All-Round Investment From OTR

OTR tyres Ltd. says that the company is preparing for the future with a program of continual investment in machinery, processes and performance.This program has seen OTR upgrade a number of manufacturing facilities over the past 12 months – a process which the company says has “transformed the ethos of the factory from skilled manual processes to fully automated manufacturing.”

According to Manufacturing Director Darren Flint, OTR’s retread manufacturing process is “now more akin to new tyre manufacture – demonstrating high levels of accuracy to produce products which are as close to new tyre production as is currently possible.” An investment in new equipment has seen the installation of two fully-automated buffing and grooving machines, providing improved accuracy and the ability to guarantee specifications on retread tyres.

The company has also introduced a LEAN Manufacturing Initiative, which is a systematic approach to eliminating waste, improving quality and production time and reducing overall costs. Says UK Production Manager Wayne Cornell: “The LEAN Manufacturing Initiative is a further step in reducing customer downtime and has focused the whole manufacturing division on improving the OTR service for our customers.”

Alongside these initiatives, OTR is introducing a ‘6 sigma’ strategy to its manufacturing processes; a rigorous and disciplined methodology that utilises data and statistical analysis to measure and improve a company’s operational; performance, practices and systems. In order for OTR to achieve ‘6 sigma’, the processes that it implements must not produce more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities.