Before 1990, Romanian drivers were not that crazy about recapped tyres, as they would be rather poor quality and tend to wear out quickly. The only good thing about them was the price, smaller than the one of the new tyres.
When the boundaries opened up, a new fashion emerged: second-hand brand-name tyres would be imported from all over Europe for the cars in Romania. Nowadays, the new recapping technologies make it possible to obtain quality tyres.
In the fall of 1999, FPM-Rom, a company set up by Nicolae Filimon and by two Italian partners, started making tyres in Santandrei, near Deva. The company dealt in car tyres, as the Italian party had an over thirty-year old tradition through Effepiemme Company.
The Italian investors chose Nicolae Filimon due to the economic performance of his company, registered with the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Hunedoara County. The Romanian businessman gave up producing metallic constructions, choosing to support the new joint venture.
Until 2001, the Santandrei-based company used to make more than 25,000 tyres of two types, that is about 3,000 tyres a month. Since early this year, it started manufacturing another nine types of tyres as well, due to the large mould range used for special presses.
Adrian ?arlea, the company's economist, says that last year's turnover ranged between 800 million lei and one billion lei per month. A 165/70/13 type of tyre made in Santandrei costs nearly 395,000 lei VAT not included and has a two-year warranty, while the cheapest new domestically made tyre costs 630,000 lei.
The Santandrei-based company now has a control device, a scraper for used tyres, an adhesive spraying machine, three special curing presses.
The curing is done at 157 degrees Celsius and at a 12-atmosphere pressure. The curing per tyre takes twenty-five minutes and the presses can be fit up with a wide range of moulds to shape the tyre.
Apart from purchasing the technology from Milan-based Italmac Company, FPM-Rom has also invested money in the vehicles dispatching tyres throughout the country.
Economist Adrian ?arlea says that investments will not stop here. "We are planning to open a service centre where tyres will be assembled and where we will also calibrate the angles and geometry of the wheels," he added.
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