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HUNGARY
Refurbishing and making the most of the old is a way of life for Tibor Jantos. The three buildings on the property have all been modernised and redecorated to present a clean, modern facade for the business
Up to 2004, when Hungary joined the European Union, there had been rapid growth, but shortly after joining the EU the growth slowed. There was some development in 2007/2008, but by the end of 2008 production had become stable but cyclical, although still profitable.
In 2012 the dumping of Chinese tyres started, and in 2013/2014 this has pushed prices downwards. Fortunately, the saving grace for Fialko, and others, has been the poor quality of the Chinese tyres. Fleets have been discovering that the cheap purchase price was not the whole story, and they have been hot with exploding tyres, tyres with no grip and high rolling resistance. “There are customers who are getting maybe 30,000 km out of a Chinese tyre, a Vipal retread will give them 80,000km. The retread is by far the better value. These issues all create increased costs and downtimes and many purchasers of cheap Chinese tyres are coming back to better quality retreads”, according to Jantos.
However, the presence of these Chinese tyres is creating a headache for the future, says Jantos. “These tyres are taking the place of budget and premium brands from good quality manufacturers, and since these Chinese tyres cannot be retreaded, that is storing up both an immediate waste problem, but also a future shortage of tyre casings for retreading.
“We have seen a lot of retreading shops closing across Europe,” says Jantos. “Good retreaders in Austria are seeing as much as a 50 per cent drop in retreading. This is a serious problem and we need to do something about this tyre dumping. The Brazilians and the Americans have acted. Brazil has banned Chinese tyres and the
USA has imposed an anti- dumping duty that has helped revitalise the American retread sector. We need something done in Europe too.”
Failko’s operation was producing 7,500 tyres per annum, with room to grow, but today it has seen those figures drop to around 4,500 units.
“2015 started okay, dropped off and looked ver y poor,” said Jantos, “However, there are signs that there will be an upturn towards the end of the year. So things are not so bad after all.” The production at Fialko is familiar, and despite the age of the machiner y and the ver y much hands-on operation of the plant, the premises are kept clean and workmanlike. Materials used are sourced from Kraiburg and Vipal, and the staff are long-serving and skilled employees, not something that ever y retreader can claim. The premises are in well-kept, modern buildings, and to one side of the factory lies a 300 square metre building with 600 square metres of gardens that has been converted into what was planned to be a family accommodation, but which could equally lend itself to a large home/office for a company looking to develop into Eastern Europe. Jantos says, “We have the premises, much of the conversion work has been completed. There are separate entrances and this could be an excellent opportunity for someone to establish a base in Hungary. I am open to talk about the rental arrangements, and would welcome a complementar y business that would sit easily with our own, but that would not be essential.”
investment and re-opened the plant, carrying on business very much as before, but with next to no capital expenditure and low overheads.
Investment here is not a priority, and retreads are manufactured.
under pressure from cheap Chinese tyres but again they believed that the customers will come back to retreads when the quality shows.
Újhártjano Gumifotózó
The visit to Újhártjańo, located not far from Dabas, was a short unscheduled visit. So when we arrived there was no-one available to make any official comment, but this was a retread operation owned by a small group of Budapest lawyers. The plant had been in operation for many 23 years, starting as a Bandag plant and had gotten itself into financial difficulties. Eventually it went bankrupt and at that point the lawyers stepped in with an
Although there is a single head ITT 1000 shearography machine, it is only rarely used.
It is an old Bandag plant, but it buys Ruzi tread largely from Vipal. Any claims are simply met with a replacement tyre, but the plant manager explained that claim rates were very low, even without shearography.
With nine staff in the shop and three out selling, Újhártjańo manages to sell somewhere around 10,000 retreads per annum. It is
The unplanned visit to Újhártjańo brought us to perhaps the most active retread shop. Despite ageing premises, this independent business was operating a well maintained plant and had its housekeeping well up to standard
Schlosser Gumiserviz
Once more, a family owned business in Dunaharaszti, south of Budapest. On arriving at Schlosser Gumi the plant for Schwartzmüller trailers was a close neighbour, and across the road in the other direction was the Hungarian Coca Cola plant. Both these companies helped provide the backbone that kept Schlosser Gumi in business.
Owner, Istvan Lakatos is the second generation of the family to be involved in the retreading business. His father, at 81, has retired and handed the reigns over to Lakatos. The operation is based at a tyre service depot just off the Budapest ring road, and passing trade is always dropping in and out for truck tyre servicing. The depot itself
Istvan Lakatos , owwner of Schlosser Gumi
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