Conti adds LifeCycle retreaders in U.S., Canada (update)

FORT MILL, S.C. (Nov. 13, 2015) — Continental Tire the Americas L.L.C.'s Commercial Vehicle Tire group has expanded its ContiLifeCycle retread network to an even dozen dealerships in North America with the signing of two licensees in the U.S. and one in Canada.

The new independents to join the network are Inter City Retreading Inc. of Elizabeth, N.J., CMC Tire Inc. of St. George, Utah, and Quality Tire Service Ltd. of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, which started  in September.

Conti now has 10 licensees in the U.S. and two in Canada. It also operates five plants in the U.S. under its BestDrive L.L.C. subsidiary.

Inter City Retreading converted its 20,000-sq.-ft. retread plant in Elizabeth in August to the Conti system from the Michelin Retread Technologies system, which Inter City had used since 2000.

Inter City Retreading affiliate Inter City Tire & Auto Center Inc. sued Michelin and Service Tire Truck Centers Inc. in 2013 over claims of a corruption scheme and unfair competition involving numerous dealerships and participants. The case settled earlier this year with each defendant paying an undisclosed cash settlement to Inter City.  

The converted and upgraded plant is rated at 78,000 retreads annually, Continental said.

Inter City Tire operatesand one heavy-duty truck repair center and four commercial tire centers in New Jersey and New York serving customers throughout New Jersey and lower and middle New York.

Inter City Retreading President Neil Erbesh said, “I believe our partnership with Continental will fulfill the clear need for reliable and high quality retreading in our market. The combination of Inter City Retreading's unrivaled craftsmanship with Continental's portfolio of proven tread designs and rubber compounds will be an excellent match for our customers.”

Paul Williams, Continental's executive vice president of Commercial Vehicle Tires in the Americas, lauded Inter City as producing “one of the best quality retread products in the market” and said the partnership extends ContiLifeCycle coverage into these key markets.

Out West, CMC Tire set up a 25,000-sq.-ft. plant in Las Vegas capable of producing 24,000 retreads annually with 18 employees., according to Conti. The deal put CMC — up to now predominantly a heavy-duty OTR servicing dealership — into truck tire retreading for the first time.

Capacity at the Las Vegas plant can be doubled to 48,000 retreads annually, Conti said. The facility will service more than 300 customers throughout greater Las Vegas and southern Utah.

Mike Morast, co-owner of CMC Tire said, “The partnership is critical for our aggressive growth plans and is perfectly aligned with ContiLifeCycle's aggressive growth strategy. With all new equipment that includes the latest retread technology, our partnership brings a proven retread product to the Southwest market.”

CMC has been in business in Utah and Nevada serving mining customers with new Goodyear- and Maxam-branded tires and used tires.

Separately, Conti disclosed that capacity at its tread rubber plant in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico, is being expanded 17 percent to 9,500 metric tons of annual capacity. Conti did not say what it's investing to support the expansion or what effect the expansion might have on the plant's employment, which stands at 70.

At the same time, Conti reported that the Morelia plant produced its 1 millionth tread on Oct. 29.

The plant, which began operations in December 2010, ships treads to customers in Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Germany, Guatemala, Ecuador, Mexico, Spain, Peru and the U.S.

“We started operations in our plant almost five years ago,” said Arturo Cristiani, manager of the LifeCycle tread rubber plant in Morelia.

“Since then, we have been able to successfully overcome all the challenges we have been faced with, thanks to the synergy of the best materials, technologies, processes, systems, and, most notably, the excellence of our team.”