In the past 10 years, Michelin Retread Technologies (MRT) has grown to include 45 franchisees, with 77 retread locations across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
During that decade, MRT has opened
a tread-pressing plant in Covington, Ga., has doubled the capacity of that plant, and this year, created a second tread-pressing plant in Querétaro, Mexico.
"The pace at which Michelin Retread Technologies has grown since its inception is a tremendous tribute to the quality and workmanship of our franchisees, as well as the value created by the innovative MRT process and products," said Jean-Michel Guillon, chief operating officer, Michelin Americas Truck Tires. "Being able to apply some of our new tire technologies to the retread products certainly has brought significant value to the fleet customers."
In its first 10 years, more than 17 million tires have been retreaded, using the MRT process and more than 200,000 tons of rubber. With 44 retread patterns available for fuel-efficient, highway and on-/off-road tires, MRT offers more than 200 different retread SKUs to the truck market.
Michelin Retread Technology continues to produce new products, such as the XDA Hypersipe retread introduced last year. The retread uses Michelin tread design and Hypersipe Technology from Michelin Durable Technologies to mold tread features on both the top and bottom of a Pre-Mold tread band. MRT also offers a range of retreading options for Michelin X One new generation single-wide tires.
Retreading truck tires benefits not only the end-user's bottom line, but also the environment. By using retreaded truck tires, the industry is capable of getting more miles out of a tire casing before it is disposed. Also, by using technology that extends the life of the retread, such as the Hypersipe Technology, Michelin is able to extend the life of the casing even further. With fuel-efficient tread patterns and retreads available for X One tires, end-users can also realize significant fuel savings due to reduced rolling resistance.
MRT treads are built with Michelin proprietary tread rubber compounds and patterns, which allow MRT retreads to mirror new Michelin tire aspects and performance.