HF advances new tire building machine

Changes in the market pose new challenges for tire manufacturers in their production processes.

On the one hand, the variety of tires in the market is growing, especially for tire sizes larger than 17 ", which is gaining an above average share of the market. The thus resulting primary requirement for tire manufacturing is to enable production for quick code changes and at the same time to produce smaller lots.

Equally, quality requirements are constantly increasing, driven by the automotive industry not only as a result of Tire Labeling, which has been mandatory in the EU and South Korea since 2012, but also due to the requirement to sign OE tire sizes visually on the sidewall. The above prerequisites will also increase in the coming years in other markets such as the US, China, Brazil and Japan as a result of the pending launch of Tire Labeling.

Furthermore, this is linked to extremely high levels of repetitive accuracy and quality and also requires the capability to efficiently produce new tire designs.

HF has developed a tire building machine that meets these requirements by means of a flexible drum concept which ensures the diversified production of highly complex and innovative tires.

HF’s PLT2-SD-Flex is the answer to tackling the challenges posed by the tire market.

By means of a mere tool change it is possible to build all tire constructions currently available on the market – in flat or high crown building process - on one basic machine.

Tire constructions, especially in the layer area, can be built ranging from a C-envelope to ply-down tires, thus offering decisive advantages in the sidewall area which is the most critical part for the tire’s performance.

A precise positioning of the sidewalls over 220 mm width (especially for SUV tires) or the installation of special reinforcement strips to achieve run on flat tire properties no longer limits the construction process.

Tire sizes that previously required the so-called two-stage process can be produced directly on HF’s PLT2-SD-Flex.

Come and visit us at our booth (Hall 21, booth no. 9052) during the TTE. 

http://www.european-rubber-journal.com/2018/02/01/hf-advances-new-tire-building-machine/