SILVERSTONE, England (Sept. 9, 2016) — Cheng Shin Rubber Co. Ltd./Maxxis International is looking to advance its position among the world's top 10 tire makers, according to Lenny Lee, vice president, global sales and marketing at the Taiwanese tire company.
Maxxis retained its No. 9 spot on Tire Business' annual ranking of the world's largest tire makers this year despite a 12.7-percent drop in sales in 2015 to $3.85 billion, but Mr. Lee — speaking after a tire launch event held recently at the Silverstone race track — said the Taipai, Taiwan-based company expects to advance its position this year, helped by new capacity coming on stream.
“As you know, the No. 8 [ranked tire maker] is Yokohama Rubber Co., and we are working hard to grow in the future,” Mr. Lee said, noting that Maxxis will soon add bring two new tire plants on stream — in Indonesia and India — to bolster its existing global production set-up comprising 16 facilities.
Maxxis operates six plants in Taiwan; eight in China (five in Xiamen and one in Chongqing, Shanghai and Tianjin), one in Rayong, Thailand, and one in Dong Nai, Vietnam. Capacity totals over 1 million tires a day
The new plant in Indonesia, costing around $320 million, will produce passenger and motorcycle tires. It is located in Suryacipta City of Industry in Karawang, east of Jakarta.
In the Indian state of Gujarat, Maxxis is expected to around $400 million in a facility that initially will manufacture motorcycle tires and tubes. The plant, near Ahmedabad, has a projected capacity of around 20,000 units per day and will eventually employ about 2,000.
“To make sure that supply will be no problem in the future we are expanding by building new factories in Indonesia and India,” the Maxxis executive said.
Trial production at the two factories will begin in late 2016, with commercial operations scheduled to start early next year, Mr. Lee told European Rubber Journal at the Silverstone event, where it launched the HP5 high-performance tire line for the European marketplace.
Maxxis, which employs more than 31,000, will mark its 50th anniversary next year: having started as a bicycle tire manufacturer in Taiwan in 1967.
Maxxis has been ranked No. 9 on the Tire Business Global Top 75 since 2011. Its gap to Yokohama has been roughly $200 million to $300 million the past few years, but Yokohama's recent purchase of Alliance Tire Group will boost its annual revenue by $500 million or more in the coming years.
________________________________
This story appeared originally on the website of European Rubber Journal, a U.K.-based sister publication of Tire Business.