Business

Monday March 2, 2009

Goodway: Change negative perception of retread tyres

By EDY SARIF


KUALA LUMPUR: The negative perception of retread tyres needs to be changed as their quality is almost the same as new tyres, said Tai Boon Wee, the group chief executive officer of Goodway Integrated Industries Bhd, the largest rubber compound manufacturer in Malaysia.

“With the usage of good technology and proper ways to produce them, retread tyres are on par, if not better in quality, with any new tyres,” he told StarBiz.

Goodway is a leading manufacturer of rubber compounds in Asia, supplying a wide range of retread materials and high quality compounds to retreading operators, commercial vehicle proprietors, new tyre manufacturers and international companies dealing in various rubber-related products.

Tai said most of the retread tyres were used for commercial transport such as buses and lorries that needed to change tyres frequently.

Tai Boon Wee showing the main component of a retreat tyre

“A typical commercial truck changes its tyres every three months. Imagine how much it costs the companies to change tyres,” he said, adding that retread tyres were 30% to 50% cheaper than new tyres and were comparable in terms of performance and quality.

Tyre costs made up about 15% of a truck company’s total operating expenditure, he noted.

The global economic slowdown was a good time for companies to use retread tyre as it saved costs and helped preserve the environment, Tai said.

“Through retreading, the life of original tyres can be prolonged up to four times longer. The quantity of disposed tyres may be reduced by as much as 75% if retreading is employed,” he said.

On the performance of the company, Tai said Goodway currently controlled about 25% share of the local market and targeted to grow this to 40% in three years.

“About 70% of our output is exported to more than 40 countries with the Asian region still the main market for us. We are looking to penetrate new emerging markets like China and Indonesia,” he said.


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