DRAFT Innovation on demand

Machinery manufacturers discuss their latest advances in technology and the changing demands of the tire industry. Patrick Raleigh reports

As might be expected in the emerging era of Industry 4.0, tire & rubber equipment manufacturers are reporting increasing demand for enhanced automation, data-acquisition and connectivity features on their machines.

But there are is also a continuing push for engineering-led innovations that increase the accuracy, efficiency, functionality and reliability of calenders, mixers, presses and tire-building machines.

The latter trend is evident in HF Tire Technology’s new ‘Curemaster’ presses for truck tires, which respond to tire-maker demands for enhanced flexibility, precision and cost-savings.

“We have taken the traditional mechanical design for a curing press and shifted it to a hydraulic concept,” said Kevin Rolfe, vice president sales, HF TireTech Group.

The Curemaster is configured to provide larger diameter capabilities within the space required by a traditional press design, Rolfe said in an interview with ERJ.

In terms of flexibility, conventional presses typically have double cavities that can only cure the same tire in the same mould in those cavities, added Stefan Bahlke, lead engineer, HF TireTech Group.

“Our new machine is independent from the left cavity to the right cavity. So you can cure totally different products in the two cavities,” Bahlke stated.

Such flexibility is needed, said Rolfe, as the ‘tickets’ are getting smaller in tire factories, in line with orders from their customers.

The design, he added, also responds to an increase in the variety of tires now being required by the market.

For his part, Bahlke noted that – unlike with traditional machines – if a problem arises in one press you can do stop it for maintenance while the other is still running: so you don’t lose 100% of production.

Cycle time is 30% faster due to the mechanical movements used to load and unload the tires, the HF officials further claimed. The Curemaster, they added, consumes a third less energy that a traditional machine.

“Unlike the old mechanical presses which tilt backwards, consuming a lot of energy, here there is a curing chamber sitting on the machine with the mould inside,” Rolfe explained.

Further energy-savings are achieved as the mould is enclosed in an insulating chamber, as opposed to the open designs of conventional mechanical machines.

Bahlke went on to highlight the problem of bending on traditional double-cavity machine with a connecting beam – over time, causing both wear and non-uniformity.

“With the new design, the pressure is applied all around so you get complete uniformity and minimised wear,” said the HF lead engineer.

Consistency is becoming a big issue with truck tires, for example, getting bigger and sidewalls getting thinner, according to Rolfe.

“Tires are changing, and they will change even more if you look at trends such as e-mobility. This machine gives the flexibility to react to that,” concluded Rolfe.

Hybrid technology

Kobe Steel Ltd, meanwhile, is reporting market-inroads for a  hybrid mixing technology, which combines the features of tangential and intermeshing mixing.

This is based on the Japanese company’s 5THR rotor, which is designed to significantly improve quality and productivity in the mixing of silica-rich tire compounds.

“Customers worldwide have finished evaluations and are moving to the commercial stage,” Yasuhiro Kameda, mixing process engineer at the Tokyo-based company told ERJ.

“Finally, we have started to get good orders for this rotor technology,” he said. “It took time, but since last year, we have become confident in [market demand for] the 5THR rotor.”

Target customers include companies operating tangential mixers in their factories, added Naoaki Kimura, area general manager, Kobe Steel Group, speaking in the same interview.

“As a solution to improve silica mixing in tangential mixers, we propose our rotor,” said Kimura. “Tire majors have given certificates to 5THR, so this is already a solution, including for existing factories.”

Also on the engineering front, Rodolfo Comerio is reporting growing demand for its patented ‘sliding friction-free’ system and ‘GAP system’ technologies, which it claims deliver the highest available accuracy in the market.

The technology ensures that in the shifting of the specialist calender rolls, which laminate the rubber with fabric and steel layers, there is no friction in the positioning.

“We are at an accuracy of ±1 microns,” said international sales and marketing manager Nicola Fedele. “This is the best in the market, because of the new technology concept in the frame of the calender and the bearing [module].”

According to Fedele, Rodolfo supplied four machines with the new technology last year and has already supplied three orders in 2019.

The attraction for tire makers, he said, is that with higher accuracy they save money in terms of rubber consumption, reduced scrap and efficient use of materials.

Moreover, all tire industry customers want to reduce the thickness of the materials to have lighter tires, the Rodolfo manager pointed out.

“With a standard calender, of course, you can reduce the thickness, but you get stability issues with the fabric and on the steel. With our technology the process is completely stable,” he claimed.

Automation levels

Recent developments at Marangoni Meccanica have included an automated, first-stage tire-building machinery offering different levels of automation to deal with demanding cycle-time and process specifications.

According to Marangoni, end users can achieve “fine-grained control of the process, without compromising on the complexity of the tire designs that can be manufactured.”

An automatic finger ply-down and bead setting with pneumatic or mechatronic controls, means “even the most complex designs can be realised,” the company has stated.

“The key point for us is to have machines where the quality of the tires is not depending on the operator,” said Luca Bonollo, newly appointed commercial director of Marangoni Meccanica SpA.

“We offer machines where the key point is quality because the rest, like speed and flexibility, must come [as standard],” he added. “So machines that are well automated to eliminate human error.”

Customers also come to Marangoni for tailor-made machines, continued Bonollo: “So we provide a machine lay-out that is compliant with the specifications of our customers, rather than them having to adapt their processes to our machine.

“For us it is much more than just a question of integration. We really customise our machines to fit the needs of our customers in terms of tooling, in terms of drums… [etc].”

Flexibility is “very important” in the agriculture and OTR tire sectors served by Marangoni, continued the commercial director.

“We can cover a very wide range of tires, from 20” to 32” without any tooling changes,” he said. “It is a question of software, recipe and the machine, which can adapt the process at the press of a button. This is something that is really requested by customers.”

For M.K. Suresh, joint general manager & head, marketing, customer service & testing, Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T), tire makers are concentrating particularly on reducing cycle time and increasing product variety.

The resulting increase in mould-change frequency is a big challenge because any mould-change time is non-value-added time, he told ERJ.

“We are working to provide a reliable solution for quick mould-change both for the mechanical and hydraulic curing press to cut downtime.”

Reducing customers’ investment costs is another focus for L&T, which has developed a compact, floor-mounted curing press for PCR tires. The deck-height is short, and it can be mounted on the floor instead of a pit, which helps reduce capex, explained Suresh.

“Another area, which is still in an early stage for us is machine compliance for Industry 4.0. This is a focus area for us and we are working closely with our customers and suppliers on this front,” said the L&T manager.

Likewise, Riccardo Comerio, CEO of calender manufacturer Comerio Ercole highlighted demand “not just to supply a machine but also to provide a 360-degree service for engineering to machinery supply.”

The 200-employee Italian company, he said, is already leveraging Industry 4.0 technology to deliver improvements in productivity and process reliability for customers.

“For example, very recently we opened a new department for remote support and maintenance of our machinery around the world,” said Comerio.

With a staff of six people, the department means Comerio is now in a position to provide 24/7 support including predictive maintenance capabilities to tire plants anywhere in the world.

“One of our main markets, for example, is China, which is eight hours ahead of Italy, so we have to work 24 hours to support companies there,” said the CEO.

“This service is very much appreciated by customers: the possibility to be on their site when they need our presence,” the CEO commented.

Tire companies, he added, are becoming increasingly open to remote support services: “At the beginning it was a little bit closed as a new concept but it is now happening more and more.

“Remote control is quite easy via the internet but to do it properly is not easy and has required a big investment to deliver complete control also on the customer side.”

Trends towards Industry 4.0 and digital manufacturing in the tire manufacturing sector are also a focus for tire press and mould manufacturer Uzer Makina.

The Turkish company is collaborating with Fineline around applying an RFID mould management system for new moulds,” said Mehmet Ak?n K?l?ç, marketing & business development engineer.

Tire moulds normally have eight or more segments, so you put a tag on each segment as well as a chip for the container, K?l?ç explained to ERJ.

“Using an RFID scanner you can scan the segments to ensure they are the correct ones, if the sequence is right, if the segments belong to a particular container etc.

“This is often a big problem because if the segments are incorrect you end up with a lot of scrap tires.”

The RFID system includes a mould-location option that can help find containers in the warehouse within seconds, K?l?ç saying: “The technology reduces time wasted searching for segments and containers.”

Also, he said, it provides information, for example, about how many times you have used the mould so that maintenance is done before it becomes unusable.

In another high-tech move, Uzer Makina has shelved plans to start in-house production of cast tire moulds, opting instead to move into 3D printing technology.

“We saw that this technology is growing so fast and decided not to push the casting so much.”

Uzer Makina has yet to buy any 3D machines, but Kilic said it will “probably invest this year and adapt it into our technology for winter tires.”

On the engineering front, Uzer Makina is developing a compact floating column type press for truck tire production that as it easy to maintain and use, and less heavy than conventionally used designs. “This is a another goal for 2019,” said the company engineer.