Brisa starts 'smart' tire factory in central Turkey

Aksaray, Turkey – Turkish tire maker Brisa Bridgestone Sabanc? Lastik Sanayi ve Ticaret AS has started up a $300-million (€263.5 million) greenfield tire production plant in Askaray, central Turkey.

Brisa, a joint venture between Turkish industrial and financial conglomerate Hac? Ömer Sabanc? Holding and Japan’s Bridgestone Corp., announced 30 Nov that the new production plant was highly automated, built based on Industry 4.0 and smart factory principles.

The plant – Brisa’s second plant in Turkey – manufactures 4.2 million units per year of passenger car and light vehicle tires under the brands Bridgestone and Lassa. Brisa’s first production plant in Izmit currently manufactures 11 million units per year of tires.

The company said in its statement that the new plant was beginning a new smart factory “era” in Turkey, using technologies such as robotic applications, data analytics, and digitalisation within the plant.

The tiremaker is also is improving its efficiency with value added production applications such as fully automated tire transfer systems, tracking production through the digital twin of its plant, green building applications and increased employment of virtual reality.

“[With] the automatic tire transfer system, our tires hardly touch the ground,” explained Brisa CEO, Cevdet Alemdar.

The technology, according to Alemdar, will help the company produce “zero defect” products and double inventory turnover compared to a "traditional" manufacturing plant.

Moreover, Brisa claims that the new plant is 30% more energy efficient compared to a traditional plant.

With the digital twin of the manufacturing plant, the company has also created a cyber platform which can help it track production remotely and interfere only when problems arise.

According Alemdar, the system is connected to an advanced data analytics system which generates over 800 million data per day from smart machinery and vehicles.

“Analysing the data, we are able to identify the ideal conditions of the tire inside the production machinery, and even the production angles of the tires,” he added.

With the new production plant, Brisa said it has invested more than $1.4 billion in Turkey since its establishment in 1988.

Commenting on the opening of the plant, Makoto Hashimoto, Bridgestone Corp. vice president and Brisa vice chairman of the board, stated that the Aksaray Manufacturing Plant was “one of Bridgestone most important production bases.”

“We wholeheartedly believe that the Aksaray manufacturing plant will enable Brisa to take the necessary steps in original equipment and export channels to increase its growth momentum in Turkey and in global markets,” he added.