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PRODUCTS
Zealand’s Eurotread Grows with Kraiburg
Glad Rack is more than satisfied. The Managing Director of the New Zealand firm Eurotread Ltd. has reported continuous growth in sales over the last three years. The independent Auckland-based retreader turned over the equivalent of just under 1.9 million euro in 2011. Glad Rack has maintained the high quality standards of Bob Cranfield, the entrepreneur who started the
about half of the North Island which corresponds to a radius of roughly 200 km. The Eurotread team produced 14,000 truck tyre retreads in the past year, using something approaching 180 tons of Kraiburg materials.
The company has a market share of approximately eleven per cent in New Zealand, ranking fourth just behind the local Recamic dealer. The undisputed market
New Zealander Glad Rack is spreading the word about Kraiburg through leading independent retreader Eurotread Ltd
business – and the close strategic partnership with his material supplier Kraiburg Austria.
New Zealand may not exactly be “around the corner” in geographic terms but the archipelago in the Pacific Ocean is an extremely lucrative market for HGV retreads, boasting a total volume of some 130,000 units. Kraiburg has been supplying Eurotread since 1999 with precure retreaded materials from all three ranges (K_base, K_tech and K_plus) for tyres for heavy goods vehicles, light commercial trucks, buses and coaches. The New Zealand company only goes to other suppliers to source the narrow widths which are not stocked by the specialists from Upper Austria. Three sizes account for more than three quarters of sales, namely the 11 R 22.5, 275/70 R 22.5 and 265/70 R 22.5. Eurotread was started up by Bob Cranfield in 1994 and Glad Rack took over the company five years ago. In that time he has built up both the workforce and the customer base. Today he has a team of ten production and administrative staff and one driver. The sales territory extends over
leader in New Zealand is Dunlop South Pacific with Goodyear which has a good third of the market, followed by Bandag with around 25 per cent.
The aim of Glad Rack is to continue meeting the demands of his customers, the tyre dealers. He wants to make ongoing investments in his machinery and equipment in pursuit of this aim. Eurotread has recently bought a new buffing machine from Kraiburg which was delivered to Auckland at end of July 2012. Assembling and starting-up of the buffer was scheduled to take place by the end of September under the supervision of Kraiburg’s Technical Service. “We are delighted to see the growth of Eurotread and naturally we are very gratified with our long-lasting partnership and good relations”, said Holger Düx, Head of Sales and Marketing, Retreads Division at Kraiburg. “Glad Rack knows how to cater properly for the demand for quality materials and is offering the market optimum value for money”.
Kraiburg Expands Premium Range
Having developed the K 224 and K 225 patterns and seen their great success on the market, retreading specialist Kraiburg is now supplying its customers
pattern is now available in widths of 230, 240 and 250mm, each with a tread depth of 17.5 mm, and it clearly does the business where excellent mileage
is the prime performance re- quirement.
The same goes for the plus version of the K 225, the KMT 1 (=Kraiburg Multi Traffic). Designed by Kraiburg for long- distance and regional road traffic, the distinctive feature of this block- type profile with open shoulders is the high number of ribs which provide optimum traction and grip in wintry conditions and an excellent hard- wearing surface. The KMT 1 too enjoys the added value in kilometres "driven" by the use of the premium
compound. Kraiburg is taking orders now for the KMT pattern in widths of 250, 260 and 270 mm and a depth of 21.5 mm. Further information is available at www.kraiburg-retreading.com.
with a premium version of these designs in the K_plus com- pound. The KUT 1 (=Kraiburg Urban Traffic), the plus version of K 224, is a block-type pattern with open shoulders and a heavily siped centre rib for the drive axles of buses
and coaches which run in urban traffic and long-distance traffic. As it wears, its profile changes from a block-type to a ribbed retread pattern. It is best fitted in late autumn and is therefore ideal for year-round use. The higher final mileage already achieved with the K 224 in the K_base version in the snow- free months brings a further significant increase in the long- running premium K_plus compound. The KUT 1 is also an optimum self- cleaning profile design. The new
54 Retreading Business