Robbins to Focus on South American and Asian Markets

Alabama based Robbins LLC, in business since 1921, is planning to focus on the growing South American and Asian markets in the next couple of years. The envelope and curing tubes manufacturer having production facilities at Muscle Shoals, Alabama and Raeford, North Carolina is eyeing the important markets of Brazil and China. "We have already entered the Brazilian and Chinese markets and will continue to push for more market share there as well as in the Asian markets of Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand where we are already established." confided Mr. Thad Perdue, Vice President (Sales - Moulded Products), Robbins LLC. The company is tapping these markets through local distributors.

Robbins feels that it holds approximately a 35% share of the outer envelope, a 40% share of the inner envelope and a 70 % share of the curing tube markets of the world. Robbins supplies private label envelopes to all of the major tread rubber manufactures in the USA. In North America it feels that it has approximately 85% of the outer envelope, 90% of the inner envelope and 95% of the curing tube markets. Robbins produces a full line of envelopes and curing tubes for small industrial through to large OTR tyres. As the developing countries around the world move from bias ply to radial ply tyres, mould cure is being replaced with precure treads, which increases the demand for envelopes and precure curing tubes.

With the increasing demand in the world market as well as its plans of entering into newer markets, five years ago Robbins LLC moved from manufacturing envelopes in older inner tube moulds to the newer technology of compression moulding, informed Thad. In the compression moulding process rubber is mixed in a Krupp GK - 250 intermeshing mixer and extruded in a performed slug. Performed slugs are cut to length and the slugs are positioned in the compression mould and cured into a one piece envelope eliminating the splice found in inner tube type moulds," explained David Draper, Director of Manufacturing.

Robbins has no plans to build further capacity in near future. Thad added, "Robbins have the capacity to meet the market demand as of now but as the demand increases we will add the necessary equipment and technology to cover the growth" Robbins claims that its envelope gives the maximum number of cures. When asked how many cures the Robbins envelope gives, Thad replied that it will vary from retread shop to retread shop depending on curing temperature, tread designs, rotation, house keeping, etc. The combination of compression moulding and compound formulation allows the Robbins LLC envelope to give outstanding performance in any shop environment. Our product works with any sealing system found in the industry, he added.

Thad declined to give the exact number of envelopes and curing tubes manufactured. "Robbins is a privately held company and it is confidential information not to be shared."

Meanwhile, Robbins also entered into the custom mixing business in 1997. It bought the Hoover Hanes mixing plant in 2004 at Tallapoosa, Georgia. It has become a significant player in the custom mix business in the last four years marketing its service under the CustoMix brand. "We provide specialized custom mixed rubber compounds to rubber products companies in North America. We have gained a significant market share in the US market primarily due to our superior mixing technology and a relentless focus on consistent quality," claimed John W Truitt, Vice President Sales and Marketing, Robbins LLC. A majority of its business of custom mixing comes from the belting, matting, piping and hose industries.

It has been said that Robbins has the second highest mixing capacity in the world at over 300 million annual pounds. Its customer base spreads all over the United States but Robbins has a major presence in the South Eastern and Mid Western parts of the United States. "We are strategically placed as these regions house a significant number of rubber plants, and over the last few years several industries such as the automotive sector have been relocating to the South" he said.

Custom mixing is a highly competitive business, within the US there are approximately 50 custom mixers. The US market has a lot of toll mixing as well in which custom mixers lease out their equipment for custom mixing, however, Robbins focuses on the highly difficult compounds and service to gain market share. "Our customers take advantage of the expertise of the degreed chemists who work as our technical field representatives and in our on-site labs to help develop efficient compounds. Many of our customers cannot afford laboratories and development chemists, so we provide this service."

Robbins is also looking at all options of growth and has not ruled out acquisitions. "Our CustoMix segment has grown over last few years and there continues to be good growth prospects. We are open for strategic acquisitions to increase market share in the domestic and North American market," emphasized John Truitt.

Issue 2008/3