Belshina Plant Upgrades to Boost Production
Belarusian tyre maker Belshina is currently redeveloping its on and off-road businesses. A 32.6 million euro upgrade of passenger car tyre production facilities is close to completion, the company reports. The project will be funded in part by loans, with the remainder coming from Belshina and parent company Belneftekhim. Equipment for the upgrade has been supplied by Dutch firm VMI. The upgraded plant will enter operation at the end of 2011 and will reach its planned capacity in 2013. Belshina anticipates the replacement of obsolete equipment and the upgrading of other units will not only increase output volume and enable a larger assortment of products to be manufactured; the tyre maker says production quality and labour conditions will also improve.
In a drive to increase sales in export markets, particularly in Brazil, the tyre maker has extended its radial truck tyre range throughout 2010 and the line-up now goes up to 22.5-inch fitments. To accommodate its plans in this sector, Belshina is upgrading its truck tyre production facilities; the company aims to increase truck tyre production by 150,800 pieces per annum. Production equipment has again in part been supplied by VMI and key items were delivered to the plant in August 2010.
Off-road tyre projects include plans to increase agricultural tyre production by 35,900 units a year through the replacement of obsolete plant equipment. In particular, Belshina intends to purchase to agricultural radial assembly units with interchangeable tooling, one for the production of 28 to 34-inch tyres and the other for 38 to 42-inch tyres. New vulcanisation equipment will also be installed.
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