Vipal Rubber opens tread rubber plant in Argentina

Perez, Argentina — Retread materials manufacturer Vipal Rubber Corp. has commissioned production of tread rubber at a new plant in Perez, the company's first plant outside of Brazil.

The 80,000-plus-sq.-ft. plant will produce precured tread for tire retreads that will supply Argentina, Latin America and other markets abroad. Vipal said the investment in the facility was $20 million (€16.8 million).

The plant has a capacity of 1,000 tonnes of rubber mixture per month, with 600 tonnes per month designated for production of precured treads.

The complex in Perez spans over 160,000 square feet, including a distribution centre that can hold up to 1,000 tonnes of product. The facility has 41 employees and is expected to employ 120 eventually.

Leandro Rigon, Vipal's international business director, said the company's main objective with this investment is to meet market need, both in Argentina and in other Latin American countries.

The site, he said, improves "our capacity to serve the local market, with more efficient logistics, in addition to using the new platform for exports to neighbouring markets with greater synergy.

Vipal Rubber, which was founded more than 45 years ago in Nova Prata, Brazil, said its combined capacity at its four plant is more than 19,000 tonnes per month, producing product for all areas of the world.

"The company employs all the expertise and technology developed through its more than 45 years of history acting in the most diverse and demanding markets in the world," Adalberto Fernández, manager of Vipal Argentina, said.

The operation in Perez operation will mobilise the tire retreading market in Argentina, according to Vipal.

The company already has exported precured tread manufactured at the Argentina plant to Mexico.

"(Retreading) is a common practice in the transportation segment. Historically, since the beginning of retreading as a global activity, it has been present in the country,” said Rigon.