Page 58 - Retrading Business N100 2022-01

used casings had continued because they were the only tyre service provider that was able to legally operate during some of the MCO periods, due to the essential nature of their services to customers. However, this had caused a real issue in creating a backlog in tyres being able to be retreaded. The company had also experienced supply chain issues as their tread supplier’s factories had also been closed.
OPPORTUNITIES IN KEY AREAS FOR MALAYSIAN RETREADERS
Despite the many challenges inherent in the current market, though, many of the retreaders felt that opportunities did exist and were positive about the changes they had implemented during the pandemic.
Andrew Cheah from the Eversafe- owned retreader, Olympic Retreads saw opportunities in two key areas, firstly, the cost advantage gained by providing a product priced at a lower monetary value that provides the same features as a new tyre, and secondly, through data management and behaviour integration analyses of internal and external
providers.
eventually end up much closer to that of cheap new tyres.
Desmond Kew, meanwhile, saw the opportunities offered by the global shortage of new tyres. “New tyre prices have increased due to higher raw materials and manufacturing costs, as well as freight charges, which is an advantage for retreaded tyres,” he said. “Logistics and transporters can be expected to use more retreaded tyres in the future, leading to increasing demand.”
Finally, for Michael Hutt from Kit Loong, the opportunity was clear for those who have survived; more market share and hopefully a return to some form of normality as production continues to increase.
“The other opportunity is that some end users may start to now look at retreads as a way to reduce their tyre expenditure as the lockdowns have hit their businesses, so cost savings even now, are essential,” he added. “With Kayel’s recent ECE 109 approval, we are now producing tyres as safe as a new tyre produced in Europe, so we see an opportunity for growth in the export market.”
Edmund Teng,
TME Tyre Retread Sdn Bhd
“Our strategy is to utilise technology and equipment to simplify the process of handling matter in order to get well communicated with all parties,” he explained. “We are also focusing only on core products to take advantage of the limited resource available as well as on supply chain management efficiency.”
Edmund Teng from TME Tyre Retreads on the other hand, having identified cash flow as one of the industry’s main threats, was of the opinion that the pandemic provided retreaders with an opportunity to filter their customers and keep the good ones. “We are focusing on debt collections to maintain healthy cash flows while implementing stringent credit terms,” he said.
For Edmund Wong an opportunity lies in the demand for stock retreads, as cheap and low quality new tyres had increased their price during the pandemic. However, with the price of rubber compound continuing to spike, and the selling price of Japanese tyre casings continuing to rise increasing due to freight charges, he felt the price for stock retreads might
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