Yokohama merges Japanese retreading operations

In order to strengthen its Japanese-market retreading activities and meet an anticipated increase in demand for retreaded tyres, on 1 January 2014 Yokohama Rubber integrated its two domestic retreading businesses into a single entity. The new Japanese retreading company is called Yokohama Tire Retread Co., Ltd. and sees Sanyo Retread Co., Ltd. merged into the larger Yokohama Tire East Japan Retread Co., Ltd. operation. Atao Kishi, former head of Yokohama Rubber’s commercial tyre development division, has been named the new operation’s president.

According to the statistics from Japan’s National Retread Tire Council, shipments of retreaded tyres in Japan rose 103 per cent year-on-year in 2012, and Yokohama Rubber anticipates that demand for retreads will continue to increase. The tyre maker states that it recognises the distribution of retreaded tyres as one of the hallmarks of “a company having world-class strengths in technologies for protecting the environment,” and says retreading is in line with its environmental policy.

Yokohama Tire Retread Co., Ltd. is headquartered at the former Sanyo Retread head office in Onomichi City, Hiroshima, and the company operates plants in Hiroshima, Nagoya, Satama and Hokkaido. Both companies integrated into the new business were established in the early 1970s and specialise in truck and bus tyre retreading. The four retreading plants have been ISO 14001 certified since April 2006, and the company says it will continue to make further efforts towards achieving zero waste emissions.