Half of the goods transported in the EU travel on tyres. This equates to a value of over 200 billion Euros per year for exports from Italy alone. Yet, road haulage is a world which many people still have an inaccurate perception of, as an industry above all guilty of generating traffic and pollution. However, it is actually a very high-tech sector, which alongside logistics provides work for 10 million people across Europe, generating turnover of more than 1.5 trillion Euros.

People don't think about it, they see these huge trucks which are at the opposite end to a microchip and have no idea that the level of technology and innovation in industrial transport today is remarkable.

“That’s exactly it,” agrees Roberto Righi, General Manager of Prometeon Tyre Group, a company with turnover of over a billion Euros in 2021, the only manufacturer in the world focused exclusively on industrial tyres – on-road, agro and construction – whose brands also include Pirelli. “To develop the new generation of tyres we have just launched, the Serie 02, a team of 100 professionals led by Alexandre Bregantim worked for four years, carrying out 180 million kilometres of testing. The Serie 02 represents the cutting edge of our production in terms of innovation and sustainability.”

 

Sustainability is the watchword. But what does it mean, exactly?

“It's a nice word, but an empty one if it does not really become one of the company's priorities and if commercial policies in support of it are not applied. Companies need to make a profit in order to keep growing and give people work, but only a strong awareness of sustainability issues will allow these results to be sustained over the medium and long term. Strategy alone is not enough. It's the details which make the difference. Over the last two years, for example, our factories have reduced their total energy consumption by around ten per cent, which might not seem like a lot, but is actually enormous. Our new Serie 02, from the long-haul product range, weighs less than the previous model. It may just be a difference of a few kilograms, but over industrial production numbers this represents an enormous change and translates into savings in raw materials, the energy used for production and transport, and reduced rolling resistance, which means lower fuel consumption and therefore reduced environmental impact. Just a few kilos, but it's fundamental.”

 

Car drivers maybe still don't take much notice, but for the owner of an HGV or a fleet, rolling resistance is fundamental, because these vehicles travel huge numbers of miles. Let's talk numbers: how much do you save by installing green tyres?

“Comparing our new series to the previous range, there is a reduction in rolling resistance of over 20 per cent. This means that a fleet of 150 articulated lorries, each covering an average of 130,000 km per year, saves around 700 tonnes of CO2. We would otherwise need to plant almost a thousand trees to offset this quantity of CO2 which is being saved. The cost of fuel has a huge influence in transportation: for example, it is five or six times the cost of the tyres.”

 

Mobility is increasingly electrified, including in public transport. By 2025, nearly half of the city buses worldwide will be electric, for a total of 1.2 million electric buses on the roads. What does this electrification mean for the supply chain behind the assembly line?

“It requires greater effort in terms of design, because on the one hand the electric motors provide greater torque, and on the other the batteries have increased the kerb weight of the vehicles, and so tyre manufacturers have had to produce stronger products to allow batteries of high capacity (and therefore range) to be used without making compromises on the number of passengers. Ours, which I can proudly say are among the best on the market, have a load capacity of up to eight tonnes per axle, and have been designed to withstand urban use, which consists of lots of stop-and-go driving. There are so many variables to take into account when designing industrial tyres. Even a tyre for trailers, which might seem very simple, is actually extremely complex due to the loads involved, and the wear caused by travelling fully loaded and then empty. Actually, it's one of the most complex to design.”

 

Retreading and regrooving are not very popular among car drivers, but how important are these processes in the haulage sector?

“The circular economy is very important. The longer we can extend the life of a tyre for, the better it is for the environment, because it will be longer before it needs replacing, and globally we will need to dispose of fewer tyres. It has been calculated that in Italy alone in 2020, the use of retreads and regrooves saved 18,000 tonnes of used tyres from being disposed of. In recent years, tyre regeneration had become less important, but it has come back into the spotlight and will be increasingly important in the future.”

 

You manufacture your products on three different continents and sell them in 160 countries; your shareholders are Chinese, and your headquarters are in Italy. How do you define yourselves as a company? Italian? Chinese? Global? And does it still make sense to label products ‘Made in Italy’? Shouldn't we start saying ‘Made in Europe’? Like Deep Purple already did with their live album back in 1976.

“Prometeon wouldn't be what it is without its Chinese owners, Italian headquarters, and factories in Turkey, Egypt and Brazil. There are nearly 8,000 employees, of 40 different nationalities, at the company. Today it no longer makes sense to talk about ‘made in’. Mutual influences and sharing of ideas are essential values for a company, just like teamwork.”

 

You have been at Prometeon for less than a year, and it's your first experience in the industrial tyres sector. What are your thoughts on the world of haulage? That, going back to what you were saying at the beginning, is today very different from its collective image in the past.

“It's a world where technology counts for an awful lot, the entrepreneurial level is high and technical expertise is a fundamental component, starting out with the manufacturers all the way through to the fleets, the dealers and the people behind the wheel. At the same time, it's a world which people are proud and passionate to be a part of. Like I have found at Prometeon.”

 

What does the future hold for a tyre manufacturer?

“Our products will become increasingly innovative and smart, able to communicate with the vehicle and the road. At the same time, the production plants will become increasingly efficient as well as flexible, in order to be able to satisfy customers requiring increasingly tailor-made products.”

 

Speaking of innovations, all Serie 02 tyres are equipped with an RFID sensor, a radio-frequency identification chip.

 “This technology ensures precise identification of the tyre and therefore easy traceability, both before installation and during its operational life. In the future, integrated with other sensors, the RFID tag will also help allow communication with the vehicle.”

 

You have just become Official Sponsor of the Superbike world championship. What, in your opinion, is the characteristic which makes a rider, a manager, or a company a winner?

“Balance, because talent and expertise are necessary, but are not everything. Victory is made up of performance, commitment and aptitude.”

 

Who will win the Superbike championship this year?

“Put simply, the best rider. But sometimes that isn't the one who's fastest, but rather the most consistent.”