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With the global tire market now recovering from the disruption caused by the pandemic, how can you gear up production in your tire plant while protecting profitability? In short, how can you do more with the same, or even with less?
According to market analysts, Smithers, the global tire market is forecast to rebound to over $278 billion – 2.47 billion units – this year. This is despite a challenging landscape in the sector due to a number of factors.
The challenges faced by tire producers today are unprecedented. Long-term trends such as pressure for sustainable sourcing and rising demand for electric or hybrid powertrains are driving SKU proliferation. Alongside this there is increased regulation in pursuit of fuel efficiency and lower carbon footprint.
There is also supply chain disruption, resulting not only from Covid-19 but also an increasingly unstable geopolitical situation. This has resulted in increased complexity, spikes in the prices of materials and spiralling shipping costs. But the issue currently looming larger than all of these factors in many of the world’s tire-producing economies is the shortage of labor.
Profitability with tire manufacturing automation
Together, these challenges make for difficult decisions as tire manufacturers deliberate how and where to invest in production capacity in order to meet rising demand. To protect margins, optimization of material flows and inventory levels is vital. It is automation that provides the key to delivering maximum efficiency in tire factory logistics. And, with modular robotic handling systems, this efficiency does not have to be at the cost of flexibility.
Optimized tire production
Cimcorp’s Dream Factory solution takes care of end-to-end intralogistics in PCR and TBR tire plants. Dream Factory automates the material and data flows from raw material storage through to the finished tire loading dock. Materials arrive at each process step just in time – avoiding delays, bottlenecks and the need for large buffers. This reduces work in process, inventory levels and risk, thereby reducing costs and building resilience. With streamlined material flows, your production is optimized to achieve maximum output. And our leading-edge software ensures full traceability, with real-time quality control to mention a few.
Profitability for existing and new tire plants
A tailored solution using proven gantry robot technology, Dream Factory is scaled to your application from standard modules. It is highly space-efficient, with a layout typically taking up to 50% less space than in a conventional tire plant. This means Dream Factory is suitable for brownfields as well as greenfields, enabling older tire plants to stay competitive. In fact, experience shows that you can increase output in existing facilities by 10% with Dream Factory.
Want to find out more? Download our White Paper entitled ‘How to stay competitive with your tire factory’.