Cimcorp to install end-to-end automated solution in Giti Tire’s first U.S. facility
Ulvila, Finland — Cimcorp will supply its Dream Factory solution for end-to-end automated materials handling to Giti Tire, a global tire company, for its brand-new manufacturing facility being built in South Carolina, USA. Cimcorp will be responsible for the complete turnkey system – including not only all the automation equipment but also total system control, project management and seamless integration.
A dream team for tire manufacturers
In the multi-million-dollar deal, Cimcorp and its parent company, Murata Machinery (Muratec), will install the automated logistics systems for the new passenger car radial (PCR) tire plant being built in Chester County. The new plant will be Giti’s first manufacturing facility in the U.S. and its eighth production site worldwide – Giti already has one plant in Indonesia and six in China.
The South Carolina facility is expected to generate 1,700 new jobs and produce 10 million passenger and light truck tires annually when fully operational.
From the beginning, we decided to build an advanced tire-manufacturing facility equipped with the latest automation technologies. Investment in Cimcorp’s Dream Factory will ensure high throughput of high-quality tires.
Wu Zhicheng, General Manager of the Corporate Equipment Center at Giti Tire and responsible for the U.S. plant project
Fully controlled end-to-end automation for tire plant
The Cimcorp solution will take care of the handling and storage (at both constant and ambient temperatures) of raw materials – including natural rubber, polymer rubber, belt steel, bead wire and textile ply – and components such as calender rolls, belt carts, ply/inner liner carts, sidewall carts, tread carts and bead carts.
The automation technology will include conveyor systems for the unloading of the tire-building machines and transfer of green tires to the curing buffers; miniload automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) for green tire buffer storage; and monorail transfers for delivery to the presses.
In addition, Cimcorp’s scope of supply includes automation of the testing area, finished tire buffers and palletizing stations. In this first joint project, Muratec will supply high-bay warehousing systems featuring stacker cranes for raw materials and components, as well as the miniload automated AS/RS for green tires.
All automated equipment – robots, monorails, conveyors, stacker cranes and miniload cranes – will be controlled by Cimcorp’s warehouse control software (WCS), which will ensure 100 percent availability of all materials at all process machines. The automated handling systems will be delivered and installed in three stages during 2017 and 2019.
With Muratec’s warehousing and transportation technologies, we have been able to integrate key upstream components in the Dream Factory solution; they are a perfect fit for the handling of raw materials and components. Total control of the material flow and an optimized plant layout have allowed us to secure great space savings for Giti at its greenfield site.
Kai Tuomisaari, Vice President of Sales and Projects, Cimcorp
Suitable for brownfield and greenfield tire sites
The Dream Factory solution is suitable for both brownfield and greenfield sites and Cimcorp has delivered automation solutions to seven of the top ten tire manufacturers globally. With total control of the manufacturing process at each stage – including real-time data for production and inventory management – Dream Factory ensures optimum utilization of the most valuable process machinery, such as the building machines and curing presses, to secure crucial increases in production capacity.
Dream FactoryCimcorp will supply its Dream Factory solution for automated handling at Giti Tire’s brand-new plant in Chester County, South Carolina, USA Download image
About Giti Tire
Giti Tire Group, headquartered in Singapore, has been in the tire business since 1951. Giti Tire currently operates seven manufacturing plants and produces a broad range of tire products, serving major original equipment vehicle manufacturers, auto-service outlets, tire dealers and consumers in more than 130 countries worldwide. Since entering the Chinese market in 1993, Giti Tire has become the largest tire manufacturer in China and is the tenth largest globally in terms of revenue. For the financial year 2014 the group recorded revenue of USD 3.5 billion, with an operating profit of USD 315 million. Giti Tire (USA) Ltd. – based in Rancho Cucamonga, California – is the sales, marketing and distribution company for North America. It markets and sells a family of brands: GT Radial, Primewell, Dextero and Runway tires for high-performance vehicles, passenger, SUV, light truck and medium trucks through national retailers, independent retailers and distributors across the United States and Canada. For more information, visit www.giti.com.
About Murata Machinery
Murata Machinery was established in 1935. It has expanded its fields to textile machines, machine tools, material handling systems, communication equipment, and factory automation for clean rooms, and now has 6,800 group employees and more than 1.6 billion euros annual sales (as of March, 2016). The business unit that is the counterpart of Cimcorp, the Logistics & Automation Division, was started in 1962. It has delivered 6,000 systems to approximately 5,000 customers in various industries in over 20 countries. For more information, visit www.muratec.jp or www.muratec-usa.com.
About Cimcorp
Cimcorp Group – part of Murata Machinery, Ltd. (Muratec) – is a leading global supplier of turnkey automation for intralogistics, using advanced robotics and software technologies. As well as being a manufacturer and integrator of pioneering material handling systems for the tire industry, Cimcorp has developed unique robotic solutions for order fulfillment and storage that are being used in the food & beverage, retail, e-commerce, FMCG and postal services sectors. With locations in Finland, Canada and the United States, the group has around 300 employees and has delivered over 2,000 logistics automation solutions. Designed to reduce operating costs, ensure traceability and improve efficiency, these systems are used within manufacturing and distribution centers in 40 countries across five continents.
