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SOUTH AFRICA
According to de Maudave, “Logistics are a challenge in supplying products to the neighbouring sub-Saharan African states.”
Meanwhile, Trentyre is working on several new traction, trailer and off-road designs. They are under evaluation and should be launched in the market by the middle of 2013. “We do rigorous tests as per Goodyear standards and the whole exercise could take almost six months,” Sylvain stated.
The company also runs a training school for retreading at its Gauteng plant. “We have been running the school for the last 12 years and on average train almost 100 people every year. We have a curriculum that spans from practical to theoretical training. Trainees are awarded certificates at the end of the session. We regard our skilled workforce as a competitive advantage to our business,” explained Sylvain.
American market for its product range. “We are putting-up stands in number of shows in South America and particularly in the Brazilian show to explore that market,” Sproson said. Leader is on look-out for agents and partners who could work with it in the target markets.
Besides precure rubber, it also manufactures a small quantity of hot cure rubber or Orbitread. “Our hot cure production is negligible compared to precure, just 30-40 tonnes depending on the orders,” he said. Leader Tread also manufactures 80 tonnes of cushion gum and 10 tonnes of extruder rope.
Commenting on the challenges in the South African market, Sproson explained, “Rising labour costs,
service charges and the weakening Rand are some of the major issues that confront the industry in South Africa.” The weakening Rand directly relates to raw material prices as imports are bought in US Dollars making raw material expensive.
Another major challenge is the increasing presence of Chinese tyres in the South African market, which are still not good enough for retreading and suitable casings for retreading are not easy to find. “The annual new tyre market is around 150,000 units and 50 per cent of them are Chinese tyres,” Sproson explained. Buying Chinese tyres may be wise considering its purchase price but in a longer run the fleet owner ends up paying more.
Leader Tread to Establish
Tread Making Facility Outside
South Africa
Leader Tread is expanding locally by adding a range of new equipment at its Johannesburg facility as well as planning an overseas foray in 2013. Equipment like a cold pin feed rubber extruder has already landed at its plant and is being readied for commissioning in April. “The new extruder should hike our capacity and reduce waste; besides it decreases energy cost and labour by almost 50 per cent,” said Brett Sproson of Leader Tread. Our electricity costs maintain an upward trend and it will continue to be the same for the next five years. “Electricity rates are already up by 50 per cent and the government has further plans to revise rates by 16 per cent annually for the next five years. We have a shortage of power and government is building new power plants by raising finds from hikes every year,” stated Sproson. The new extruder would raise the capacity from 700 tonnes to 1000 tonnes per month.
Leader has also ordered a new press, which could be installed by the middle of June and production is likely to be started by August. “We have also ordered a new 240 litre mixer, which would be installed by the end of 2013,”
added Sproson. With the additional equipment lifting its capacity, Leader Tread is targeting the whole African market. “We are present in the most of the southern African countries: Mozambique, Malawi, Kenya and in the neighbouring nations around S Africa,” Brett said.
Interestingly, Leader Tread is also gearing up to move beyond its border by making an overseas foray as it is all set to put-up a new tread making facility outside Africa to cater for its growing Asian and Middle Eastern clientele. “We are planning to set up the first overseas plant somewhere in Asia or in the Middle East,” Sproson confided. He plans to shift some of the equipment from its mother plant in Johannesburg. “We have already finalised the equipment as the plant is already with us to be shipped to the overseas location. We are only looking for a right location that could serve our clientele in both these markets,” Sproson added. The new plant is likely to commence operation by the end of 2013. It was advised that the new plant would be set up in partnership with a local player. Meanwhile, the company also plans to open up the South
ATT Installed Ring Tread Plant in 2012
One of the largest truck tyres retreaders in the world Auto and Truck Tyres (ATT) installed a Marangoni Ringtread plant in the middle of 2012. “This is completely different from the kind of retreading previously done in South Africa and with that we have started an all new relationship with Marangoni,” said busy Rob Beaumont, Managing
all truck sizes currently available in the South African market. “We are running two plants with 4 tyre chambers and 4 buffers each round the clock. We used to work 24/7 but have now changed to 5 day shifts and 4 night shifts,” he said.
Currently, ATT sources tread from Leader Tread and has been a regular client for the past 10 years. It
Brett Sproson of Leader Tread
Director, Auto and Truck Tyres. The company started retreading bus tyres with the Marangoni technology. “We are using Ringtread technology on trailers carrying dangerous items like chemicals, diesel, gas and petroleum,” stated Rob. ATT has also installed shearography machines.
The company runs two separate plants inside the same premises in Wadeville, Johannesburg. It retreads
retreads 900 tyres every day including 70 tyres by Ringtread technology. “We are consuming 300 tonnes of tread rubber every month,” Rob said. When asked about expansion plans, he replied, “There are no expansion plans at the moment. But we are planning to run the plant to the full capacity of 1,100 each day in 2013.” ATT agreed that it will have to install more equipment to run the plant to
Rob Beaumont, Managing Director, Auto and Truck Tyres
Retreading Business 49