One year for Marangoni's Unitread in the U.S.

Sept. 24, 2012

One year ago, Marangoni Tread North America Inc. invested $7.5 million to construct a plant in Madison, Tenn., to produce Unitread precure treads. A celebration of that one-year anniversary was recently hosted by CEO and President Bill Sweatman and Manufacturing Manager Chanthavy Vongsamphanh.

In Sweatman’s address to plant employees, he explained the purpose and significance of this accomplishment.

“Since the overall truck tire retread market in North America is expected to continue to grow, in order for us to maintain and grow our market share we had to add capacity. With this added production we can provide material for well over a million retreads annually.

"There is a great advantage to producing here in the U.S. rather than importing. Flexibility and responsiveness are big competitive advantages for us as well as our customers.

“We now have 60 retreaders in North America using Unitread and have produced over 150,000 units," he said. "Both the growth in volume and the addition of so many new customers has been very gratifying.”

The ceremony was also attended by Cathy McKellar, vice president of the Old Hickory Chamber of Commerce. She took advantage of the occasion to commend Marangoni for its positive environmental impact to the community.

In 2002, Marangoni Tread North America moved from California to a 150,000-square-foot headquarters, manufacturing and warehouse facility in Madison. According to the 2012 Modern Tire Dealer Facts Issue, the company holds 4% of the retreaded truck tire market in the United States.

Marangoni is the only tread manufacturer in U.S. and Canada not owned by a new tire manufacturer. For more information, visit www.marangoni-na.com.