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INDIA RUBBER EXPO
Bremels’ Second Plant Dedicated to Export
Bangalore-based tread maker Bremels is setting-up its second tread manufacturing facility in Mangalore. “We are building the second tread making plant in the SEZ area of Mangalore. The new plant is coming-up in the export zone, therefore, it would be dedicated to cater to our export market,” said V Subbu, president, sales and marketing, Bremels. The company’s mother plant is located in the Peenya Industrial Area in Bangalore (Capital of Southern Indian State of Karnataka).
The upcoming export plant will have the monthly capacity to manufacture 520 tonnes. The existing mother plant manufactures 850 tonnes per month out of which 35 per cent is shipped to overseas markets and the majority 65 per cent caters to the domestic market. “The new plant should commence operation by July 2013,” said Subbu.
When asked about the strategy of setting up a dedicated export facility, Subbu explained, “Our strategy is to cater to the export market from the new plant and the existing mother plant would serve the domestic market. We will now have more capacity to cater to the domestic market from the main plant.” Currently, Bremels exports its tread mainly to the markets of the Gulf region, Africa, Far East, South East Asia and Australia. “With the dedicated export facility being launched, we will now target the hi-end markets of US and Europe,” Subbu stated.
The company’s samples have been approved by some US and European companies and the new plant will focus on these markets. The Mangalore plant would be equipped with lot of high quality machinery imported from Europe.
Bremels is one of the oldest tread makers in India with the main plant in Bangalore started more than four decades ago. The company started making envelopes around 12 years ago and is currently manufacturing 6,000 envelopes per month. The company is one of the biggest suppliers of tread to various state government owned transport companies in India. For example, it monopolises with a 100 per cent supply contract to the Karnataka state transport company. “We are also supplying large quantity of tread to the government owned transport companies of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra along with a countrywide dealer network,” claimed Subbu.
Tyresoles Strives for Pan India Role
Tyresoles is increasing its clout in the Indian retreading industry by carving out joint ventures with multiple partners in different parts of India. The retreading company has kick-started operations at the first of the JV plants in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The JV retreading plant has become operational under the title ‘Presto Tyresoles’ with Tyresoles controlling the majority stake in the venture. “The capacity of the JV plant in Madhya Pradesh is 5,000 units per month. But the production could be hiked gradually over the next two years. We are targeting production of 4,000 units per month by the end of 2015,” said Karan Sanghi, Managing Director Tyresoles. Currently, the plant is producing around 1,300 tyres per month.
Tyresoles picked-up a running plant, shifted to a new location and has transformed it into a modern retreading facility. “Besides, transforming it into a modern plant, we worked upon material handling and improved efficiency levels leading to a hike in productivity,” explained Karan. The JV started in October 2011 but the plant in its transformed state became operational at the end of 2012. Interestingly, Tyresoles is planning more such retreading JVs in other parts of the country and is scouting for new partners. “We are looking at six more joint ventures on similar lines throughout India,” confided the MD. It plans to start up three JVs in the next couple of years, at least.
V Subbu, President, Sales & Marketing, Bremels