First look: Linglong Tire’s Serbia tyre factory

The opening of its new tyre factory in Zrenjanin, Serbia, makes Linglong Tire the first Chinese tyre manufacturer to build a production base in Europe. Truck tyre production represents the first phase of the enormous overall 999-million-euro project that represents the largest single foreign investment in Serbia and will soon feature car tyre production followed by the manufacture of agricultural and OTR tyres. Ahead of its official opening, as well as an interview with Linglong Tire chairman, Wang Feng, Tyres & Accessories had an exclusive tour of the site including a close-up view of the truck tyre production line.

The first thing that strikes you about this greenfield site is the scale. Historic European factories are sometimes expanded over the decades. The unavoidable reality of such incremental growth is the dual downsides that growth-by-addition can result in less-than-optimal efficiency in terms of production line arrangement, and space can be restricted by the expansion of the city where the factory is located. None of that is true in Zrenjanin, roughly an hour north of Belgrade in Serbia. Here, the Linglong International Europe site is a clean-slate project a couple of kilometres out of town. And when it comes to scale, a quick look at satellite photography reveals that the factory plot represents something like 10 per cent of the city, with additional greenfield space around it.

Truck tyre production line built, car tyres next, OTR tyres coming

While construction of the passenger car and OTR tyre lines remains ongoing, the truck tyre production line is in place. And as the total project investment figure suggests, what we can see is a very modern, optimally laid-out facility. Throughout the highly automated plant, at least some of which is managed by the latest technology including that produced by Rockwell Automation.

On the way to the tyre building line, a large, automated calendaring warehouse reveals columns and columns of material spools ready to feed the building process in the next hall. These are conveyed to the next part of the process where belts are made with zero-degree cutting technology. While we couldn’t see all the cutting technology, T&A did see evidence that German-made Fischer machines are in operation making test-run truck tyres.

Green tyres are then automatically loaded into and afterwards unloaded from 64 Linglong Electromechanical Company-manufactured curing presses

In the tyre building hall, some of the latest robotic truck tyre builders have been installed. Specifically, Four SBS Blue Silver building machines can be seen making 315/80 R22.5 test truck tyres. Further down the production line, six VMI Milexx machines have been installed. Since the latter are already capable of producing up to 630 truck tyres a day in this set-up, that means that the 10 VMI machines alone give the truck tyre factory a theoretical maximum capacity of 6300 truck tyres a day. As well as increased production volume, these automated tyre builders are also designed to increase product uniformity and “reduce operator interference”. In practice, that means these machines can be run by two people rather than conventional staffing levels of three to four people.

The roughly 600-metre-long passageway between the new truck tyre production line (left) and the soon-to-be-complete passenger car production line on the right (Photo: Chris Anthony/Tyre Industry Publications Ltd)

The green tyres made at the building stage bear barcodes which act as each individual tyre’s passport as it travels around the different parts of the production line. From the building stage, green tyres are automatically conveyed to curing, then inspection and finally warehousing.

Green tyres are then automatically loaded into and afterwards unloaded from 64 Linglong Electromechanical Company-manufactured curing presses. These are said to be based on German technology and operate at a level comparable with the most advanced in the world, according to company officials.

The inspection phase sees tyres automatically pass through a variety of detection processes which assess different quality control characteristics including weight and concentricity as well as dynamic balance. They also undergo x-ray inspection before passing alongside numerous banners installing staff with the kind of key principles Linglong is aiming for such as “striving for first-class”.

The automated warehousing facility has been constructed based on Safe-Run machinery in a 43-metre-tall building. This technology means tyres can be stocked, picked and then loaded into containers as precisely as one at a time or in groups of up to five identical tyres simultaneously. We saw the technology in action, but the final stage of this modern system will be commissioned in March 2023.

As far as retreading is concerned, Linglong truck tyres are already very much retreadable, according to company representatives. But when it comes to the integration of retreading into Linglong’s truck tyre offer, Linglong chairman Wang Feng pointed to the company’s decade-long retreading research and development project in an interview with Tyres & Accessories in parallel with the factory tour. This, said Mr Wang, combined with the work of its retread cooperation partner in China positions the company to expand the execution of its retread integration strategy. There is even talk of “research into recycling of raw materials for use in new tyres, according to demand.” The fact that Linglong bought a tyre recycling company relatively recently, offers a further example of Linglong’s growing emphasis on sustainability and an integrated fleet offer in the truck tyre segment. Specific details of that deal, including the value and acquisition partner, were not immediately available but Tyres & Accessories has requested them.

Car tyres and agricultural as well as OTR tyres next

The Linglong’s Zrenjanin, Serbia tyre production plant is roughly one hour north of Belgrade (Photo: CNES/Airbus, Landsat/Copernicus, Maxar Technologies)

Across the way from the truck tyre production line, the halls for the passenger car tyre production line have already been built and the manufacturing machinery is in the process of being installed. Indeed, the passenger car tyre production line is at such an advanced stage of construction that company officials were comfortable saying that this line will start production in the second half of 2023.

Beyond that, there is plenty of room for Linglong Serbia’s agricultural and off-the-road (OTR) tyre production hall. The OTR tyre production line itself is in the design phase, but construction of the external structure is close to starting. The latest news is that Linglong Serbia’s OTR tyre production plant will begin construction this year – that is by the end of 2023. Production is scheduled for two years later, therefore by the end of 2025. Indeed, the original plan was for this site to contribute 20,000 units of OTR tyre manufacturing capacity to the company’s ambitious overall goal of 335,000 tonnes of OTR tyre output or 1.6 million to 2 million OTR tyres a year across all of its factories by 2030.

Even without the headwinds caused by the global pandemic, Linglong’s Serbia tyre factory has been constructed swiftly. However, such is the ambition of the company, and such is the speed of tyre factory construction possible in China, company representatives are eager to complete all three phases of the project. And that’s why, at the time of T&A’s visit, Linglong had recently appointed a new construction contractor – China Communication Construction.

Not only has Linglong allocated a total project budget of 999 million euros to complete the Serbia tyre manufacturing complex, but the company has also committed to making it a European tyre plant. This means new patterns and new products in both the passenger car and truck tyre ranges especially designed for Europe, according to Linglong chairman Wang Feng. And that is all part of the company’s ongoing global strategy (see separate interview for further details relating to Linglong’s ongoing investment in further production bases and technology).