The 2015 North American Tire & Retread Expo was held April 15-17, 2015, at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. The Expo featured 112 tire, tire retread and tire equipment and repair companies and 1,041 registered visitors in attendance.
Exhibitors included industry leaders as Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Pre-Q Galgo Corp., Nokian Tyres plc., Marangoni Tread North America Inc., Triangle Tire USA LLC, Vipal Rubber Corp., H.B. Plus Bandamatic, Rema Tip Top North America Inc., Sailun Tire Co. Ltd., Husky Tire Corp., Ironhead Retread Technologies, Elgi Rubber Co. Ltd., B & J Rocket America Inc., plus many more.
Exhibitors and attendees shared high praise for the show. Techno Pneu Inc. of Quebec, Canada said, “The show was marvelous! We will definitely be coming back next year.” The company won third place in the expo's Miss Retread truck tire contest.
“To state that I was pleased with the Expo would be a gross understatement," said Harvey Brodsky, managing director of the Retread Tire Association. "I have not had such a good time at a tire and retread conference since the old ARA shows at Louisville.”
David Wilson of Retreading Business Ltd. said, “I thought the show was terrific. It’s great to see a viable trade show for the retreading industry in North America once again.”
Don Rizzi, national sales development manager for Marangoni Tread North America Inc. said, “We had a great show and managed to make very high quality connections. We plan to participate and grow with the show next year.”
Exhibitor Kyle Fernandez, vice president of sales for Black Magic Staples, made by Utility Composites Inc., called the show "fantastic in all aspects!"
The EXPO hosted several events, including an inaugural party for visitors and exhibitors at the House of Blues the first night, plus training sessions from Shamrock Marketing Inc., Central Marketing Inc., B & J Rocket America, Inc., Matteuzzi s.r.l., and Tech International LLC.
Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner race car driver Helio Castroneves made a guest appearance at the Firestone Racing tires booth and signed autographs and took photos with guests.
Conferences on the second day featured six speakers from the tire industry. Sun Shumin, executive president of Triangle Tyre Co. Ltd., the expo's sponsor, awarded Joe Casebere of Rema Tip Top North America, Inc. a raffle prize - an Apple Mini iPad.
One of the highlights of the expo was the Miss Retread truck tire contest. Industrias Del Neumaticos S.A.U. of Alicante, Spain, won the top prize and was awarded $5,000 along with a trophy. Twenty-two retread tires were entered in the contest.
The winning retread was a Hankook casing size 345/65R22.5 and Alphatread, LLC. RTH-22 tread. Salvador Perez Lucena, international sales manager, and Pedro Antonio Perez Sanchez, sales department were present to accept the award.
Second place went to Allied Oil & Tire, Co. (of Michelin Retread Technologies) of Omaha, Neb., with a Michelin North America Inc. casing size 445/50R 22.5 Custom Mold XTA. The prize was $2,500.
The third place winner was Centre Techno Pneu, Inc. (associated with Borrachas Vipal S/A.), of Rimouski, Quebec, exhibitors at the expo, with a Continental Tire the Americas, LLC. casing size 11 R 22.5, and a Vipal Rubber Corporation, VT 180 tread. The prize was $1,000.
Judges were David Stevens, managing director of the Tire Retread & Information Bureau; Federico Schmidt, commercial manager of Vipal Rubber Corp.; and Ron Mohler, commercial development manager for Elgi Rubber Co. L.L.C.
For more information about the show, and to register for the mailing list for the 2016 event, please visit www.usatireexpo.com.
To review Modern Tire Dealer's coverage of the event, read:
In pictures: North American Tire & Retread Expo