A new retread site commenced operation at the beginning of March in the district of Gurdaspur, located in the Northern Indian state of Punjab. “This is also the first retreading unit in the whole district,” informed Ishaan Sharma, Director, K K Construction.
Sharma Focused on Correct Disposal of Tyres
The owner is an environmentally conscious mechanical engineer keen on promoting awareness in the area about maintaining as well as the responsible disposal of tyres. “The disposal of tyres is a major issue in and around Gurdaspur. Our objective is to prolong casing life by retreading and increasing the usage of retreading tyres,” he said.
The plant caters to the local market of the district as fleets based here travel all the way to the district of Jalandhar about 100 km away and the adjoining state of Himachal Pradesh. “It is a good business move to set-up a retreading plant in an area where fleet owners previously sent their casings to far-off markets for retreading. Now the plant is located right in their middle to serve them. We have received positive response from the fleets in and around Gurdaspur,” he added.
The site offers retreading by both hot and precure processes with the plant machinery sourced from Coimbatore based Gemini Machines and tread rubber from Midas. The site is installed with a monorail, a 5-tyre autoclave, buffer, builder and an inspection spreader.
“We also offer retreading by the traditional hot process using an electric chamber,” added Sharma. We hope to add about 100 tyres each month to the overall volumes as Gurdaspur is an agricultural region and has considerable land holding under farming.” The site is targeting production of an additional 200 tyres by the precure process with a cumulative monthly production of 300 tyres initially.
The plant is planning to target the major border districts of Amritsar, Pathankot and the neighbouring hilly state of Himachal Pradesh, covering a region of almost 80-100 km. Both Amritsar and Pathankot are major tourist areas as well as commercial centers in the state. “This whole belt comprises of more than 70 fleets, which has to be informed about the increasing importance of retreading,” said Sharma.
K K Construction plans to organise workshops inviting fleet-owners in order to explain and educate about retreading. In initial interactions, fleet owners seemed apprehensive about the retreading process and had many queries. “The objective of such workshops is to clear their doubts about retreading and explain that it can help control their operational costs when tyre and fuel prices are increasing on almost daily basis, said Sharma.”
