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The Real Answer to Tire Shortages

The factory fire coming at a time of increased world demand for mineral resources has caused an alarming shortage of tires and a sharp hike in the price of these essentials.

From all corners of the world come woeful tales of expensive tires, big machines standing idle, lost production and reduced revenues – all for want of a tire. Naturally, a great deal has been written about measures being taken to beat the problem.

Some operators are hoarding tires, some are fitting the next best size, while others are running treads down to – 5%. Some operators are forced to mothball expensive machines and endure lost output.

Tire maintenance firms are offering all manner of fixes – from foam-fillers to repairs at $2000 a cut.

But, there is no need to tie up capital, waste money on short-term fixes or compromise on safety by risking blow outs, when a one-off investment in a set of tire protection chains will assure your production commitments and your peace of mind for years to come.

Tire Protection Chains (TPCs) were first developed in the fifties, to meet the needs of the wheeled loader, by the RUD-ERLAU GROUP a specialist chain maker based in South East Germany.

Over the ensuing years, a philosophy of on-going product development has honed this derivative of their anti-skid snow chain until it is safe to say that RUD-ERLAU's TPC's are truly state-of-the-art, fit-for-purpose cost-effective aids to mineral production.

RUD-ERLAU's TPCs are found in leading mines and quarries across the globe - producing limestone in Europe, copper in Chile, Iron ore in Australia and diamonds in Africa

Where traction and manouverabilty is a problem RUD-ERLAU's open-mesh TPCs grip the road surface ensuring sure-footed operation and eliminate danger to personnel and property and reduce driver fatigue. These TPCs have proved their worth on wheel loaders, dozers, motorgraders and dump truck in locations ranging from logging to clayey underground coal mines drifts and winter condition at also at high altitudes.

In relatively dry conditions RUD-ERLAU's TPCs offer varying degrees of protection to match the environment.

Stockpiling operations may require the light touch of RUD-ERLAU' open-mesh ring system. While close-meshed, case-hardened TPCs with full side wall protection enable loaders of all sizes to go fearlessly into the most extreme mining conditions. In fact, the protection is so effective that

loaders fitted with Erlau TPCs run safely even on hot and cold steel slag.

While, until recently, RUD-ERLAU's TPCs were considered mainly applicable for conditions where poor traction, high abrasion or tire piercing rocks were serious problems, more and more operators are discovering that fitting RUD-ERLAU's TPCs makes financial sense in a much wider range of off-road quarry and mining applications. .

The thinking is, why complicate your life, evaluating and experimenting with doubtful short-term fixes when, instead of hunting for suppliers and laying out good dollars on new tires at inflated prices or, worse, on short-term repairs, a one-off investment in a set of RUD-ERLAU's TPCs will extend the life of your part worn tires indefinitely.

And the cost advantages don't stop there. Apart from scheduling a couple of hours, every now and then, for inspections and chain tensioning, your loaders and trucks will be fully available and delivering on schedule - giving you happy customers and a competitive edge.

While figures will vary from situation to situation it is interesting to note that a CAT 988B loader running on 36/65-33 DT's in a German limestone quarry was getting through a set of tires every 1200 hours at a cost to the operator of USD 37,615 per set or USD 31.35 every hour.

For an investment of USD 56,200 the company fitted a set of RUD-ERLAU FELS Royal

X16 TPCs which extended the tire life to 12000 hours - USD 3.13 per operating hour. Factoring in a conservative chain life of 10,000 hours (USD 5.62 per hour) the total hourly cost dropped to USD 8.75 – as saving of USD 22.60 (72%).

Productivity also showed significant improvements. Load-out went up by 16% from 550 tph to 630 tph. Downtime dropped from 160 hrs per year for tire repairs to 36 hours per year for chain servicing increasing loader availability by 124 hours (78%).

Before fitting the chains the CAT's annual output had been 1,012,000 tonnes. Following the TPCs, 1,253,032 was achieved – an increase of just under 24%.

With no two operations the same it is important to ensure you fit the right TPCs for optimum efficiency so your first step is to contact RUD-ERLAU.

RUD-ERLAU has TPCs in over 75 different countries supported by an international sales team and a wide service network. Furthermore, following a recent increase in production capacity, Erlau is well-positioned to meet your needs along with the growing world-wide demand for their TPCs.

Contact Erlau for more information.