Giti to install Cimcorp ‘dream factory’ at new US tire plant

Ulvila, Finland – Tire handling and robotics supplier Cimcorp has been selected by Giti Tire to install its ‘dream factory’ system at a tire plant being built in South Carolina, the US.

In a 31 Jan statement, Cimcorp said it will be responsible for the complete turnkey system – including all the automation equipment, total system control, project management and seamless integration.

In the multi-million-dollar deal, Cimcorp, currently owned by the Japanese Murata Machinery (Muratec), will install the automated logistics systems for the new passenger car radial (PCR) tire plant being built in Chester County.

The plant will be Giti’s first manufacturing facility in the US and its eighth production site worldwide – Giti already has one plant in Indonesia and six in China.

The South Carolina facility is expected to generate 1,700 new jobs and produce 10 million passenger and light truck tires annually when fully operational.

“From the beginning, we decided to build an advanced tire-manufacturing facility equipped with the latest automation technologies. Investment in Cimcorp’s dream factory will ensure high throughput of high-quality tires,” said Wu Zhicheng, general manager of the corporate equipment centre at Giti Tire and responsible for the US plant project.

The Cimcorp technology will carry out the handling and storage of raw materials – including natural rubber, polymer rubber, belt steel, bead wire and textile ply – and components such as calender rolls, belt carts, ply/inner liner carts, sidewall carts, tread carts and bead carts.

The automation technology will include conveyor systems for the unloading of the tire-building machines and transfer of green tires to the curing buffers; miniload automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) for green tire buffer storage; and monorail transfers for delivery to the presses.

Additionally, the system includes automation of the testing area, finished tire buffers and palletising stations.

Automated equipment will be controlled by Cimcorp’s warehouse control software (WCS), which will ensure availability of all materials at all process machines.

The automated handling systems will be delivered and installed in three stages during 2017 and 2019.

“Total control of the material flow and an optimised plant layout have allowed us to secure great space savings for Giti at its greenfield site,” said Kai Tuomisaari, vice president of sales and projects, Cimcorp.

Offering a “total control” of the manufacturing process, including real-time data for production and inventory management, Cimcorp claims dream factory gives “optimum utilisation” of process machinery, such as the building machines and curing presses, to secure increases in production capacity.