Toyo Tire Serbia tyre factory opens

Toyo Tire Corporation opened its first tyre production facility in Europe on 14 December in the Municipality of Indjija, the Republic of Serbia. Production had partially started in July 2022 as the factory became operational with all equipment being installed. However, the official opening was attended by President Aleksandar Vučić of the Republic of Serbia and a number distinguished guests. The new factory is expected to reach its full capacity of approximately five million tyres per annum (based on tyres for passenger vehicles) during the second half of fiscal 2023.

Toyo reports that the Serbia factory features state-of-the-art technologies, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and manufacturing execution system (MES), to visualize processes. By precisely linking the status information of each piece of highly productive production equipment, this “smart factory” unlocks a higher dimension of production management system optimization.

Toyo representatives further report that the new Serbia factory will strategically cover demand in “our main market in North America” as well as in Europe, something that confirms earlier reports on the subject. “With the prospect that the new factory will bring about novel business value to our business in Europe and North America, we have renewed our determination to provide the market with competitive products, bringing joy to many more customers with our manufacturing prowess.”

In 2019, Toyo Tire established an R&D Center in the Federal Republic of Germany to continue to search for and study cutting-edge raw materials, gather the latest information on vehicles and markets, and enhance the capabilities to develop high-performance technologies at each design process of structures, shapes, and patterns. By taking advantage of these technologies, this new factory is responsible for the production of high-performance, competitive tyres that meet market insights, including the ongoing shift to electric vehicles (EVs).

Adjacent to the factory building is a proving ground with a straight track of 720 metres and a total length of 1,690 metres. “We will carry out test runs to gather data on tyres, the results of which will be used to promptly verify compliance with finely-segmented laws/regulations and certification requirements in Europe, allowing us to deliver attractive tyres to the market in a more timely manner”, company representatives said in a statement confirming the official opening.

The site also features a solar power system, one of the largest in the country (electric generating capacity: 8.4 MW), which not only provides 10.15 GWh of electricity output but also helps to reduce 7,100 tons of CO2 emissions per annum.