Retreading
Bridgestone has celebrated the diamond anniversary of the very first Bandag operation to join the group. Today Australia’s sole producer of pre-cured retread materials, Bandag, has marked 60 years of local manufacturing, a milestone that Heath Barclay, managing director of Bridgestone Australia & New Zealand, says is “significant for any business, let alone a manufacturing business.”
During June Vaculug invited partners, suppliers and media to a high-profile event in Oxford based at the former prison (now Malmaison hotel) and including an exclusive dinner within one of the Oxford University colleges. The overall message is clear, the company is not only reaching out in the increasingly post-Covid environment – its growing team of experienced key industry personnel is positioning itself to capitalise on the company’s status as one Europe’s largest independent tyre retreaders.
Vaculug Limited has become the first retreader to pledge alignment to the Tire Sector SDG Roadmap, the WBCSD Tire Industry Project (TIP) framework for action that “outlines impactful pathways” for the entire tyre sector in relation to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Probably a world first for Vaculug – the laregest independent retreader in Europe will now accept Bitcoin and Ethereum for all payments for tyres and related services. Vaculug will also sign its PPK and PPV fixed price contracts in CPK (Crypto per Kilometre) and CPV (Crypto per Vehicle) formats if customers want to fix or link their contracts to the price of Bitcoin or Ethereum.
On 15 July 2022, Grantham Capital Ltd (Grantham Capital), which bought Europe’s largest independent retreader Vaculug Limited in 2018, went on the record as saying that the company has “effectively received” $2.5 million from the former owners as part of its “settlement” of the fraud action it brought against Vaculug’s former owners on 16 January 2020.
Guido Gambassi, former deputy secretary of the Italian Tyre Retreaders Association (AIRP) and tyre dealers’ association Federpneus, takes over as president of European retreading association BIPAVER this month. He succeeds Finland’s Jukka Lankolainen and will serve as president for a two-year period. Gambassi, formerly BIPAVER vice-president, was appointed to the top job during the association’s General Assembly 2022, which took place as an online event on 28 June.
Hankook Tire has marketed its Alphatread range of mould cure or ‘hot’ retreaded tyres for almost a decade now, and today satisfies demand for these products from plants in the UK, Spain, Italy, France and Germany. The last of these is the former Reifen Müller facility in Hammelburg, some 60 miles east of Frankfurt am Main. Hankook recently expanded its Alphatread operation at this site by setting up a separate mould cure retreading operation, significantly increasing capacity.
With its acquisition of all remaining shares in the Marangoni GRP joint venture expected to be completed by mid-July, Marangoni Group is now looking forward to “embarking on its solo journey in India,” a region it considers a “fast-emerging key market in the retreading sector.”
Marangoni Group is now the proud 100 per cent owner of the business it established in 2015 as a joint venture to bring its Ringtread retreading system to India. In a notification sent today to the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India, former joint venture partner GRP Limited confirmed disposal of its 50 per cent shareholding in Marangoni GRP Private Limited.
The U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) and its member companies have voiced their support for a legislative proposal to incentivise retreading. The Commercial Vehicle Fleet Retreaded Tire Utilization Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2022 (H.R. 8165), introduced to the United States Congress this week, would provide tax credits for fleet purchases of US retreaded commercial vehicle tyres.
On 4 May 2022 the European Court of Justice ruled that anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs imposed against Chinese produced truck tyres in 2018 must be annulled. We take a close look at the ruling and the immediate impact on retreaders and Chinese tyremakers alike from page four of June’s bilingual Retreading Special supplement onwards. But what about the tariffs charges that have already been paid? And what about the ongoing impact of the tariff annulment?
Kraiburg Austria is expanding its portfolio for construction site applications with the K738, a tread it says is equally at home on the road. With the K738, Kraiburg Austria has found the “optimal solution” for two tasks. The retreading materials specialist says the tread is “designed for the toughest off-road applications” and its durability, traction and resilience “convinces on rough, unsurfaced terrain.” At the same time, it offers “smooth, quiet running characteristics on sealed roads, including high mileage.”
Zeiss says its latest shearographic tyre inspection system is the “fastest single machine in the world” for inspecting new and retreaded tyres. The optics and optoelectronics specialist introduced the Zeiss Intact 1360-X in April with the promise of a fast return on investment for purchasers thanks to its “drastic savings for labour costs.” The 1360-X can inspect a complete tyre from bead to bead for separations and air bubbles as well as foreign objects in just 55 seconds, including loading and unloading.
Chris Anthony; Tyre Industry Publications Ltd
Vaculug