GRI marks anniversary of specialty tire plant in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Specialty tire manufacturer Global Rubber Industries Pvt. Ltd. has reached two milestones, celebrating the one-year anniversary of the commissioning of its specialty tire plant in Colombo as well as the release of 100 unique tire sizes during that period.

The pneumatic tire factory, which opened Jan. 25 of last year, produces mostly agricultural tires (70 percent) in addition to construction and forklift tires.

In the next few months, GRI plans to open a rubber-mixing plant, which will result in a significant capacity increase, the company said.

GRI Managing Director Prabhash Subasinghe said his company is "well positioned to cater to the farming needs of the global agriculture industry with a large range of high-quality radials and bias tires."

Mr. Subasinghe also said the market has welcomed the number of sizes, quality and dependability of GRI's specialty tire range.

GRI said increased automation, including the use of state-of-the-art manufacturing units, has increased the precision of its products, while enhancing their consistency. It has resulted in higher quality, shorter cycle times, increased efficiency, reduced waste and increased safety, the company said.

GRIs specialty tire factory is is certified ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 and recently was accredited with the ISO 50001 Energy Management certification. The plant features 1.2-Megawatt solar panels, biomass boilers and fully recyclable waste and water management systems.

Among the products produced at the plant are Green XLR 65, 70, 80 and 95 radial series along with the Green XLR F77 Floatation tires. GRI also features the bias-ply range of Green EX RIB 3 implement tires, Green EX FL700 Flotation and RT100 tractor tires.

"With the goal of advancement and continuous improvement at its forefront, and in an ever changing, complex and uncertain world, we rise to the challenge of providing the best specialty tires possible," Mr. Prabhash said.