Technology: Steelastic introduces calenderless manufacturing cell

Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio – Steelastic has built a calenderless manufacturing cell to enable tire manufacturers to test run their materials for the production of a range of tire reinforcement components.

Manufactured at Steelastic's Akron facility, the cell's extrusion-based manufacturing processes for belt/breaker, body ply, cap strip and inner liner are claimed to eliminate the need for calendering and off-line processing equipment.

The single-operator equipment used in the cell have been developed in response to growing demand for "more flexible, highly automated and lower capital outlay manufacturing systems," said the extrusion machinery supplier in a 24 Sept statement.

“This dedicated manufacturing cell is a key component of our drive to help manufacturers, worldwide, convert to more versatile, smaller footprint systems,” said Ian Dennis, Steelastic president.

Steelastic is now scheduling trials runs of its calenderless manufacturing cell for the remainder of 2019 and early 2020.

“It has been a busy year to date with numerous successful trials completed,” Dennis said.

As part of the process, manufacturers send small batches of their own materials to be manufactured to agreed specifications on Steelastic's belt/breaker, body ply and cap strip systems.

The material is then packed and shipped to the tire manufacturer for tire-building, testing and validation at their own plants.

Founded in 1970, Steelastic manufactures extrusion-based systems for manufacturing belt, cap strip, inner liner, and apex components for various types of tires.

The company champions a “go calenderless” approach in the tire industry, which it says allows ties makers to "profitably manufacture shorter runs of multiple stock keeping units (SKUs)."

According to the company, Steelastic currently has over 900 systems operating in more than 55 countries around the world.