On 25 November, Guizhou Tire held a ceremony to mark the start of work on the third construction phase of its Advance Tyre (Vietnam) Co., Ltd. plant. Local government officials attended the ceremony together with counterparts from China and company management. When complete, the expansion will add 6 million semi-steel radial tyres to the plant’s annual production capacity.
Bridgestone Corporation is investing to expand capacity at three of its passenger car tyre production facilities in Japan. With a total investment of approximately 27 billion yen (£139.1 million) in the Hikone, Tosu and Tochigi plants, the company will boost capacity for Enliten and larger rim diameter tyres. Bridgestone will lift overall production capacity by around 3,000 tyres a day, mainly in the 20-inch and larger size category where the company anticipates growing demand. It will start work on the project early in 2025 and plans to complete it by the end of 2028.
At a meeting with local government officials on 13 November, Kim Hyun Ho, General Director of Kumho Tire Vietnam, informed that the Kumho Tire subsidiary intends to invest US$300 million to increase the plant’s passenger car and light truck tyre production capacity by 4.5 million units a year, to a total annual capacity of 17 million tyres. This 36 per cent capacity increase, phase 3 of expansion at the 2007-opened plant in Binh Duong Province, will bring total investment in the facility to $908 million.
North America’s agricultural tyre market was valued at over US$930 million last year but is projected to reach $1.3 billion by 2030, Trelleborg Tires tells us. The tyre maker has maintained a production presence in this, the world’s largest agricultural market, since 2015. It has now announced a significant capacity increase at the 40,000 square metre Spartanburg, South Carolina plant.
During a recent earnings call, JK Tyre & Industries’ managing director, Anshuman Singhania, shared that the company is investing Rs 14 billion (£131.76 million) to increase its production capacities for TBR, PCR and ASLTR (all-steel light truck radial) tyres. He commented that these projects are “under implementation and progressing well.”
Sailun Group has revised the timetable for expanding production at its factory in Vietnam. Instead of commencing operations by March 2024, the tyre maker now intends to add a further three million semi-steel radials, one million all-steel radials and 50,000 tonnes of off-highway tyres to its annual capacities by March 2025.
Completion of a major upgrade to its Des Moines facility in the USA gives Titan International greater plant capacity. The company invested US$2 million in the expansion project, which includes the addition of two new 104-inch curing tyre presses that will accommodate the recently expanded AgraEDGE tyre line.
Following on from an October 2023 announcement that it will extend annual passenger and light commercial vehicle tyre capacity in Cambodia by 6 million pieces, Sailun Group has approved additional investment in its plant. It will invest a further RMB 773.69 million (£85.05 million) to expand the capacity expansion project from 6 million to 12 million tyres a year. In total, Sailun is investing RMB 2.25 billion (£247.33 million) in its Cart Tire Co. Ltd. project, which will result in a facility capable of making 21 million semi-steel radial tyres a year.
ZC Rubber subsidiary Yonggu is expanding its capacity to produce rubber tracks and other rubber products. On the site of the former Hangzhou Taihong Rubber Track plant in Jiande, in China’s Zhejiang Province, Zhongce Yonggu Rubber (Jiande) Co. will establish a facility that will ultimately have a capacity to make 1 million tracks a year.
With an investment of KRW 758.95 billion (£466.12 million), Hankook Tire & Technology will add truck and bus radial production to its site in Rácalmás, Hungary. The company expects the new production line to be completed by 2027, with an initial capacity to produce around 800,000 tyres annually. The expansion will create approximately 450 new jobs.
Another investment for China’s Guizhou Tyre. Only a couple of months after announcing plans to lift its Zhazuo factory’s annual OTR tyre capacity by 380,000 pieces and increase investment in its plant in Vietnam by US$58.08 million, the company says it will also invest RMB 300 million (£33.5 million) in a new solid tyre product at the Zhazuo site.
On 30 October, Sailun stated that it plans to invest 1.47 billion yuan (approximately £170 million; €190 million) to build a semi-steel radial tyre project in Cambodia with an annual output of 6 million units. According to the tyre manufacturer, as the competitiveness of tyre products at Cambodian factories has continued to improve in recent years, existing production capacity can no longer meet existing customer orders. It is reported that the newly added semi-steel radial tyre products will be mainly targeted at overseas markets such as North America.
On Wednesday, Bridgestone Americas held a groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of one of its truck and bus tyre plants in the USA. An investment of US$550 million will increase the footprint of the Warren County, Tennessee factory by 850,000 square feet (79,000 square metres) and lift production capacity while adding 380 jobs to the plant’s workforce. Bridgestone will also equip the plant for producing tyres featuring Enliten technology.
When announcing expansion plans for its North American plant in January 2023, Nokian Tyres said it would increase the workforce to 475 by hiring 75 new employees. The company has now completed the recruitment process, having hired 125 new workers for the Dayton, Tennessee factory as part of plans to double production at the facility by 2024.
On 16 May, Bridgestone Americas held a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of work to expand its Bridgestone Bandag, LLC manufacturing plant in Abilene, Texas. The US$60 million project will increase the facility’s floorspace by 50,000 square feet and meet growing demand for the company’s tread rubber products, with operations at the expanded plant scheduled to fun on six and seven-day production schedules.
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