Colmec’s journey begins with Bernt Eckerström
Bernt Eckerström begins his journey in the tire industry with a job at Goodyear, then Michelin, and finally as the founder of the Colmec Group.
From family business to market leader with more than 50 years of experience in the tire industry.
Colmec began its journey with only one retreading factory in Sweden and over the past 50 years has managed to expand to the entire Nordic region and become a leading player in the tire industry.
1958
Bernt Eckerström begins his work in the tire industry with a job at Goodyear’s testing department in Norrköping.
1966
Bernt and a colleague buy a tire workshop complete with equipment for conventional truck tire retreading.
1968
They open a retreading factory for cold retreading of truck tires under the name Colmec.
1972
The tire workshops are sold and all focus is on developing the retreading factory.
1978
Bernt Eckerström becomes the sole owner of Colmec and the following year Bernt’s son Peter Eckerström begins his employment at Colmec.
1983
Colmec acquires the retreading factory Reba AB in Stockholm and the facility is moved to a new location in Norsborg.
Retreading, a key aspect of Colmec’s business, is launched in the 90’s
Colmec launches its own Boss retreading concept in 1990. Since then, our retreading process, unique in northern Europe, has developed to such a high level that it can be equated with a new tire.
1992
Colmec is established in Poland under the company Colmec Sp. z o. o. with a retreading factory and distribution of new bus and truck tires.
1993
Colmec relocates to newly purchased facilities in the Händelö industrial area in Norrköping.
1995
Colmec is certified according to the quality standard ISO 9002 (today ISO 9001:2000).
1999
The entirety of Colmec Group is quality and environmental systems certified.
2000
The quality standards in the international regulation ECE R 109 are applied in the retreading factories.
2001
Peter Eckerström becomes CEO and sole owner of Colmec Group.
Centralized operations in Sweden, new markets in northern Europe
While Colmec continues to develop its operation in Norrköping and deliver products and services nationwide in Sweden, new markets are established in Norway and Finland at the same time as expansions are carried out in Poland.
2004
All retreading operations and warehouse management in Sweden are gathered in one place.
2006
Colmec supplies its products and services to all of Sweden, from Sundsvall in the north to Ystad in the south, with its own distribution, salespeople and on-call warehouse.
2008
New markets are established in Norway and Finland.
2010
Colmec opens a new tire workshop branch at Kungens Kurva in Stockholm.
2011
Colmec celebrates its 40th anniversary in Sweden, 20th anniversary in Poland, and Peter Eckerström celebrates 30 years in the company. Development continues.
2014
Launch of the in-house brand of retreaded tires, Colmec EcoTire.
2016
Colmec Norway opens under own management and hires a country manager in-charge of the Norwegian market.
2018
Quality and environmental systems certification is updated to ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015.
As of 2020, Colmec products are available online
Colmec expands to online sales via its webshop and partner portal. All products are available around the clock, right on your screen of choice.
2020
Colmec acquires the tire workshop Bandaris Oy in Finland and relocates the office of Colmec Oy to these premises.
2021
Streamlining the entire logistics chain through the establishment of its own warehouse and office in Hamar for Colmec AS.
2022
Colmec opens a production facility for in-house rim refurbishing in Norrköping.
We look forward to the next steps in our journey, feel free to follow along!
Want to know more about Colmec or our offer?
Our team are more than happy to provide you with more information about our tires and tire service solutions. Contact us to learn more!
