The Retreadcast

Episode 51 of The Retreadcast features an in-depth interview with Lina Goodman, CEO of Tyre Stewardship Australia. Richard Wilson, Correspondent for Retreading Business, speaks with Lina about a wide array of topics crucial to the Australian retreading market. They cover her perspective on the alarming contraction of local processing plants, the environmental and economic data behind waste avoidance, TSA's strategies for engaging with federal and state government inquiries, and their proactive approach to strengthening the Australian Design Rules to halt single-use tyre imports. A significant portion is dedicated to the integration of advanced recycling technologies like micronisation designed to improve circular feedstock quality in new tread production. Lina Goodman also shares TSA's key recommendations and advocacy targets for the coming years.

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Episode 50 of The Retreadcast features an in-depth interview with Kent Allen, CEO, and Rob Smedema, VP of Sales at Robbins LLC. David Wilson, Publisher of Retreading Business, speaks with Kent and Rob about the dramatic changes at the company since its acquisition from Hexpol by private investment firm Karo Ventures 18 months ago. They cover their perspective on tackling deferred maintenance, the impact of global macroeconomic challenges like tariffs and oil spikes, Robbins' strategies for expanding their overseas business—particularly revitalising their presence in Europe ahead of The Tire Cologne—and their vertical integration following the acquisition of Elite Advanced Polymers in Mississippi. A significant portion is dedicated to how their manufacturing processes have been systematically overhauled to improve quality, safety, and inventory reliability in truck and bus radial (TBR) and OTR envelope production. Kent Allen also shares Robbins' ambitious key plans and targets to become the number one supplier in the coming years.

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Episode 49 of The Retreadcast features a fascinating career retrospective with Richard O’Connell, the retired director and co-founder of Bandvulc. David Wilson, Publisher of Retreading Business, talks with Richard about his newly published memoirs, “Retreading My Life.” 

They journey through the early days of founding Bandvulc in the 1970s using second-hand machinery, the company’s accidental but successful shift from a standard retreader to a comprehensive tyre management firm for major fleets like Tesco, and the innovative development of the Wastemaster tyre. Richard provides a candid account of the disastrous 2011 fire and the remarkable recovery that followed, as well as the eventual sale of the family business to Continental. 

The discussion also touches on the environmental significance of the circular economy and the political hurdles, such as the climate change levy and import tariffs, facing the European retreading sector today.
 
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Episode 49 of The Retreadcast features a fascinating career retrospective with Richard O’Connell, the retired director and co-founder of Bandvulc. David Wilson, Publisher of Retreading Business, talks with Richard about his newly published memoirs, “Retreading My Life.” 

They journey through the early days of founding Bandvulc in the 1970s using second-hand machinery, the company’s accidental but successful shift from a standard retreader to a comprehensive tyre management firm for major fleets like Tesco, and the innovative development of the Wastemaster tyre. Richard provides a candid account of the disastrous 2011 fire and the remarkable recovery that followed, as well as the eventual sale of the family business to Continental. 

The discussion also touches on the environmental significance of the circular economy and the political hurdles, such as the climate change levy and import tariffs, facing the European retreading sector today.
 
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Episode 48 of The Retreadcast features an in-depth interview with Ben Rosenblum, Vice President of Strategy and Business Transformation at Bridgestone Americas. David Wilson, Publisher of Retreading Business, speaks with Ben about the comprehensive new strategy to revitalise the Bandag brand in Europe. They discuss the challenging European market, the "three-legged stool" model (Fleet, Dealer, Bridgestone), and the critical role of efficiency and dealer partnerships. Ben details the strategic move of production from Langenfeld to Poland, the integration of new tyre technologies into the retreading process, and how Bridgestone plans to re-engage fleets and dealers with a new value proposition built on digital tools like BASys, cost-per-kilometre tracking, and a complete logistics and service solution.

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Episode 47 of The Retreadcast features an in-depth interview with Doug Conley, President of Shamrock Marketing Inc. David Wilson, Publisher of Retreading Business, speaks with Doug about a wide array of topics crucial to the US retreading market. They cover his perspective on the U.S. administration's approach to tariffs, the impact of political uncertainty on the retreading equipment sector, Shamrock's strategies for expanding their overseas business, particularly in Latin America, and their proactive approach to digital marketing including a revamped YouTube presence. A significant portion is dedicated to Shamrock's new automatic marking system designed to improve quality and efficiency in retread plants. Doug Conley also shares Shamrock's key plans and targets for the coming years.

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Episode 46 of The Retreadcast features an extended interview with the CEO of Marangoni, Vittorio Marangoni in the lead up to the 2025 Recircle Awards. In this interview Vittorio covers a lot of ground from how Asian tyre producers are driven by industrial policy aimed at dominating EU markets to the stalled implementation of labelling for Retreading to the enormous potential for tyre retreading with only 8% of tyres being retreaded at the moment. We also have some comments from Guido Gambassi, the President of BIPAVER and Autopromotec Representative on the upcoming 60th anniversary edition of Autopromotec.

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Michael Hutt, the Editor of Retreading Business was on the ground at TyreXpo Asia to report from the exhibition at the Marina Bay Sands & Expo Centre. Today’s episode features short interviews with a few attendees from the show namely: Conson Sia, the CEO of Stamford Tyres, Guy Heywood, Vice President of Hankook Tire Europe and Lau Den Nee, the Sales Manager of Wegmann Automotive. The episode is capped off by a short interview with Alwin Seo, the Deputy Event Director for Informa Markets and he reacts to the 2025 installment of the trade fair.

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Episode 44 of the Retreadcast features an interview with Janne Ruhanen, the sales director at Nokian Tyres, discussing the 50th anniversary of the Nokian brand of retreading materials. The episode also includes a short segment on the Recircle Awards. In the interview, Janne and Michael talk about the history of the Nokian brand, its key strengths and latest innovations, the challenges and opportunities in the Scandinavian market, the impact of Nokian's withdrawal from the Russian market, the development of a carbon footprint calculator, and the future of retreading.

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The final episode of The Retreadcast for 2025 is here and it sees another on-site interview from our trip to Malaysia as we interview the Managing Director of First Unitex and the President of TRMAM Edmund Wong. During this conversation, Edmund dives deep on how retreaders in Malaysia can fight against the import of cheap, low-quality tyres by educating the fleets on the Total Cost of Ownership concept and the work they are doing with the government to support the industry. We also learn about how First Unitex bounced back from a major flood in 2021 and how their investments in Matteuzzi and Zeiss machinery has assisted them in gaining efficiencies and enhancing their productivity.

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