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SOUTH AFRICA
VOMS Aims for Full Capacity Within 6 Months
Larimar Group owned, VOMS Industrial Pty Ltd was established with the main business focus of refurbishing and servicing mechanical components such as engines, gearboxes, differentials, prop shafts, transmissions, air brakes, fuel injection, and auto electrical components. The facility also has fully fledged tyre retreading and brake re-lining plants to support its own bus fleet, which is regarded as one of the largest in South Africa. Public Utility Transport Corporation (PUTCO) in South Africa operates around
plant. The plant, which runs on Bandag equipment is likely to lift production from the current 63 to 84 tyres per month. “We are running to 80 per cent of capacity and we plan to run to the full capacity in the next six months, “Watson said. The company has no plans for additional equipment but will be increasing efficiency levels. Besides serving the transport subsidiary, VOMS also caters to the outside market. “We have started retreading tyres from the open market. We are retreading the tyres of 35 trailers,” Watson
Bill Watson, Plant Manager at the VOMS retreading plant
2,000 buses. PUTCO transports more than 300,000 passengers daily in Mpumalanga, Gauteng and Limpopo, travelling over 98 million km annually. PUTCO has also established bus operations in neighbouring Mozambique with the creation of PUTCO Mozambiqua Limitada, operating buses from Maputo to Xai-xai, Inyambane, Chokwe and Masinga.
The Bandag franchisee plant is located in the Western part of Johannesburg, and started operation in the middle of 2010. “We have two tyre chambers of 21 tyres each, consuming around 15 tonnes of tread every month,” explained Bill Watson, plant manager at the VOMS retreading
said. Meanwhile, VOMS is in touch with one more big fleet and is holding negotiations for the account. “One big fleet is in the pipeline and that would further lift our production,” Watson said. The Johannesburg plant also retreads the tyres of the Mozambique based bus fleet. When queried about the reason for setting up the retreading plant, Watson said, “We have a big bus fleet and we cannot depend on the outside retread plants to service our large fleet. Currently, we are focusing on the long haul BZY tread pattern popular in the transport business. However, we are open to customer choice, they can have any tread.”