News from Notch Consulting, Inc.

Continental Tire the Americas is expanding its plant in Sumter, South Carolina to accommodate production of the company’s ContiSeal puncture-sealing and ContiSilent noise-absorbing passenger tire lines.

The project will add about 29,0000 square feet to the approximately 2 million square feet of manufacturing space. Conti did not disclose its investment in the expansion but said the project should create up to 50 jobs dedicated to the new production lines.

Producing these tires in the U.S. will increase the supply of tires on hand and reduce the turnaround time from order to delivery to customers throughout the region. Conti produces the ContiSeal and ContiSilent tire lines at plants in Otrokovice, Czech Republic, and Lousada, Portugal.

“We have listened to the needs of our customers and are excited to offer products and solutions designed to ensure a quieter and more comfortable ride, which undoubtedly will become increasingly important as we see more electrification and autonomous vehicles in the market,” said Ahmed Boualam, Sumter plant manager.

Continental plans to begin installing equipment in September, and is targeting the start of production for May 2020. The new lines will be rated at 1 million tires a year full production in 2021, Conti said.

Referenced article found here.

Bridgestone de Mexico S.A. de C.V. is planning to invest $100 million over the next two years to upgrade manufacturing capabilities at its car and light truck tire plant in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

The investment will support innovative processes and new technologies, while also building the plant’s capacity to produce high value-added tires such as run-flat tires and reduced rolling-resistance Ecopia models.

The 38-year-old plant in Mexico’s Morelos state has an installed capacity of approximately 25,000 tires per day, serving original equipment customers and the Mexican aftermarket as well as exports, Bridgestone said.

The Cuernavaca plant is one of two Bridgestone plants in Mexico. The other plant is in Monterrey. It opened in 2007 and produces car and light truck tires, largely for export.

Referenced article found here.

Goodyear plans to expand its plant in Kranj, Slovenia to increase capacity by approximately 25 percent by 2022.

“The demand for premium, larger-rim-diameter consumer tires is growing across EMEA. To ensure the sustainable growth of our business, Goodyear plans to invest €94 million ($107 million) in its plant in Kranj, Slovenia to increase its capacity in this profitable segment,” announced Henry Dumortier, Goodyear’s Vice President Consumer Europe.

The expansion will add more than 58,000 square feet to the factory that Goodyear has owned since 1998. It will boost capacity by 1.8 million units a year and create up to 160 jobs, Goodyear said. Production will focus on replacement tires with 17- to 19-inch rim diameters. Current annual capacity is listed as about 8 million units with 1600 employees.

The first phase of construction will begin in January 2019, with additional phases planned for 2020 and 2021 to reach full capacity.

Referenced article found here.

Bridgestone is investing $12 million to expand off-the-road production at its plant in Bloomington, Ill. The plant will produce multiple sizes and patterns in 29, 33 and 35-inch OTR tires, which until now have only been produced by Bridgestone in Japan.

This investment also includes increasing the workforce at the Bloomington plant by 30 employees. The last major investment in the plant was $48 million for a radial and giant loader expansion in 2011 and 2014.

“This investment is about increasing our flexibility to produce high-quality radial or bias tires — whatever our customers demand,” said Monty Greutman, plant manager at Bloomington. “It will allow us to deliver on our global commitment to develop innovative new products that will meet our customers’ needs, but it wouldn’t be possible without the outstanding teammates we have here today— some of whom have worked here for decades.”

Read the full press release here.

South Korea’s Hankook Tire Co. Ltd. plans to add truck tire capacity at its 11-year-old passenger tire factory in Rácalmás, Hungary. Construction is expected to begin in June 2018, and tire production will start around June 2020.

Hankook is budgeting $358 million for the expansion, which will add 550,000 units of annual capacity for medium and heavy truck and bus tires. It also will create about 150 jobs.

Hankook said this expansion reflects its growing business in Europe in the commercial tire sector, including original equipment relationships with several of the continent’s leading commercial-vehicle makers.

This is the fourth expansion for the factory in Rácalmás, Hungary, since its initial construction in 2006. Hankook says the latest expansion provides production capacity of more than 55,000 tires a day, which adds up to annual capacity of 19 million tires.

Read the full press release here.

The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., will expand production capacity for OTR tires by adding new facilities at ATC Tires Pvt. Ltd., the Indian tire manufacturing and sales subsidiary of the Alliance Tire Group (ATG), which Yokohama Rubber acquired in July 2016. Construction of the new facilities will begin in February at ATC Tire’s Dahej Plant in the state of Gujarat.

Total planned investment is $45.5 million. The investment will boost annual production capacity from the current 57,000 tons to 91,700 tons by the end of 2019.

Read the full press release here.

Magna Tyres Group has announced the start of the production of Magna Tyres at the OBO Tyre factory in Hardenberg, The Netherlands.

“Our efficiency, lower transport costs and lower import duties make it very cost-effective to produce locally and to invest in more production capacity. From now on Magna MA02, M-Terrain and AG24 are available as a made in Holland product and we are very proud on this achievement,” said Michael de Ruijter, CEO Magna Tyres Group.

Read the full press release here.

Michelin has inaugurated a new production line at its Chennai plant that will help double the current capacity of the facility by 2018. The company projects to raise capacity to over 30,000 tons per year and increase employment at the facility to about 1,000 people, up from 850.

During the inauguration ceremony of the new production line, Mr. Jean-Dominique Senard, Chief Executive Officer of Michelin Group said: “India is a priority market for us and growing demand for our products in the country reaffirms our commitment to keep innovating for our customers here. In a very short time, our Chennai plant has evolved to become one of our most advanced manufacturing facilities globally. The purpose of this plant was to cater to the needs to the Indian market and I am happy to see that we are on target in this journey. The MICHELIN X® Guard™ was conceived to address the Indian market’s need for a tire that is fuel efficient, safe and lasts longer and to this end we adapted the very best of Michelin technologies to produce a premium tire at an affordable price.”

The sourced article can be found here.