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NEW ORLEANS REVIEW
Don Bankston, Senior Account Executive and Kyle Fernandez, VP Sales on the Black Magic Staples stand in New Orleans
Guatemala Tread
Maker Plans Retread Plant
Guatemala based Natural Rubber (NR) producer Latex Centroamericana, S.A entered the tread rubber manufacturing business about 12 year ago. The firm has been in the business of natural rubber production for the last five decades and currently produces about 60 tonnes of NR per month in its plant at Morales. “We export the majority of our NR to Peru and the US,” said Arturo Samayoa, Gerente General, Latex Controamericana, S.A. at the North
production by the end of 2015,” he anticipated.
Currently, Guatemala market is flooded with cheap Chinese tyres and NR prices are also low in the country, leading to low production levels. “The retreading industry is sharply affected by the presence of Chinese tyres in the country. We hope that NR prices will firm up by the year end brightening growth prospects,” said Samayoa. Interestingly, the tread maker is also planning to foray into tyre retreading in
Arturo Samayoa, Gerente General, Latex Centroamericana, S.A with company official Juan Emilio Castanon (Right)
floor and causing damage.”
Fernandez was hired one and a half years ago by Utility Composites to expand sales of Black Magic Staples and since then sales have grown exponentially, allowing the company to employ two further account executives to work directly with distributors and
end users.
“We are very excited about the future,” said Fernandez. “The response at the show indicates that there is still lots of potential for our products. Once customers have seen the Black Magic Staples, the product sells itself.”
Nortenha Plans Capacity Expansion
Jose Gomes, Managing Director, Recauchutagem Nortenha S.A
Portugal tread maker Recauchutagem Nortenha is looking to open a distribution network in the US market soon. The firm is scouting for people who are willing to work with the company in the US market. “The US is the market for the near future,” said Jose Gomes, Managing Director, Recauchutagem Nortenha S.A at the North American Tire & Tread Expo. Currently, Nortenha manufactures 150,000 retreads per annum for passenger cars, 4x4 and SUVs, 50,000 truck and bus retreads and 3,000 OTR tyres.
The company exports almost 60 per cent of its production to various European markets. “We opened the UK market in the early 2015,” he added.
Meanwhile, Nortenha is planning to expand capacity later this year. “We will expand the plant capacity by 25 per cent by the end of September 2015,” said Gomes. The
company currently runs the plant 24/7, five days a week to meet commitments in the domestic and export markets.
When asked to explain the reasons of capacity expansion further, Gomes added, “Capacity expansion is due to markets opened in the UK and increasing commitments in the African market.”
The Portuguese firm has also opened new markets in Central Africa this year and has designed a product to suit the needs of the Central African market. “We have worked on a product exclusively for Central Africa considering the price sensitive nature of the market,” Gomes said.
Interestingly, Nortenha opened a new plant in Angola in September 2014 to cater for the local market. “We have planned to achieve a capacity of 10,000 pieces in the Angola plant in 2015,” said Gomes.
America Tire & Retread Show in New Orleans recently.
The firm has built up a tread making capacity of 100 tonnes per month but currently it runs the plant to half of the capacity. The plant caters to the domestic Central American and Caribbean market as well. “We supply half in the domestic market and export the remaining half,” he said.
The tread maker is regarded as one of the largest in the Central American country and aims to run the plant near to the capacity by end of this year. “We are targeting 80 tonnes of tread rubber
the next couple of years. “We aspire to be in all kinds of tyre related businesses, and therefore we are planning to get into tyre retreading in the next two years,” he confided.
The upcoming retreading plant would likely to be set up near the mixing plant in Villa Nueva, which is located 16 km (10 mi) south of Guatemala City. “Initially, the retread plant capacity would be pegged at 500 tyres per month and it would be gradually raised with increase in demand and business,” Samayoa stated.
Black Magic Staples Eye Export Growth
Utility Composites Inc. of Round Rock, Texas, is the manufacturer of Black Magic Staples, the plastic staples used in retreading as an alternative to metal staples. The family-owned company, which manufactures plastic nails and staples for the woodworking and composites manufacturing industries as well as for tyre retreading, was exhibiting at the North American Tyre & Retread Expo in a bid to increase the profile of Black Magic Staples and to launch a promotional campaign designed to achieve export growth globally.
According to Kyle Fernandez, VP Sales, North America is currently the company’s main market although it does already have customers in Europe, Australia, South Africa. “We are targeting global growth,” explained Fernandez, “but we would particularly like to see
some progress in Latin America. We have had a successful show and we have already talked to several retreaders who have said they will test our products. In the US we have lots of direct sales but in other areas we are looking for strategic partners such as casing dealers or retreading accessory distributors.” Black Magic Staples are available in four different sizes made with two different types of material that have different melting points, so the use depends on the cure cycle temperature of the retreader.
“It is a very technical sell,” say Fernandez, “They need to be sold by people who can show how to use them properly, so we have to be selective in appointing our distributors. The staples are more expensive than metal but they bring considerable benefits such as no envelope damage, no staples hitting the
48 Retreading Business