Page 48 - Retreading Business N104 2023-1

COUNTRY REPORT - SPAIN AN ASIAN FACTOR Bandiser sees its retreads as high-quality products, so it has not suffered from the wide presence of cheap Asian tyres in the pre- vious years. “We don’t compare ourselves to cheap Asian tyres, but it is true that we are constantly on a par with them for price and price alo- ne,” the spokesperson said, also stressing the rising importance of the green agenda in the tyre industry. “We try to explain to our customers that one of the principles dri- ving the use of retreaded tyres is the circular economy. From this point of view, the advantages when compared to new tyres are more than evident: half the oil is needed, less than half the water and less than half the CO2 is emitted,” he added. However, environmental protection is not the only reason custo- mers should opt for retreads. Extending the useful life of the tyre, - vely affects the entire economy, lowering logistics costs across the board, Notivol said. “It is clear that the quality of the tyres imported from China to Eu- rope do not have the quality that top tyre brands can guarantee, which makes it impossible to renew these tyres while adhering to high retreading standards. We are aware that some European brands have moved their production to this country and that their quality level is higher than the standard for Chinese national brands,” the spokesperson said. In general, Bandiser works with casings primarily from leading brands, such as Michelin, Bridgestone, Goodyear, and Continental, as well as other brands well accepted in the market, including BF Goodrich, Firestone or Dunlop. “We must insist that we work with casings that meet our minimum quality requirements, regardless of origin. That is to say that if the casing is of Asian origin and high quality, then we can accept them. Otherwise, no,” Notivol said. Bandiser gets a relatively high share of casing from its cus- tomers. The rest of the company sources on the market. “In general, we don’t face any problems in this field, though in cer- tain cases, some casings can be in short supply since they are also exported to other markets,” Notivol said. He also assumed that the rising logistics costs of delivering tyres from Asia to Europe, coupled with port closures in Asia to battle Covid-19, will not prevent Chinese tyres from threa- tening the European tyre market. “I do believe that the recent measures adopted by the Euro- pean Commission, including a new anti-dumping and anti-sub- sidy duty against truck tyres imported from China, once offi- cially adopted and subsequently enforced, will have positive effects on our industry since it will put us in a better position in terms of the price-quality ratio compared to imported tyres,” Notivol said. STAYING RESILIENT Bandiser relies on top-quality treads provided by Vipal or Kraiburg. “The importance of the high-quality raw materials that we use consists in the reliability that they provide to the final product. These elements are of great incidence when we assure our clients that the tyre performance in terms of milea- ge is very similar to that of the new tyre,” Notivol said. The company has not been affected by a labour shortage - ano- ther challenge the European economy has faced in the past few years. Bandiser has its own formula for a successful sta- ffing policy. “Our staff generally stay at Bandiser because they believe in the company’s strength because they are paid above industry wages, because we have a production awards programme, and because we also make the work environment as comfortable as possible, positive as possible, while maintaining a deman- ding level of personal commitment,” Notivol added. “We expect a constant and gradual development in the coming years, resulting from our efforts to maintain and improve the quality of our products. Although it does not have measurable economic results in the short term, we are developing several R+D+i projects that will result in better processes and pro- ducts,” Notivol said. “To put our security in the quality of all our products first, we have developed a written guarantee programme that covers one year from the installation in the vehicle, with a simple pro- cedure that each customer can complete from their mobile phone or computer,” he said. Bandiser also expects the national economy, in general, and its target markets, in particular, to show relative improvement in the coming years. “We believe that in the future, the Spanish retreading segment will play an increasingly important role in the tyre market since in other developed countries its share is twice of that in Spain,” the spokesperson said. P.48