Kartindo Rubber Invests in New Mixing Line to Enable Export Growth

Kartindo Rubber Invests in New Mixing Line to Enable Export Growth

Kartindo Rubber, the Medan, Indonesia-based tread rubber manufacturer has announced that it has made a number of key strategic investments in new machinery and automation to position itself as a comprehensive retread material manufacturer capable of expanding internationally.

The investment programme includes the purchase of a new Carter MK-6 Mixing line due for commissioning by May 2020 as well as the addition of two open mills and a re-furbished QA laboratory. 

With the new mixing line in place, Kartindo Rubber will have a capacity to produce 12,000 tons of rubber compounds These new investments, says the company, will ensure consistent production quality and sustainability to cater for increased growth and market demand.

Kartindo Rubber was established in 1990 as a black rubber compounding specialist. Following steady growth over the years since then, Kartindo is now the largest retread rubber compound manufacturer in Indonesia with an annual production of 6,000 tons. The company’s plant, built on a 5.3 Ha site, and with a covered area of 2.5 Ha, is located in the province of North Sumatera which is the heartland of the world’s largest area of rubber plantations.

Considering the fact that Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world, consisting of five major islands and 17,508 smaller islands in total, distribution and on-time delivery is a challenge.

Therefore, Kartindo Rubber has set up 5 warehouses across various provinces and a separate on-site cushion gum manufacturing plant to ensure short delivery lead-times for the Indonesian retreaders. The company also operates 6 retreading plants on its own through local joint venture.

Over the years, Kartindo Rubber has become a major player in the Indonesian market, distributing to over 600 retreaders located across different major provinces across the country. Using a predictive stock management system and its warehouse network, the company says it has been able to make 24- hours delivery possible to major retreaders throughout Indonesia.

In Indonesia, the tyre market is still very much bias-dominant, although radialisation is growing at a slow but steady rate. As such, the company has launched a new series of tread designs suitable for radial tyres and they comes in two compound variants; K-Premier, a premium formulation that offers best-in-class CPK, and K-Lite, a budget tread that offers good value for the price-driven market.

The company says the majority of its franchise retreaders in Indonesia are using the K-Premier product. “Many of our customers are impressed with our fast delivery,after-sales service and competitive pricing,” says the company.

In addition to its role as a tread manufacturer, Kartindo also distributes B&J and MAE products locally.

As a result of its strength in the local market, Kartindo Rubber is now beginning to look at expanding into export markets and says it has  already gained some customers in the Middle East and Africa region.

“We see Asia and Australasia as having potential for growth due to market similarities and reach,” says the company. “We are taking an organic growth approach rather than an aggressive sporadic approach as we believe in cultivating mutual growth with our customers.

By building trust and proven result with our customers, only we can achieve a lasting business relationship over the long haul. We will vary the approach depending on the countries.

For more distant markets like Europe, North America and Latin America, we think a distributorship approach will work better due to the fact that distributors are geographically and culturally closer to the customers.” In defining the key strengths that will stand the company in good stead for future expansion, the company identifies three key qualities that it possesses;

•    Trust. “Simply put, we never cut corners when it comes to quality,”

says the company. “We take responsibility of what we do and because we value our customer’s trust, we constantly keep fingers on the pulse of our customer to address any issue and keep their satisfaction level high.”

•    Continuous Improvement. The company says it has invested and will continue to invest in upkeeping its facility, processes and technological know-how to be cost efficient and quality driven.

•    Smart Sourcing. Kartindo Ruber is strategically located to procure the best raw material locally and within the regional vicinity. This, says the company, ensures that costs remain competitive.

In terms of aims for the coming years, Kartindo Rubber says will be striving to maintain a firm stronghold on the local market, whilst also looking to leverage its experience and expertise in rubber compounding in the export market, benchmarking itself against global tread manufacturers.

“As our current production output is still relatively small, we want to double our current output overseas within five years,” said the company.

 

Sumber     https://bit.ly/34vs5aO