Continental expanding Indian TBR plant

Modipuram, India – Continental AG is significantly expanding its truck tires production capacity at the Modipuram plant in Uttar Pradesh, to increase export volumes to the Asia-Pacific region. 

To be completed over the next 18 months, the project will see an increase in the product range for 20” and 22.5” tires along with the existing other range of truck and bus radial (TBR) tires manufactured at the facility, Conti announced 7 Dec.

The project will raise the plant’s production capacity for truck tires by 30% and is part of a ‘significant phased expansion plan until 2030’, Conti said without giving further details.

The expansion, which is to ‘favourably impact’ Conti’s production cost and profitability, is part of the group’s “in the market, for the market” strategy, explained Claude d’Gama Rose, head of tires business, Continental India.

“Our tire business in India is expanding, and we are committed to manufacturing world-class products for our consumers,” he added. 

According to Rose, Continental India’s offerings, both in commercial and passenger, has expanded in terms of product, size, and pattern in recent years. 

“We have scaled up our production capabilities to serve domestic and export demand, coming from ASEAN, APAC, and select regions in South America,” he added.

Continental acquired the Modipuram plant from Modi Rubber Ltd in 2011 and has so far completed three expansion projects within the facility, according to Kuldeep Singh, VP – manufacturing, Modipuram, Continental India.

In addition to capacity improvements, the plant has also been gradually adopting Industry 4.0 practices - deploying automation and enabling data exchange in the manufacturing area.

Some of the activities, Conti said, include real-time online process analysis, traceability, validation, and inventory management for monitoring end-to-end processes. 

The plant is also equipped with “fully automatic - fast lane tire building machines, chemical dosing systems, tire dimension studies, and tire simulation studies for development,” Continental added.