FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (March 29, 2000)—Hoping to shift its business mix more into the premium segment, Ranger Tires has added Marangoni RTS circular precured retread capacity at one of its two plants on Long Island.
The company, in the hands of the Roefs family for nearly 50 years, also is evaluating setting up a third plant in partnership with an as-yet unidentified East Coast commercial tire dealer, according to John D. Roefs, vice president.
The addition of the Marangoni line gives Ranger Tires a premium product that will allow it to compete more directly with the top-of-the-line Bandag, Michelin and Goodyear products, Mr. Roefs said.
The new line will double the company´s capacity for precured retreads, Mr. Roefs said, and give Ranger Tires a complete line of economy, medium-priced and premium products. The change comes at a time when Ranger Tires is scaling back its intermodal business in the wake of an abundance of cheap new imported tires that have found favor among intermodal customers.
Ranger Tires invested about $260,000 at the Farmingdale plant to install the Marangoni equipment, Mr. Roefs said. The facility, opened two years ago to house the firm´s Hercules precure retreading activities, was built with expansion in mind, he added.
"We believe the Marangoni process makes the best commercial product on the market," Mr. Roefs said.
, who likened the opportunity to that which Bandag franchisees had in the mid-1950s.
"We´re excited about being in on the ground floor of what should become a nationwide network," he said. "Marangoni´s committed to the market." ©