OTR tire market expected to grow into 2023

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The off-the-road (OTR) and specialty tire market is enjoying high demand for its products, although supply-chain disruption continues to be a challenge.

"The specialty/OTR market continues to be strong, especially in the farm, industrial and OTR markets," Jack Fenner, marketing manager, Specialty Tires of America Inc., said.

"As a U.S.-built company, Specialty Tires has seen an elevated interest from our customers to 'Buy American.'"

Fenner said STA remains confident for a strong market finish to 2022 and that it will remain solid for the start of 2023.

"The market for OTR tires often correlates with prevailing trends within the mining, construction and aggregate markets as a whole," Rob Seibert, president of Off the Road at Bridgestone Americas Inc., said.

"While mining commodity pricing remains historically strong, the industry continues to face headwinds in labor, parts, shipping and global economic volatility."

He noted that copper and gold have seen strong pricing throughout 2022, but some retraction has occurred in the third quarter with increasing interest rates and movement to treasury yields.

"We continue to see the impact of the infrastructure package, which has assisted in supplying critical raw materials needed for investments in EV, green energy, utilities and other polices," he said.

He noted the construction and aggregates segments continue to add jobs, and he expects this trend to continue for the near future.

"From a year-over-year basis, overall employment in the industry continues to rise; some estimates say construction employment has risen more than 4% in the last year. Overall sales trends have been positive, as well, suggesting an expectation of growth over the next six months. That trend is likely to continue in the near future, with an eye on interest rates," Seibert said.

As is the case with several industries, the specialty and OTR tire markets have faced global supply-chain disruptions throughout the year.

"However, Bridgestone has made strides to strategically address these challenges, such as our $12 million investment for an expansion to the Bloomington, Ill., facility that was announced in 2018. This expansion added more capacity in key radial sizes to support the construction and aggregate mining sector," Seibert said.

"With its vast geographic landscape, North America boasts an array of product needs to cover a substantially diverse set of industries, i.e., surface mining, underground, crane, port and construction and quarry, among others. That scale is relatively unrivaled across the globe," Seibert said.

STA said trends toward larger equipment will continue in the marketplace.

The specialty/OTR tire market is responsible for developing and improving products that will give proven results to equipment users, as well as cost/hour and value in its performance, Fenner said.

"Customers are looking for a tire that was developed to perform successfully in the application of choice at a favorable cost," he added.

"Across the industry, you also see an emphasis on products that prioritize productivity and asset optimization," Seibert noted.

"Bridgestone offers intelligent products to equip our customers with the tools needed to maximize productivity and make informed, actionable decisions.

"Our MasterCore tire line is Bridgestone's most advanced surface mining tire line, which can deliver up to 5% greater durability, 10% faster truck operating speeds, or 15% greater payload capacity." Seibert said.

"Offered in various sizes and patterns to provide customized solutions based on surface and traction conditions, fleets receive greater utilization of their haulage assets to help improve mine performance and achieve a lower cost-per-ton — which is more important than ever in today's environment," he added, noting that customers have become more tech savvy and are demanding innovative solutions.

"They want real-time updates on every aspect of their operation in the palm of their hands, and they also want safe and reliable equipment for the jobsite. … We will continue expanding our Mobility Solutions portfolio, which includes iTrack II, along with producing world-class tires technologically engineered for massive haulage to meet evolving customer needs," Seibert said.

On the mining side, Bridgestone offers its iTrack II tire monitoring and management platform that features 24/7 monitoring of OTR tire pressure and temperature, as well as vehicle speed and G-forces.

For construction and quarry customers using 49-inch rim diameter or smaller tires, Bridgestone offers IntelliTire as a real-time tire monitoring solution. IntelliTire uses stem-mounted flow-through external sensors, in addition to internal sensors, to provide real-time data such as tire inflation pressure and temperature to continually monitor the health of each tire throughout its lifecycle.

IntelliTire uses predictive algorithms to analyze data and issue alerts and customized reports to fleet operators so as to reduce operational costs and increase safety.

"At Specialty Tires of America we continue to upgrade our products and develop tires for special applications," Fenner said.

"Normally we are small enough that we can be flexible enough to build a special tire that may not be of interest for the larger manufacturers. Today is not what we remember being 'normal,' so we aren't doing any of this at this time."

In July, Bridgestone introduced the VSWAS 23.5R25 V-Steel Snow Wedge All Season tire, a size expansion designed for grader and loader applications.

Bridgestone will begin production later this year on a rigid dump truck tire as an expansion of its 24.00R35 product portfolio, able to carry hefty loads on flat terrain, often at quarries and mines.