Sinoarp sets up shop in Akron with service center

AKRON—Sinoarp America L.L.C. has opened a service center in Akron to help its Chinese parent company expand its business in North America.

The U.S. unit of Sinoarp Tires Equipment Technology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd. opened the 1,500-sq.-ft. unit this past fall to better service customers of the supplier of curing presses for tire manufacturing, said Bill Rose, regional director of engineering for Sinoarp America.

Rose has been involved in the tire and rubber industry since the late 1970s, working for a number of tire equipment suppliers, with most of that time focused on tire curing presses. He then worked at Goodyear for 11 years, either working with the curing team or with the quality division.

During his tenure at Goodyear, he worked with Sinoarp on several curing projects. A few months after he retired from Goodyear, the Chinese firm told him they were interested in further expanding into the U.S. to support the curing presses they've sold in the states.

Rose said the idea was to open up a spare parts service center that would help facilitate closer communications with customers. The U.S. team would gauge what tire manufacturers' needs were and whether they were having any issues or had design thoughts on the curing presses. "Our objective was to be a liaison," he said.

After working out of his home for close to a year, Sinoarp decided on a facility and now is stocking parts and working with multiple manufacturers to try to expand the business, according to Rose.

He said David Chen started Sinoarp in 1999 with the objective of making a quality curing press product that would be accepted not only in China but also with international customers. They were open to third-party inspections and focused on certifications such as ISO and TUV.

Meyer Yao, vice general manager of the parent company, said in the past year the curing press maker looked to increase its overseas footprint, and the first area it aimed at was North America. "We have a lot of customers in this region, so we believe with this service center we can bring Sinoarp to a higher level of service," he said. "We also believe we can add more value to our customers."

Rose said the objective is to work closely with the customers in the region, learning what they need from a service standpoint and helping them keep their presses up and running. The new center has offices, a warehouse, and various parts and sealed kits so customers can quickly rebuild anything that's down, he said. It will look to rapidly increase inventory to have in stock what is most needed.

"Customers want to see their presses running in the upper 90 percent of the time," Rose said. "If they fall behind in that, they start missing their ticket requirements."

Sinoarp has three employees in the U.S. and two in Mexico, mostly in the field servicing customers, he said.