Forty Years of Tyre Retreading
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THE opening of the new tyre-retread ing factory of the Homerton Rubber Works, Ltd., at Treforest, near Cardiff, last week was, for two reasons, a notable occasion.
For the Wales and Monmouthshire Industrial Development Association it marked the beginning of a post-war development programme which is planned for that part of the country. For Mr. Bertram Emanuel, managing director of the Homerton concern, it was the realization of a dream which started in the first few years of the present century. It was then that he started his one-man business of repairing tyres and tubes in a small workshop in the Paddington district of London.
To-day, in its new home at Treforest. the new factory has already found employment for over 100 men, and there will be more to follow when the planned extensions are completed and all the new machinery is installed and working.
The opening ceremony was performed by Mr. H. A. Marquand, M.P. Secretary for Overseas Trade, who said he was particularly interested in this event, as he himself had been actively engaged since 1930 in planning the much-needed industrial development of South Wales.
After explaining the important part that the Homerton company's efforts would play in the Government's export drive. Mr. Marnuand put forward the novel suggestion that the tyre-retreading concerns, in effecting an economy in the use of cotton fabrics, were indirectly contributing towards increased supplies of shirts, sheets and other cotton materials.
The new building has an actual factory space of over 30,000 sq. ft., and is geared for an output of approximately 3V000 retreads per week. A three-shift 24-hour day is worked for seven days a week, and the output covers an extensive range from the smallest motorcycle tyre to the 10.50-in. by 20-in, commercial tyre. Because of the acute shortage of casings at the present time, the concern
is unable to build up. a reserve in car sizes, but there is a small reserve of commercial retreads. A 24-hour service in commercial tyres is offered:
The closing of the company's works at Wembley does not mean that the Homerton concern is severing its long association with the London area. A depot has been opened at 204-206, West End Lane, Hampstead. and from this address all arrangements will be made for the distribution of the company's products in London and South-east England. This branch will also handle the expanding export business, and will be under the management of Mr. Donald G. Cameron.