Michelin sets up German plant for larger rim diameter tyres
Plant manager Christian Metzger (7th from left) celebrates the facility’s entry into operation with members of the project team
Tyre production at Michelin’s plant in Bad Kreuznach, Germany has been supplemented by a new facility dedicated to making 18- and 19-inch rim diameter tyres. Its entry into operation introduces the larger diameter into the plant’s production portfolio for the first time. The new machinery replaces equipment used to manufacture 14- and 15-inch tyres, products that have seen a significant drop in customer demand.
“The investment in this modernisation is one of vital importance for our competitiveness in light of developments in the European market,” states plant manager Christian Metzger.
Michelin says it invested tens of millions of euros to boost the plant’s capacity for larger rim diameter tyres, however does not provide an exact investment figure. It states that the investment is part of a ‘pact for the future’ agreed upon by management and employee representatives. This pact covers Michelin’s plants in Germany and should, according to the tyre maker, “help strengthen the German sites’ competitiveness in Europe.”
The old machinery was dismantled last summer, and in December 2018 preparatory construction work for the new equipment began in the factory. Michelin says “months of intensive work” was spent installing and setting up the new, hi-tech tyre building machinery and well as a highly-automated system for transporting the green tyres to vulcanisation.
Series production of 18- and 19-inch tyres within the new facility will begin in the coming weeks.
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