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INDIA RUBBER EXPO
Akar Makina Targets Amercan Markets in 2013
Managing Director, Vamshi Rubber Ltd in an interview to Retreading Business at the Rubber Expo 2013 at Mumbai recently. The retreading plant will function under the title “Fortune Tyre Tech”.
The 5,000 tyre capacity retreading plant commenced production on 9th Januar y 2013. The plant spreads across an area of 5 acres and is situated 35 km from Hyderabad. Vamshi invested around US$3 million in setting-up the plant. “We hope to run the plant to its capacity from the next financial year,” Reddy said. When asked about the strategy of foraying into retreading, Reddy explained, “Radialisation is picking-up in the Indian tyre industr y. Currently, it is around 15 per cent, but it is expected to reach to 50-60 per cent in the next five years. With increasing radialisation, we need to apply proper retreading technology to retread radial tyres.” Interestingly, Vamshi started as a retreading company but later on became a tread maker and now once again it is entering the retreading sector. According to Vamshi many current retreading plants in India could not handle radial tyres properly. With global tyre majors like Michelin and Bridgestone setting-up their plants in the countr y, the retreading industr y should pull up its braces to meet the challenge. According to
Reddy, “Who is going to retread tyres with the right technology? Smaller players neither have the right know-how nor the equipment to retread radial tyres. Therefore, we are gearing-up to meet the demand.” The company retreads truck and bus tyres only. “We are focusing on retreading radials with the right technology,” he emphasised.
Vamshi is also targeting a monthly tread production of 500 tonnes. Currently, it is manufacturing in between 350 – 400 tonnes per month. “Our goal is to reach 500 tonnes per month production in fiscal 2013-14. Once that goal has been achieved, we may go for further expansion of our tread making facility,” Reddy informed. The South India based company plans to expand by another 250 tonnes after achieving the goal of 500 tonnes that it has set itself. Vamshi also plans to give thrust to its exports this year. “We would likely to increase exports by around 15 per cent in the next year,” Reddy stated.
Meanwhile, Vamshi is working on bigger tread patterns as currently its pattern range is limited to 250 inches. “We would like to increase the pattern range above 250 inches by the end of March. We are working on 260”, 270” and 280” to make us more competitive,” Reddy stated.
Turkish retreading machinery maker, Akar Makina, has firmed up its relations with one of the major European brands. Founded in 1990 and located in the city of Eskisehir, close to the ports and major cities of Istanbul, Anakra and Bursa. Akar Makina retreading machinery has been homologated by a global major player. “Now, we have become one of the machinery suppliers of a global brand to licensee franchisees in the Turkish market,” informed Metin Ileri, project engineer for Akar Makina at the recently concluded Rubber Expo in Mumbai. He declined to divulge the name of the international brand. When asked in
machines for retreading OTR tyres. “We are planning to be more aggressive in OTR in 2013,” Metin added.
Akar Makina was visiting the India Rubber Expo for the second time and operates in the country through a local representative. “We have done just a couple of projects in India in the last three years and we strongly believe there is lot of scope in this market particularly on the truck and OTR side,” Metin observed. He further explained, “The retreading industry is graduating to the next level in India and retreading sector is looking for hi-end machinery.”
Akar Makina launched an
Metin Ileri, project engineer, Akar Makina at India Rubber Expo in Mumbai
R Surendra Reddy, Managing Director, Vamshi Rubber Ltd
what other markets it has been authorised to supply retreading machinery by the European brand, Metin informed, “Currently, only the Turkish market.” The company received homologation certification in July 2012. “We consider it as a very big step for us in our next level of growth,” he said.
Meanwhile, Akar Makina has seen expansion in the Baltic region, Moldova and Africa besides its home market in 2012. “We have completed key projects in these markets last year,” Metin confided. Identifying the target markets for 2013, Metin stated, “We are keen to expand into North and South America. India will also remain one of our focussed markets in 2013.” Akar Makina offers precure and orbitread system
expandable buffing machine in 2012. Meanwhile the company is also working on couple of new machines such as a tyre building machine for truck tyres and a non-destructive testing machine (NDT). Both of these machines should be launched in 2013.
Akar has a complete machinery portfolio to set up turn-key tyre retreading plants in both truck tyre and OTR segments. It is a leading producer in its home market and today exports a significant number of products outside of Turkey. In the OTR segment, its product portfolio covers tyre sizes from 25” to 63”. The machines include autoclaves and high-performance CNC Controlled Buffers.
Vamshi Sets Up Modern Retreading Plant In Hyderabad
Indian tread maker Vamshi Rubber Ltd has forayed into retreading by setting up a one-of-a-kind plant. The Hyderabad based company imported the best machines in the business from Europe. “We have
imported equipment from Germany and Italy including shearography, buffers, builders, nail hole detectors, envelope expanders etc for our modern retreading plant,” informed P Surendra Reddy,
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