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SOUTH AFRICA
achieve the 1,100 mark. However, it claims to have no investment plan for buying more equipment in the immediate future.
buy any quantity but on an average around 2,000 in a month. However, we need much more,” stressed Rob Beaumont, who set up the plant 27
products include Arctic retreads, Leader Tread retreads and also Marangoni Ringtread. Stocks of retreads in all sizes are available at the various Tirepoint locations. Tirepoint is amongst the first to introduce Marangoni Ringtread in the South African market. “Our three retreading plants use the Ringtread application. We also use Leader Tread for the standard process and are amongst the major clients of Leader Tread,” Dave informed.
It has also been noted that confidence level is growing towards the acceptance of Asian and Chinese tyres. “Chinese tyre quality is improving and they are now being sold with warranty etc,” Dave said. Commenting on the dynamics of the South African market, Dave said, “This market has been almost engulfed by cheap foreign tyres in last few years. As a result more tyres are imported than are actually
manufactured here.” According to Mills, “The market is heavily in favour of retreaded tyres and the retread tyre market is two and a half times bigger than new tyre market.” The new tyre market is estimated to be around 1 million tyres annually in S Africa. Interestingly, 70 per cent of the market is dominated by one tyre size – 315/80.
Tirepoint support the previously disadvantaged and set out to seek the right Black Economic Empowerment Partner (BEE partner). This search culminated in Tirepoint management forging a relationship with Makubalo Holdings (Pty) Ltd, a 100 per cent black owned enterprise. This partnership now affords Tirepoint the opportunity to provide genuine BEE solutions to clients. Tirepoint is a fully compliant BEE service provider with an accredited rating through Emex.
ATT is always on look out for good quality old casings. “We import casings from North and South America, Europe and Asia. We could
years ago. Rob Beaumont is also a stake holder in another company Tyre Point having retreading plants in Cape Town and Durban.
United Focus on Efficiency at Johannesburg Plant
United Retreading relocated in 2009 and set-up a new and bigger plant with the machinery of the old plant and new plant combined. It retreads around 6,000 tyres per month by using almost 75 per cent Leader Tread
capacity at the Durban plant, Troy said, “We are running the plant on rented premises and once the three year lease is over, we may shift to a bigger location and raise the capacity. We know there is a market in Durban but we are
and 25 per cent by Marangoni Ringtread and Michelin Recamic. “We have the capacity to retread 8,000 tyres per month without any additional machinery,” said Troy Marais, managing director, United Retreading, a joint venture between Dynamic Tyre Solution and Tyres 2000.
United has another retreading plant in Durban, producing 1,400 tyres per month. The company is planning to install a new buffing machine in the Durban plant shortly. “We are also in the process of Recamic accreditation for the Durban plant,” Troy said. The Durban plant houses two tyre chambers of 20 tyre and 16 tyre capacity respectively. When asked about plans of further increases in
facing space constraint at the existing facility and doing the maximum we can in such a small plant.”
The bigger Johannesburg facility has four tyre chambers of 25 tyres each. United has no plans to up production in the Johannesburg plant. “We are focussing more on increasing efficiency in the Johannesburg plant and plan to run the plant to full capacity this year,” Troy stressed. In order to improve efficiency levels, United has introduced bar-coding at the retreading plant to track the movement of the each truck tyre right from entry stage to delivery. United Retreading consumes around 100 tonnes of tread rubber each month.
Troy Marais, Managing Director, United Retreading
Tirepoint to Focus on Branch and Depot Network
Tirepoint has three plants, one each in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. Johannesburg is the oldest plant, while Durban and Cape Town became operational in 2009 and 2010 respectively. “We have a strong presence in truck, bus, OTR, agriculture, mining and industrial tyre segments,” said Dave Mills of Tirepoint, without elaborating on the number of tyres the company retreads. “Numbers are really sensitive to share in the highly
expansion plans due to the fiercely competitive nature of the industry. In a guarded statement Dave said, “There are numerous growth opportunities in this market.” When prodded further, Dave opened-up a bit and said, “We are planning to expand our branch and depot network.”
The retreading company has plants in the home market only. Tyre Point has retail branches in Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KZN and
Bill Watson, Plant Manager at the VOMS retreading plant
competitive South African retreading market. We do say that Tirepoint is profitable,” Dave stated.
Tirepoint prefers not to share its
Mpumalanga selling the new tyres and retreads. Tirepoint supplies a wide range of retread products suitable to all applications. These
50 Retreading Business