Sumerel adding Ringtread at Ohio plant

BLUFFTON, Ohio (Nov. 17, 2016) — Hancock County Tire & Retreading in Bluffton has added Marangoni Tread North America's Ringtread spliceless system to its manufacturing portfolio.

Hancock County Tire is a part of Sumerel Tire Service Inc.  of Newport, Ky., which operates another Marangoni Ringtread plant in Lebanon, Tenn., under the Wilson County Tire & Retreading name.

Sumerel opened Hancock County Tire in 2011 to expand its coverage area in Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia. It uses the Galgo Pre-Q precure system at the Bluffton plant.  

“Hancock County Tire & Retreading added the Marangoni Ringtread system because we like to be different in the way we go to market and everyone sells precure treads, but the Ringtread separates us from the others,” said Bob Majewski, chief technical officer for Sumerel Tire Service.

Hancock County Tire has begun Ringtread production at the 22,000-sq.-ft. facility in Bluffton, a community of about 4,000 roughly 65 miles south of Toledo, Ohio, along I-75, at a pace of 22 to 44 per day, Mr Majewski said, with room to expand.  

Bill Sweatman, president of Marangoni Tread N.A., noted that Hancock County Tire has built a “great reputation” of servicing its customers with the highest standard of quality and service.

The dealership also offers a full range of commercial vehicle-related services and handles a range of new tires, including Aeolus, Arisun, Aurora and Hankook.

Hancock Tire is the fifth new convert to Marangoni Tread's products and processes this year.

Earlier this year Marangoni signed as affiliates: Tire Service L.L.C. in Jacksonville, Fla.; Quality Tire & Service L.L.C. in Munford, Tenn.; Industrial Tire of CNY in Syracuse, N.Y.; and J&R Tire Inc. in Fairburn, Ga.

Tire Service and J&R Tire are using Marangoni's Ringtread spliceless and Unitread conventional precure retreading processes, while Quality Tire is committed to the Ringtread process and Industrial Tire is using the Unitread system only.

At the same time, though, Marangoni lost a longtime licensee, Brahler's Truckers Supply Inc. in Jacksonville, Ill., which was acquired by Continental Tire the Americas' BestDrive L.L.C. unit.

There now are 23 retreaders in the U.S. allied with Madison, Tenn.-based Marangoni, a subsidiary of Italy's Marangoni S.p.A. The nearest one to Hancock County Tire is Leslie Tire in Harrison Township, Mich., about 150 miles to the north.

There also are two licensees in Canada.