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HUNGARY
The newly refitted service area for MEP-90
Tibor Jantos (left) and Peter Szabó from Marangoni (right)
Fialko’s equipment may be old but it is well maintained and has been upgraded in house to improve its performance
remained in place for some time, so the idea of retreading was not completely lost.
In 1999 MEP-90 entered discussions with Kraiburg and in
3,300 – 3,500 tyres per annum, a slight downturn from recent high points. Miszéry reported that the start of the year had been quite strong, but then collapsed, though
Failko
Tibor Jantos is the head of the family-owned Fialko kft, based in Alsónémedi, south of Budapest. Jantos spent his time learning the trade in Germany. A natural choice for Jantos as the son of a German Hungarian family.
The Fialko company was originally founded in 1991 with Austro-Hungarian ownership, and in the early years it delivered its tyres only to Austria and the
In fact, Jantos makes a point of using old equipment. “I like being able to keep the old equipment operating. It is cheap to buy, and it keeps my costs down. Why buy a fully automated buffer when I can buy and modify an old buffer for a fraction of the price?”
Even with the acquisition of used equipment it was difficult to get the business rolling. “It was hard
2000 a second hand retread plant was bought and supplies were now coming from Kraiburg. MEP-90 is now a strong Kraiburg customer because, although they had tried some treads from a Polish supplier, they found the Kraiburg option to be better value for money.
“We stay with Kraiburg,” says Mrs. Miszéry, “because they offer good quality and the right prices. We can offer both premium and quality ranges, and both are good value and excellent performers for our customers.”
MEP-90 sells direct to fleets, both regional fleets and long haul fleets, and also has a tyre service centre dealing with everything from car tyres to earthmover and agricultural tyres.
“Most of our fleet customers are regional fleets based within 100 km of Szigethalom. These regular customers ensure that we always have a steady supply of casings and we operate largely on a CoC basis.” Continued Miszéry. “There is a high demand for 315/80R22.5 in Hungary, and we are always looking for additional casings in that size. However, we are able to buy all we need from the Hungarian market at the moment.” On the challenges to developing the market, Miszéry was clear, “Cheap Chinese tyres, they offer a low quality at a low price. They are in the market and we cannot ignore them, so, we have to buy them and have them available to those customers who wish to use them. However, we only sell them when the customer insists. We are a Bridgestone dealer and we want to keep the quality of what we sell as high as possible, but we cannot ignore the demands of the market.”
MEP-90 currently retreads around
there were signs of improvement, and for sure the autumn would see higher demand as trucks were serviced and upgraded to meet the coming winter conditions. “Our customers accept that there is a need for quality, and there is always work for the retread plant, we can do two chambers per shift and could increase that if required. We build on quality and we know that it will pay off in repeat business, 40 per cent of our customers always ask for our retreaded tyres.”
On the future of the business Miszéry responded, “We will remain Kraiburg customers. Like everyone though, we have a fear of the cheap Chinese tyres that can be sold at less than the cost of a retread. That is the big question for retreaders in Hungary: How long can the current scenario continue? How can the Chinese tyres be sold at such low prices?
“One local fleet owner decided to cut his costs and fitted Chinese tyres to his trucks. On the first day, one of his drivers took the truck 5 km down the road and then phoned back to the office refusing to move another centimetre until the tyres were changed. The tyres had no grip, they felt uncomfortable and he believed they were dangerous. He insisted that his employer fitted retreads instead. That gives hope, if the truckers can see the difference, then they can push for quality over price.
“Ultimately, this is an issue that needs intervention from Brussels to tackle tyre dumping. National governments don’t care, so the tyre industry needs to lobby against the duping of cheap low quality products in Europe.”
Nordic countries.
In 1993 the company set up a new retread operation in Alsónémedi where it remains in operation today.
Fialko at that time retreaded car tyres as well as truck tyres, and the original retread building now serves as a warehouse where the old car tyre retread equipment and moulds remain, awaiting the right time to scrap them, or sell them.
The truck retread plant was established with used equipment. Jantos laughs, “It was old when we bought it, and it is even older now. I bought this old equipment ver y cheaply and used my experience of the equipment and retreading to update it in-house. There is nothing else like this.”
in those early years,” says Jantos, “We had to invest in the equipment and premises, and we had to train staff to do the job properly. But from about 1995 we started to grow and became profitable. If we were to supply the bigger fleets and public transport companies, we could probably invest more and grow the company, but this is not the right time.
In 2004 Jantos bought out the Austrian partners in the business, and it is now 100 per cent family owned, with a good friend as a silent partner. There are now two companies, Fialko kft as the retread operation, and Jantos Gumi Kft as the logistics operation collecting and delivering tyres.
34 Retreading Business