Page 13 - Retrading Business N102 2022-03

HANKOOK REVEALS EXTENDED ALPHATREAD PLANT IN HAMMELBURG
cure retread plant at the headquarters of its subsidiary, Reifen Müller, in Hammelburg, Germany, which will almost double the company’s production capacity.
INTERVIEW
Hankook Reifen
The new hot retreading production area takes up around 2,000 square metres of the now 15,000 square metres site, which will allow the production of up to 100,000 hot cure retreads each year.
Against the backdrop of the official launch of the new plant, Dr Manfred Zoni, TBR Sales Director at Hankook Reifen Deuts- chland GmbH, talked about the investments at the Hammelburg site and Hankook’s plans for the Alphatread programme.
What were the main reasons for the construc- tion of the new production facility in Hammel- burg?
We are forecasting strong market growth for retreaded tyres in the commercial ve- hicle sector – especially for particularly high-quality hot retreads. This growth is being driven by increasing cost sensitivity and an increasing emphasis on sustainabili- ty in the transport industry. These develo- pments prompted us to invest in the indus- trial production of Hankook’s Alphatread hot retread brand. To this end, we acquired an additional piece of land in Hammelburg, on which we have installed a completely new production facility with the appropria- te machinery. In total we have invested a seven-digit amount here.
What characterises the production of Alpha- tread tyres in Hammelburg?
In Hammelburg we retread according to industrial standards. The delivered casings are dried and cleaned in our warehouse. Each casing then goes through a visual inspection and laser shearography stage, during which we can also detect damage that is not visible. Only perfectly flawless casings get the A classification - the basic
requirement for an Alphatread product. However, should a casing be discarded du- ring this first step because a production defect is detected, the Hankook casing guarantee applies. We replace the dama- ged casing with a new one. In the next step, the casings are roughened and covered wi- th a new layer of base rubber from bead to bead. This ensures that it is almost impos- sible to distinguish the finished Alphatread profiles from those for new tyres. The tread with the profile is then vulcanised onto the carcass in the mould. The finished tyre un- dergoes a test of up to 11 bar in a pressure chamber and is then subjected to another shearography test - a special feature in our factory. Only if there are no irregularities here as well will the tyre be released for sale or returned to the customer who brou- ght it to us for retreading.
How many tyres can you produce in Hammel- burg in this way?
Since we are convinced there will be dyna- mic market growth, we have built up our capacity with a view to the future. At full capacity, we could produce 80 - 100,000 tyres per year with a three-shift operation using hot retreading. This doubles our total capacity for hot and cold retreading. We are starting the new manufacturing facility but this will increase rapidly. We have in- creased the workforce in Hammelburg by
How does Hammelburg fit in with other Al- phatread facilities in Europe?
Logistics and efficient delivery routes play a major role in retreading. After all, the casing has to travel from the customer to the retreading plant and back again. That’s
“We are forecasting strong market growth for retreaded tyres in the commercial vehicle sector – especially for particularly high- quality hot retreads. This growth is being driven by increasing cost sensitivity and an increasing emphasis on sustainability in the transport industry.”
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