,” claimed Sharna.
The tread rubber is claimed to offer mileage of 85,000 km considered comparable with any other tread brand available in the domestic market.
The company supplies tread
rubber all over India and exports to Nepal regularly. On maintaining low production tread production levels, he stated, “Production is market driven, if demand comes from the market, the plant has the installed capacity to scale-up the production.”
Indian tread rubber and tyre producer Braza is soon foraying into OTR tyre production. The North India based company was established in 2001 at Paonta Sahib, an industrial town in the hilly State of Himachal Pradesh. After establishing its brand in
the Middle East, Egypt, Yemen and Nigeria as well as some South-East Asian countries. Now as part of an organic growth process, Braza plans to complete its portfolio by entering into OTR tyre production. “We have already
ordered the machinery and it is on the way. The OTR production is likely to be commenced by October this year,” he confirmed.
On the reason that drove the company to expand into OTR and Industrial tyres, Kapil Sharma said, “OTR has huge export potential, and regular queries are pouring in from different parts of the world. We are receiving a lot of queries from Africa and the Middle East, where we have considerable presence in the tyre segment.”
Braza plans to produce all popular sizes of OTR tyres at its 7-acre state-of-the-art facility. It has also developed a robust R&D set-up as well as a strong distribution network to promote its product range in the domestic and international market. “We are investing about INR 100 million in the project,” Sharma confided. Currently, Braza is
manufacturing about 700 tons of tread rubber for both applications each month. Over the year, the focus has been shifted more towards the new tyre segment due its growth potential. The site is installed with 3 Banbury mixers for processing rubber to support manufacturing of its various rubber- based product range.
“Our tread rubber marketed under the ‘Braza’ brand is considered as best in category in terms of rendering more tyre mileage at relatively low cost. Our focus is shifted towards tyre manufacturing, but tread rubber continues to have its clientele in
Luxmi Enterprises Focuses on Rising Electric Chamber Demand
Kapil Sharma, Director (Sales)
According to retreading machinery manufacturer Luxmi Enterprises, based in the North Indian State of Haryana, the trend towards the
installation of automatic
electric chambers in India is now noticeable even among smaller retreading plants.
“We have noticed a
perceptible shift and a surge
in demand for electric, automatic and PLC
controlled curing chambers
to monitor curing time, temperature and pressure,”
said Amit Dhatterwal, CEO, Luxmi Enterprises India.
“Good machinery gives
better finish to the product
and also pricing in the highly competitive market.”
The company says it is also focusing on the evolving electrification-cum- modernisation of smaller and mid-sized retread units.
“We are also
looking closely
at this growing
segment as
smaller
retread units
are
increasingly
aligning with the
changing trends and
replacing old
machinery,” stated Amit. However, the lockdown has
hit company volumes, which on average stand at around one plant each month. “We normally supply over 12 plants in the year, but last year was really tough as the numbers came down to 9 due to the lockdown,” he said.
The company hopes to fare better this year once normalcy returns to the market and economic activity picks-up in the country. “We have already
supplied 4 plants to the states of Odisha and Himachal Pradesh in 2021 and are expecting supply of at least 10
Amit Dhatterwal, CEO, Luxmi Enterprises India
the tread rubber sector, the company’s expanded product portfolio covers tyres, butyl tubes, cushion compound, vulcanising solution, repair patches, envelopes, curing bags, and flaps.
“Initially, our precured and hot rubber was accepted well in the market and gave us a much- required good start. We then
plants this year,” he added. Luxmi Enterprises is regularly exporting retreading machinery to neighbouring Nepal and has also made shipments to Africa also, including to Kenya and
Tanzania.
The company says it
is also working on a low-budget
tractor tyre lug cutting machine, which is
planned to be introduced in the domestic
market by the end of 2021.
Luxmi Enterprises operates from a 6,300 sq ft factory in Jind and produces full range of retreading machinery including buffing machines, electric curing chambers, curing rims, automatic mini raspers, tyre lifters, inspection spreaders, envelope expanders, monorail systems, tyre repair spreaders, tyre tread building machines and tractor tyre retreading machines.
stepped further and entered into butyl tube and curing bag production in 2006, and by 2010 we launched a whole range of bias tyres,” said Kapil Sharma, Director (Sales), Braza Tyres. Besides the domestic market, the tyres are exported to
64 Retreading Business