MODIPURAM, India — Continental A.G. is planning to boost capacity for truck and bus tires at its Modipuram plant by up to 30% over the coming 18 months, in part to satisfy rising demand in the Asia-Pacific region.
The expansion project will focus on capacity for 20- and 22.5-inch rim diameter radials, Continental said, at the factory it acquired from Modi Rubber Ltd. in 2011.
The project is part of a "significant phased expansion plan until 2030," Conti said without providing the value of the project or other details.
The expansion, which is expected to "favorably impact" Conti's production cost and profitability, is part of the group's "in the market, for the market" strategy, Claude d'Gama Rose, head of tires business, Continental India, said.
"Our tire business in India is expanding, and we are committed to manufacturing world-class products for our consumers," he added.
According to Mr. Rose, Continental India's offerings, both in commercial and passenger, have expanded in terms of product, size, and pattern in recent years.
"We have scaled up our production capabilities to serve domestic and export demand, coming from ASEAN, APAC, and select regions in South America," he added.
Since acquiring the Modipuram plant nine years ago from Modi Rubber, Conti has carried out three expansion projects at the facility, Kuldeep Singh, vice president, manufacturing, Modipuram, Continental India, said. Capacity at the plant, which opened in 1974 and makes car. light truck and farm tires as well, is listed as 500,000 units annually.
In addition the plant gradually has been adopting Industry 4.0 practices —deploying automation and enabling data exchange in the manufacturing area.
Some of the activities, Conti said, include real-time online process analysis, traceability, validation, and inventory management for monitoring end-to-end processes.
The plant is also equipped with "fully automatic - fast lane tire building machines, chemical dosing systems, tire dimension studies, and tire simulation studies for development," Continental added.