Bandag’s Wacol factory is celebrating a special milestone after hitting 10 million retreads under Bridgestone ownership.
That’s enough to fit a fleet of nearly 300,000 B-double trucks and saving more than half a billion litres of oil in the process.
Bridgestone Australia purchased the operations from Boral Tyres in 2000 which included Bandag and the production facility in Wacol, Queensland. Bandag is now the only producer of tyre tread in Australia and New Zealand, and exports to Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the Asia Pacific region.
Bridgestone Australia retread business general manager Greg Nielsen says the milestone is a testament to the investment the company has made in the region.
“Ten million units is no small feat for any company, especially when you consider the changing climate for Australian manufacturing over the past 20 years.
“Bandag Australia has strong leadership and Bridgestone has continued to invest in new technology, research and development and measures to ensure we remain viable despite costs increasing for local manufacturers,” Nielsen says.
Bandag retreads are a core component of Bridgestone’s commercial product mix, complementing the range of Bridgestone and Firestone drive, steer and trailer tyres with equivalent retreaded products, including low rolling resistance compound options.
Bridgestone Australia commercial general manager Claudio Sodano says there are a number of economic and environmental factors that make Bandag retreads appealing to operators.
“Bandag retreads offer a substantial saving over the price of new tyres, and as part of Bridgestone’s total tyre management model, can make a significant difference to the running costs of a truck or fleet.
“A well-looked after case can be retreaded multiple times, reducing the number of tyres entering the waste stream, which not only saves operators money, but is much kinder to the environment,” Sodano says.
Production of a Bandag retread uses significantly less water and energy to produce compared to the equivalent new tyre, as well as 68% less oil – equating to 570 million litres since 2000.
Bridgestone and Bandag have also made a multi-million dollar investment into sustainability measures at the Wacol production site, with capacity to store more than one million litres of rain water on site and the installation of solar panels.
As well as reusing tyre cases, the Bandag retreading process sees shavings of old tread recycled, with the shaving collected and supplied to locally based A1 Rubber for upcycling into products such as the rubber flooring Bridgestone uses in its retail stores.
The Bridgestone owned Bandag operation retreads more than 400,000 truck, bus and trailer tyres each year through its company owned factories across Australia and New Zealand.
Bandag also has a further 30 franchised and licensed stores.
