Page 36 - Retrading Business N101 2022-02

LATEST
NEWS - INDIA
CLASSIC RETREADS TO OPEN MULTIPLE SITES IN TAMIL NADU
Coimbatore based Indag Rubber fran- chisee Classic Retreads has revealed am- bitious expansion plans to operate five retread sites at multiple locations in Tamil Nadu. Following the opening of a new site in Coimbatore in February last year, the company says it has already identified po- tential locations for four new plants.
Two of these plants will be located in Ma- durai, Tuticorin, Namakkal or Salem, as all four locations have potential for growth. “These two plants are likely to be opera- tional in the ongoing fiscal,” explained N Senthilraj, Managing Director, Classic Re- treads.
Two additional plants are lined-up in the next fiscal with one in the State Capital Chennai and the second in the district of Tiruchirappalli. “We have plans to install a 7-tyre autoclave in three of the new sites, while the upcoming Tiruchirappalli plant would be of the size of the present Coim- batore site, which is functioning with a five- tyre autoclave,” added Senthilraj.
Classic Retreads assured that it would con- tinue its cooperation with Indag during the expansion into other districts, Senthilraj assured, “We will continue our relationship with Indag Rubber in the upcoming plants as they have a robust supply chain network in the whole state and good product range suitable for the market,” assured Senthilraj.
As part its strategy of catering to the open market in Tamil Nadu, Indag has expanded its footprint in the southern state by ap- pointing seven distributors in the cities of Chennai, Puducherry, Salem, Namakkal, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai and Coimbatore respectively, all of which will be supplied from a depot in Namakkal.
ELGI MUMBAI FRANCHISEE INSTALLS NEW MACHINERY, DOUBLES PRODUCTION
Mumbai based Elgi franchisee Eco Tyres has installed a whole new Elgi plant replacing the old machinery. “Earlier, we used to retread 30 tyres daily with a 3-tyre autoclave, which has now been replaced with an 8-tyre autoclave, which produces 60 tyres each day, doubling production.” said Vikrant Pathak, partner at Eco Tyres.
The new Elgi line is comprised of a buffer, builder and an autoclave, as well as repair machines with a monorail system. The repair machine can repair cuts of up to 2 inches in the casing surface and on the sidewalls.
“We were expecting growth of 30% last year but Delta variant leads to lockdown and growth dropped to 20%. We are now targeting 30% growth in the new fiscal,” said Pathak.
The new machinery has allowed the company to expand its range starting with LCV sizes of 15 & 16 inches, truck size of 20 inches bias/radial both and 22.5-inch truck and bus radial tyres. “We have also started retreading OTR tyres in sizes ranging from 25 and 26 inches from early March onwards. In the first month we retreaded 20 tyres and hope to double the numbers soon,” he added.
Vikrant Patha (standing) with partner Siddarth Kulkarni of Eco Tyres
P. 36