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THRISSUR RETREADER AIMS TO DOUBLE PRODUCTION Thrissur based Midas customer Plakkat Tyres is in the midst of expansion, aspiring to double its production. The retreader is also foraying into OTR retreading and has already ordered machinery for the expan- sion in both the truck and OTR sectors. On the reasons for getting in to OTR re- treading Shaju Shiju of Plakkat Tyres in- formed, “We are targeting the Vallarpa- dam container terminal for OTR, also road widening up to Kasaragod has improved vehicular movement bringing more truck tyres for retreading.” Meanwhile, the presence of the port is opening up opportunities on the OTR si- de. “Initially, we plan to retread about 600 OTR tyres annually, the numbers will grow gradually,” he said. On the truck tyre side, the site is insta- lled with a single 6 tyre autoclave, and the company has ordered a further 7-tyre chamber from Rajmahaal. The OTR ma- chinery includes 6 bonders and about 40 moulds to be sourced locally. LATEST NEWS - INDIA “With the ongoing expansion, the produc- tion is likely to go up to more than 2,000 tyres each month,” said Shiju. “Currently, the plant consumes 8 tons of Midas tread per month The expansion would almost double the tread consumption to 15 tons every month.” Meanwhile, the retreader plans to further expand by setting-up two more retreading factories in Palakkad and Calicut in the next couple of years. “Both these markets have lot of potential to grow, and our ob- jective is to expand continuously to remain market leader,” said Shiju. EENAM RETREADERS FOCUSES ON BUS FLEETS Kerala’s retreading industry is largely based on catering the vehicles servicing the stone quarries spread all over the coastal southern state. But the closure of quarries is now posing a major challenge to an industry already coping with the impact of Covid. Now retreaders are changing their bu- siness strategies to remain operational by focusing on bus fleets as well as new tyre business. eastern suburb of the city of Kochi in Ernakulam district, retreads more than 3,600 tyre annually by the precure sys- tem. “We have been are in the business of retreading for more than three decades and have hardly faced this kind of double-edged challenge before,” said Paulose K J of Eenam Retreaders. “We are now shifting our focus to the bus fleet business and doing our efforts to remain afloat with a res- pectable retread volume,” he added. The loyal Midas customer has also forayed in to the new tyre business. “Now our plan is to transform the new tyre business to a single brand tyre shop,” he said. “We are wor- king on setting up an exclusive Apollo Tyre outlet soon.” The retreader is also planning to appoint sales representa- tives to aggressively give the required push to its retrea- ding business. “With the changing market dynamics, it has become imperative for us to move in the market with a stra- tegy. The sale representatives will hopefully help in adding volumes to the business,” he said. P.28