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RON ELLIOTT DISCUSSES RETREADING IN THE US PUPIL TRANSPORTATION SECTOR Since January 2021, Ron Elliott has been the Marketing Manager for the Canadian and United States markets for Pre-Q Gal- go Corporation. Ron previously worked for Marangoni Tread North America, plus over 25 years of sales and marketing ex- perience in diverse industries. He was also the Spokesperson for Retread Instead for three years (Jun 2017-May, 2020). Our South American correspondent, Daniel Ro- jas recently caught up with Elliott to discuss Galgo’s regular participation at the US Pupil Transportation Show and the company’s “Pupil transportation shows are very prev- alent here in the US, explained Elliott. “Al- most every state has a pupil transportation association; some even have a mechanics association. Many are very active and have large trade shows that include training and infor- mational seminars lasting up to 5 days.” According to Elliott, the participation of retreaders in this niche varies quite a bit from state to state. “You see retreaders ex- hibiting more now than ever before in some states and others not so much,” he com- mented. “From those that do attend, you get a lot of questions about the cost difference between a new tyre and a retreaded tyre. You also get the age-old question about a retreaded tyre’s safety, reliability, and du- rability. “During the school year, millions of children are transported safely to and from school on buses running on retreaded tyres. I wouldn’t say the demand for information shows. Even with my background and advo- cacy of retreading, sometimes you need an unbiased third party to point them to about retreading. That is when we rely on our good friend David Stevens at TRIB to help them understand why they should consider retreading. “Safety is always top of the client’s mind since they carry our most precious cargo,” he added. Nonetheless, school budgets keep getting tighter, so price is always a factor.” AKARMAK OPENS US SUBSIDIARY Turkish equipment manufacturer Akarmak has announced the ope- ning of its US subsidiary company, Akarmak USA Inc., based in Louis- ville, Kentucky (KY). Akarmak USA has been created to serve customers in USA, Canada and Mexico and will also allow better access to customers in Latin America. The Louisville-ba- sed company will manage the sales, service and spare parts activities of projects in the region while the manufacturing base will remain in Eskisehir, Turkey. The main products to be provided to the USA market will be Akarmak’s autoclaves for composite, glass lami- nation, rubber curing, building mate- rials, tyre retreading, as well as the company’s autoclave/steam based medical waste sterilisation systems. The activities of Akarmak USA may P.56