Starting in the second half of 2016, hot cure products with the Vipal brand will start being produced in Aspe near Alicante, Spain thanks to a joint venture that the Brazilian company has concluded with Spanish compounder Mezcla Caucho, part of the Grupo Soledad group of companies. After a long period establishing familiarity and a business partnership between the two companies, the result is the first production line for the Vipal brand outside Brazil. With this step and before the end of the year, Vipal intends sales of its non-vulcanised rubber strips to increase significantly in Europe. With this action, local production will ensure more efficient service for a product line that is highly sensitive due to its short shelf life.
“We have a very close relationship with Grupo Soledad, and this opportunity reinforces the existing synergy, with the goal of offering the market high-quality products with the responsiveness required to meet our clients’ needs” commented Leandro Rigon, Vipal’s Director of International Business. The agreement was officially signed in May during the latest edition of Reifen in Essen, Germany.
Vipal Europe, located in Valencia, will be responsible for selling the local production. The brand will continue as normal to supply its Brazilian produced products, which are stored in Vipal’s Distribution Centres in Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom and Slovenia.
“During the next few days we will begin marketing the products manufactured in Spain. We’ll introduce the products to our clients who already use Brazilian exports so that they too can attest that our quality remains the same,” noted Alessandro Campos, Manager of Vipal Europe.
Mezcla Caucho has operated in the rubber composites manufacturing market for the tyre retreading industry since 1995. Today, it has a diversified production and operates in a number of segments including industry, mining, engineering and footwear. The company will continue to produce and marketing its own brand’s product line in addition to manufacturing product for Vipal.