Michelin expanding production at Chinese tire plant

Shenyang, China – Michelin has launched two projects at its tire production facility in Shenyang, in the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning.

The French group is investing Yuan200 million (€25 million) at the site to increase the production of high-performance radial tires by 1.3 million units per year.

The investment plan was unveiled 24 May through a public announcement by the Shenyang environmental protection agency.

Michelin, it said, aims to dismantle three existing vulcanisation production lines for truck & bus tires and make adjustments to the remaining mixing production lines.

Once completed, the Chinese factory will have the capacity to produce 1.1 million truck and bus tires and 17.3 million car tires annually.

The investment will also include a Yuan7.5-million allocation for “environmental protection”, according to the Michelin project filing.

This part of the project, it stated, will address waste-gas emissions, waste water treatment, noise reduction and waste collection.

In a separate announcement 16 June, the Shenyang agency said it had approved the environmental impact report for another Michelin project.

The project will see Michelin investing Yuan110 million to adjust post-processing operations at the Chinese tire factory.

As part of the plan, the tire maker aims to add five post-processing lines, with the capacity to produce 1 million tires per year, for the manufacture of 'silent' tires at the site.

Michelin, it noted, will also add a self-sealing tire production line at the plant, with capacity to produce 700,000 units per year.

Once fully operational, the lines will bring the total production capacity of such tires to 5.7 million per annum.