TreadWright, a small but growing manufacturing company that converts recycled tyres into new tyres for light trucks, SUVs and off-road vehicles, has moved its headquarters from South Dakota to Houston.
The company recently began local recycling and manufacturing production at a 50,000-square-foot facility on Navigation Boulevard in east Houston, and it already has a team of about 20 people. By the end of the year, TreadWright expects to have 30 employees as well open a retail store at its facility.
Peter Sloan, TreadWright’s president, explained that the company uprooted itself from a small town in South Dakota and moved to Houston to have easier access to customers and tap into a larger labor market.
TreadWright, which was founded in 1981, stayed in South Dakota until now because it was a family business. Sloan is actually part of the private equity firm, Denver’s Pine Street Growth Partners, which scooped up TreadWright in 2011. With a new infusion of capital, the company decided that Houston was the best place to grow the company.
TreadWright has a fairly unique business model, Sloan said. After “remolding” the casing of used tyres — the finished tyre products are made up of 70 percent recycled content — the tyres are given a tread that makes them ideal for light trucks that are being used for off-roading, on ranches or on other rough terrains. Because the company uses recycled tyres, it can oftentimes price its tyres hundreds of dollars cheaper than new truck tyres.
“With TreadWright, I don’t have to drop $2,000 on a pair of tyres for my truck,” Sloan said. “In South Dakota, we sometimes had people driving from Nebraska save a few hundred dollars on tyres. And they are safe and will last just as long (as regular tyres).”
Since TreadWright doesn’t sell its tyres in retail outlets, customers have to pay for shipping tyres or have to pick them up at the manufacturing facility.
In South Dakota, TreadWright didn’t have access to many customers, but Sloan said this will change in Houston. With access to a major metropolitan area such as Houston, TreadWright expects more customers to pick up their tyres from the manufacturing facility. That’s why the company also wants to open a retail storefront at the facility in the near future.
Although TreadWright’s business is still small — it sells under $10 million in products a year — Sloan forecasts significant growth for his company. This is because TreadWright does not have many direct recycled tyre manufacturing competitors, the company has a “green” angle and its products are affordable, he said.