SASKATOON, SK — Continental Tire has opened what it said is the first commercial tire retread facility in western Canada.

The move is in conjunction with its partnership with the tire dealer Quality Tire Service, one of the largest independent tire dealers in Saskatchewan.

The new location will operate as a ContiLifeCycle facility, which is the umbrella for Continental Tire’s retreading operations, according to Continental. ContiLifeCycle is a cradle-to-grave solution that begins with a new Continental tire and continues with the ContiTread premium retreading solution, to prolong the life of the tire as well as significantly lower the cost of the tire.

The 17,400 square-foot-facility employs 15 people and has the capacity to produce up to 24,000 retreads per year. The plant is outfitted with new equipment and includes the latest technologies for manufacturing retreads exclusively for the province of Manitoba and Saskatchewan and will service more than 200 customers.

“Growing our ContiLifeCycle distribution across Canada is our most important objective,” said Paul Williams, Continental’s executive vice president for commercial vehicle tires in the Americas. “Partnering with service focused distributors like Quality Tire Service LTD in an effort to reduce overall driving costs to our fleet customers will be what drives mutual success of both dealers and fleets.”

The company said the Saskatoon facility is the first of many ContiLifeCycle plants planned for the region and is a key component of Continental Tire’s aggressive growth strategy for ContiLifeCycle in Canada.