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Today’s tire manufacturers face numerous challenges. Along with the pressures of globalization, tighter government regulations and rising labor costs, they have to deal with ever-growing product ranges as OEMs cater to consumer demands for more vehicle customization. Help is at hand, however, through the intelligent automation of new or upgraded plants.
In the highly competitive marketplace of tire production – where the dominance of the big players is being eroded by agile newcomers who are embracing new technologies – gaining market share is crucial. Achieving this depends largely on the ability of tire plants to increase efficiency and push down costs, while maintaining high-quality standards. In this game, factory automation is key. Success depends not only on whether you install automation, but also on how quickly you install it.
Modular design
Speed of installation is a given with Cimcorp’s Dream Factory solution. Developed specifically for the tire industry, Dream Factory integrates the building, curing and finishing processes – as well as the warehouse and dispatch areas – into one end-to-end plant solution, giving total control of the material flow and precise, real-time data for production and inventory management. The reason why speed of installation and rapid production start-up are an integral part of Dream Factory is because it’s a totally modular concept.
Staged installation means more profit
Modular design means that plant start-ups can be staged, enabling revenue to be earned immediately as each new line comes on stream. Tire companies don’t need to establish an entire plant all at once – they can build capacity by adding manufacturing lines in a step-by-step fashion. Whereas a conventional plant might need 18 months between groundbreaking and the start of production, the Dream Factory shortens the timeline to just 10 months. And, don’t forget, it’s the early bird that catches the worm! Think about it: if your plant can produce, say, 30,000 tires a day with a modest profit on each tire, it’s easy to see how much more you can earn in those eight months.
Redundancy is built in
Modularity also secures a number of other benefits. With automated handling systems designed to be reused and scaled up in a ‘copy and paste’ fashion, they are simple to build, maintain and expand. They are easy to move to new production locations, if required and – crucially – they mean that redundancy is designed in. With several, independent lines operating in parallel, the rest of the lines remain functional even if one of them experiences a problem.
Worth investigating? Whether you are planning a greenfield plant or upgrading a brownfield facility, get in touch to learn more about Cimcorp’s Dream Factory and how it could transform your tire plant’s efficiency and profitability.
Author Veli-Matti Hakala