Titan's OTR expansion budget set at $30 million

Quincy, Illinois - Titan International Inc.'s plan to add capacity for 57- and 63-inch radial off-the-road (OTR) tyres will require investments of at least $30 million (€22 million), the company said in its second quarter 10-Q filing with the US-based Securities and Exchange Commission.

In the filing, Titan said current commitments related to the OTR project are about $30 million, with additional, not yet finalised capital expenditures expected through 2008.

The company announced in mid-May it was going ahead with the project to add capacity for up to 6000 giant OTR tyres a year at the Bryan, Ohio, plant it bought from Continental Tire North America Inc. last year. At that time Titan declined to disclose the size of the investment, although Titan Chairman and CEO Maurice Taylor Jr. said it would be the company's single largest capital investment ever and one the company should be able to amortise within four years.

That level of production will generate up to $240 million in sales, Mr. Taylor said, while creating 100 to 150 new jobs in Bryan and perhaps up to 30 at Titan's wheel plants in Saltville, West Virginia, and Quincy.

The larger sizes are designed to fit the current generation of massive dump trucks being used increasingly by the world's mining operations.

Titan said it anticipates it will be able to fund the expansion with cash on hand and anticipated internal cash flows from operations. In addition to the OTR project, Titan estimates its capital expenditures for other projects for the remainder of 2007 will be approximately $9 million.

From Tire Business (A Crain publication)