By G Unnikrishnan, Senior Vice President at JK Tyre & Industries Ltd

While relentlessly working to meet these ever-growing demands through the addition of new capacities and capital spending, the tyre industry encounters the additional challenge of having to keep up with even faster advancements in the technology in their products and processes

The global tyre market, with a current production base of about 3 billion units - including replacement and OEM markets - is expected to surpass $300 billion by 2023 with a nearly 5 per cent world average CAGR. This growth is enabled by rising demand, healthy economic trends, vehicle production, and after-market demand from a wide variety of end-users worldwide.

While relentlessly working to meet these ever-growing demands through the addition of new capacities and capital spending, the tyre industry encounters the additional challenge of having to keep up with even faster advancements in the technology in their products and processes. Here are five key drivers coming from different directions for the tyre industry. They are incremental and radical innovations in products, customer demands in performance/delivery, environmental concerns and regulations, and need to improve manufacturing efficiency.

While these developments are promising and bring with them high-growth opportunities, they require tyre manufacturers to continually modify their products and processes to keep up. Tyre producers and, as a consequence, their machine and technology suppliers face a risk of obsolescence of their production assets with each adopted innovation.

Consequently, the future of any tyre or machinery manufacturer hinges on their ability to seamlessly adapt to this plethora of changes and forge ahead to new areas of profit not to be left behind by competitors.

This article is an attempt to understand how the tyre industry can navigate the tricky waves of change such that they not only manage to stay afloat in the industry but also thrive by grasping emerging opportunities. Tyre companies need to deep-dive into the drivers, enablers, and the resulting technological impact on machine manufacturers (see figure 1), and chart a mitigation strategy

Drivers and Enablers

1) Incremental product innovations - evolutionary progression in the industry.

One major area of focus in the tyre sector presently is energy-saving tyres, one that will only increase in prominence in the future. Expanding to energy-saving tyres, however, will prove to be tricky for machinery manufacturers since some of the essential processes involved - Lightweighting, special compounds, and thinner components - put considerable pressure on extrusion, stock preparation, handling, and assembly. Compounding and mixing area will see more of new processes such as liquid phase mixing and advanced materials.

When it comes to truck tyres, wide base technology will gain momentum in low RR radial tyres. As a result, there will be an increased need for tyre building machine to have advanced Centering and Application systems to reduce the impact of splices and improve component Centering for tyre appearance and quality.

2) Radical product innovations: Revolutionary changes in the industry

Profound transformations in the automotive field like smart tyres, electric mobility and autonomous driving call for more innovative concepts in tyre design and production.

Similarly, emerging concepts like run-flat tyres, air-less tyres and 3D printed tyres entail special features in machinery. Any tyre machinery manufacturer that wishes to remain relevant and differentiate globally needs to evolve rapidly, particularly in technology.

3) Changing customer delivery demands: Dynamic in nature

Car models are increasing in number and so is the complexity of tyre designs, resulting in more tyre variety and smaller lot sizes needing more number of moulds and quick changes in different process equipment and moulds. Also, the machines that manufacture should have flexibility and agility features to adapt swiftly to increasing product complexity and customer specifications.

Finally, as a machinery manufacturer, one must ensure the tyres produced using the machinery has the highest manufacturing accuracy and consistency to meet the customers’ specifications meeting overall quality standards and make tyre production competitive in this volatile market developments.

4) Manufacturing efficiency - a perpetual process

Tyre producers will continue to face increased competition on price, quality, delivery and pressure to reduce the tyre development life cycle, perform with fewer employees amid frequently changing product performance demands. Scarcity and growing costs for real estate is another major challenge. Hence enhancing the process efficiency in every stage of their manufacturing process would be an emphasis.

Compounding and Mixing fields bear the most significant potential to enhance efficiency with Liquid phase mixing and Automation. In the curing process, split component curing of tread and carcass separately is foreseen to dominate the industry eventually. So is the shift from mechanical to hydraulic and electric movements. Electric heating and steam elimination are also gaining popularity.

End-to-end traceability of all materials and components throughout the manufacturing and supply chain will be mandatory in the future.

5) Exponential technology: It is Automation Now:

Growing dependence on automation technologies by tyre manufacturers to meet the changing demands by performing operations such as processing, assembly, inspection, or material handling, in some cases accomplishing more than one of these operations in the same system is a welcoming trend. It is needless to state that Automating a manufacturing operation increases production rate, uniformity, conformity to quality specifications, reduction of defect rate, and manufacturing lead time, thereby reducing the work-in-process inventory. Process consistency is another critical area of paramount importance. The work is also made safer.

A higher level of automation in TBM is foreseen while it transports and assembles various components to build green tyres. TBM of the future will be with quicker and more accurate synchronisation system to give better tension control and edge placements, ergonomics and safety. A key role will be played by automated testing and data analysis technologies which can supplement traditional inspection to reduce errors and increase cost-efficiency. Consequently, higher investment in automation has become economically justifiable to replace manual operations.

Industry 4.0 : Quantum Leap in Performance:

In recent years, the traditional manufacturing industry is challenged worldwide with the digital transformation that is accelerated by exponentially growing technologies(e.g. intelligent robots, autonomous drones, sensors, 3D printing). Digitalisation allows easy integration of interconnected smart components inside the shop floor, that is the basis of the so-called Industry 4.0, and that is made possible by the widespread adoption of information and communication technologies by manufacturing companies. Major tyre manufacturers and their suppliers now are fully embracing the opportunities being presented by digital manufacturing taking full advantage of digitalisation and making use of new business models make it possible to get there.

The resulting conflict

The above mentioned best practice technologies representing the diffusion of innovation need to be implemented into the production process regularly and also when making new investment decisions in capital stock. This cycle of regular initiatives will lead to machinery upgrades and fall squarely onto the machinery manufacturers and even obsolescence risk of the current asset of tyre producers.

Machinery manufacturers, on the other hand, foreseeing the emerging challenges from tyre companies, are often confounded when investing in new technology. It is unthinkable to converge both at a breakneck pace. Years pass between the upgrades for both and risk of the business falling behind competitors grows. The goal of tyre producers and machinery manufacturers is to resolve these conflicts by synchronising and converging to meet the demands proactively.

Summarising, it is the brisk pace of change by tyre manufacturers, exponential technologies and automation that is driving tyre machinery manufacturers to invest more in R&D, evolve rapidly in technology that is leading to the obsolescence in capital asset.

A Mitigation Strategy: From Talk to Action

In many cases, the more pragmatic approach for tyre manufacturers would be to mitigate obsolescence risk instead of attempting to eliminate it. Following is a step-by-step method to doing so during this regular cadence of innovation. (Refer to fig 2 for a comprehensive outline)

To reap maximum benefit, tyre manufacturers need to implement their mitigation strategy in the form of an organisation-wide initiative, addressing both new projects (in “structural” approach) and regular operations (in an “infrastructural” approach).

This means that in addition to focusing on mitigation in new projects, tyre manufacturers must also continuously enhance the value of their current assets. Ultimately, they can succeed in building a sustainable ecosystem capable of thriving in an ever-changing industry if they perform a sort of an organisational and cultural transformation of their entire system.

Though specific mitigation strategies will vary from one organisation to another, I have distilled the initiatives into five distinct pillars to prepare the best-practice plan:

1. New Project Philosophy

2. Manufacturing Process Philosophy

3. Organisational Transformation

4. Enhancement of value of current capital assets

5. Product planning

For a good reason, when a company embarks on capacity expansion, it is essential to have a project philosophy to stick to. Such a philosophy involves paying attention to flexibility in process and machinery, scalability, and retrofittability, besides capital productivity and process efficiency. Keeping pace with current trends in machinery and digital technology is also vital. Various disciplines in manufacturing such as Automation, Exponential Technology, OEE, Energy efficiency, smaller equipment footprint, and equipment with Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) need to align well to avert investment risk effectively.

It is imperative to avoid isolated patches of automated systems. Adopting an “Open process automation” (OPA) vision is far easier to maintain and update leads to enhanced value addition. Doing so will gain additional traction to eventually replace large CapEx automation retrofit programs with smaller OpEx programs. Standardisation is another crucial and common layer which cut across machines, parts, processes, materials, components and toolings.

On the manufacturing process philosophy front, using the lean approach to seek opportunities to simplify the process and cut non-value adding steps is a major step for process agility and efficiency. The lean approach through a Near Net Shape process (NNS) by getting rid and combining of process step (for, e.g., calendar-less belt/body ply making), incorporating more concurrent steps and transforming semi-continuous processes to continuous processes is the way.

Tyre companies should seriously consider modularity and flexibility to be amenable for scalability, extensibility, mass customisation, and to reduce the risk of upfront investment. Modularity and flexibility will also enable them to move closer to customers and to have agility. To maximise the benefit, continuous progression in process technology is necessary, which will give inputs to the above project philosophy. Faster adoption of exponential technologies and Industry 4.0 compliance will dramatically boost the effectiveness of the mitigation plan. The loop will be completed when the project plan drives product engineering and eventually aligns products to the finalised plan.

It’s time to realise, also for a good reason, that attention must be paid to organisational transformation initiatives such as co-creation with customers and vendors, speeding-up the technology trend for first-mover advantage and shifting from product features back to service to customers by assisting capability building. Building the ecosystem proactively before product innovations, having technical change as part of investment analysis, moving from CapEx to OpEx by out-sourcing of customised semi-finished stocks (for, e.g., compounds) and components and capability building in emerging technologies by taking full support of machine manufacturer is critical. Another fundamental mindset change needed is valuing “generalists” rather than “specialists” as it is the key to creative breakthroughs involving recombining or reimagining things that already exist. All these initiatives eventually will lead to foreseeing the requirements well in advance and reengineering and upgrading the assets to contemporary level in functionality with minimum investments at a more predictive pace.

I would also like to emphasise that, while investing in the right technology is essential, the biggest challenge is not limited to selection - ultimately success or failure depends on the timing and requires assessing the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) and exploiting the full potential of new technologies.

Additionally, a robust technology forecasting and product/process lifecycle management by creating a “sunset” policy for older products and machinery are paramount to cover investment risks. Another key initiative is on the product front - efforts should be put to increase the market share of current products through value enhancement and penetration of new markets. Product migration using adjacent technologies with appropriate reconfiguration in processes and layout is also vital. These initiatives will enhance the value of current capital assets and as a result, boost risk mitigation.

Now What?

The underlying goal of a mitigation strategy is to quantify the risk involved and determine the measures that make most business sense to soften the impending obsolescence. A phased approach would be to first identify and define the goals and scope of the obsolescence plan with dedicated qualified resources. Next is to prioritise the measures bringing the most value to the business and making sure they are aligned with the company vision.

It would help to initiate pilot projects and capability building to better plan for adopting advancing technology and ease the shift to the next paradigm, allowing you to embrace the future in stride. Make sure company leadership is ready and willing to champion your approach with a broader range of factors in mind focussing on an ecosystem.

Charting an action plan for the investments and technology needed such that there is minimum risk is a demanding task. Doing this will enable them to expand the firm’s productive capacity and produce quality tyres that are cost-competitive by infusion of modern technologies and that meet customer demands. The investment would turn attractive after a reasonable period putting the business on a more robust and competitive footing.

But the optimism is that companies responsive to automotive market trends and fast-changing technologies with a robust risk assessment and technology management will come out on top.

G. Unnikrishnan is a tyre technical professional with over 30 years’ experience. He is currently Senior Vice President at JK Tyre & Industries Ltd. The opinions and observations presented here are his own and do not represent that of any company or organisation

 

 

The effects of the Strait of Hormuz closure will become particularly evident in 2026 and undoubtedly represent a strategic bottleneck for global energy and petrochemical trade. The Gulf War disrupted raw material supplies, crippled logistics and destabilised key export markets.

While the war represents a financial catastrophe, it also presents new opportunities. It has driven up raw material costs, while the logistics crisis has impacted export markets. The financial consequences include shrinking margins and reduced demand. However, long-term strategic shifts are expected, and these trends are likely to accelerate by 2040.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the disruptions in the Red Sea have brought maritime traffic to the Middle East and Europe to a near standstill. The war has caused logistical chaos, and exports face immediate difficulties. China alone was expected to export more than seven million tyres to the Middle East by 2025, but this vital trade route is now blocked by skyrocketing freight rates and insurance premiums.

The profitability of the sector, whose gross margins are expected to fall to slightly more than four times their pre-war levels, is likely to be impacted by market consolidation and rising demand for high-tech tyres, particularly for electric vehicles. In the short to long term, the costs of raw materials such as synthetic rubber, carbon black and logistics are expected to rise significantly. Furthermore, this crisis could spur massive investments in bio-based and recycled materials to reduce dependence on petroleum. To address supply bottlenecks, the sharp decline in exports from the Middle East, coupled with significantly increased transportation costs, should be offset by regionalised production, for example, in India and Southeast Asia. With regard to product development, the short-term priority of cost control should lead to an acceleration of research and development into sustainable rubber compounds and sensorless smart tyres.

The end of the Gulf War is likely to usher in a period of weak economic growth and high inflation. The tyre industry is already facing a profound restructuring process. In the post-war era, the focus is not only on repairing the damage but, above all, on accelerating the long-term transition to regionalised supply chains, a circular economy and value creation through technology.

The most immediate consequence of war is a drastic increase in raw material costs,

which can account for almost 70 percent of tyre production costs. Around 45 percent of the raw materials used in the tyre industry are petroleum-based, and another 45 percent are natural rubber. In the case of synthetic rubber (NBR/SBR), the direct rise in oil prices leads to a price increase for butadiene, a key raw material. In the US, NBR prices rose by 7.4 percent at the beginning of March 2026; in China, butadiene prices jumped by 25 percent within a week.

Analysts estimate that this conflict could reduce global natural rubber production by 36 to 45 kilotonnes in the first half of 2026. How can this be explained, given that the effects on natural rubber are indirect? Diesel shortages prevent trucks from collecting rubber from plantations, thus reducing supply on the market. This shortage is contributing to the energy crisis in Southeast Asia. Prices for carbon black and chemicals derived from oil and gas are also rising in line with increasing energy costs. The supply of speciality chemicals (such as bromine from Israel) is also at risk.

Bio-based materials, particularly long-term ESG pilot projects, represent an immediate strategic necessity. The market for bio-based materials is projected to reach USD 337 million by 2032, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 101 percent, thus replacing volatile petrochemical feedstocks. Similarly, it is becoming increasingly clear that tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) and sensorless, AI-powered systems like Michelin SmartWear can reduce costs and enhance safety.

Rising energy prices and crumbling infrastructure will weigh on consumption and investment. Inflation is high and is expected to remain high (around four percent for the G20 in 2026). Even after the war, energy costs and the rebuilding of supply chains will keep prices high. Consequently, the post-war economic recovery is expected to be slow and uneven, without a V-shaped rebound. The war has left lasting scars on global supply chains and public finances. Global GDP growth is weaker and below the pre-pandemic average.

In the field of carbon black recycling, carbon black is developing into a strategic raw material. Recycled carbon black (rCB) and tyre pyrolysis oil are becoming strategic raw materials intended to replace unstable fossil fuels. Massive investments, such as in Lummus-InnoVent, a continuous pyrolysis technology, will increase rCB production and reach a market of USD 15.6 billion by 2034.

Sustainable and bio-based materials are of great strategic importance, and significant investments are already being made to increase their production. Rising oil prices are making bio-based alternatives economically viable and essential for security of supply. Therefore, the transition to sustainable materials is no longer just an ESG goal but a necessity for the entire supply chain.

The Gulf War acted as a powerful catalyst, transforming promising future trends into immediate and essential investments. Bio-based silanes, for example, are now being used more and more frequently. Momentive’s NXT P97, a next-generation silane for electric vehicle tyres with 79 percent bio-based carbon, reduces reliance on fossil fuels while improving rolling resistance and durability. This technology, a prime example, is currently being deployed on a large scale.

Tyre prices will remain high. The recovery will therefore be characterised more by rapid strategic development than by a simple return to pre-war levels. It is not so much the fluctuating demand from car manufacturers, but rather the replacement tyre market, which alone accounts for 70 percent of the volume, that is likely to continue to strongly support the consumer goods and logistics sectors during the economic recovery.

Increasing uncertainty is becoming the new normal. Geopolitical risks remain a key concern, forcing companies to prioritise resilience over efficiency. This situation is creating unequal competitive conditions for tyre manufacturers and their core markets. The difficulties faced by energy-importing countries in Europe and Asia will be further exacerbated in this climate of uncertainty.

This crisis will be one of the main reasons for the relocation of production to key markets, forcing the tyre industry to make unavoidable investments. It will be compelled to implement the technologies necessary for a more resilient, sustainable and technologically advanced future. New production centres will be established to circumvent geopolitical obstacles. This new dynamic is characterised by a clear strategic realignment of production and supply chains, accelerating ‘out-of-China’ models and leading to regionalisation. This conflict is not merely a disruption but a form of brutality for economically weaker countries, even if it represents a highly effective response to the relocation of production areas.

This war teaches us that excessive dependence on unstable regions like the Middle East must be balanced by the need for market diversification. Exporters like China and India will increasingly focus on Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia. Margins will remain under pressure in the short term. High raw material and energy costs will not fall immediately. Large global companies will gain market share by leveraging their size and technology, as well as through increased regionalisation. Conversely, smaller, less diversified companies risk being acquired or exiting the market. Companies with strong pricing power and high operational efficiency will recover faster than those that rely solely on low prices.

The tyre industry is facing profound change. The tyre market is being restructured, and local, sales-oriented production is being intensified to circumvent geopolitical barriers and tariffs. In the short term, demand is expected to recover, but profit margins will be severely impacted by persistently high costs. In the long term, the sector will become more regionally focused, evolve towards a circular economy and rely more heavily on technology. In short, the end of the war will not restore the pre-conflict status quo. The crisis has forced a difficult but necessary transition to sustainable and resilient business models that will shape the key trends through 2040. 

Fifty-seven years ago on 1st September 1968, I joined the rubber products manufacturing industry in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) as a trainee in a medium scale footwear company. The only knowledge or rather awareness I had of rubber until that time was seeing the tapping of trees, adding a pungent liquid to the milky liquid, put on metal trays, squeezing the whitish slab of material through two rotating metal rollers manually rotated by a crank and putting them in a smoke shed that was available in some backyards to end up with a striped brownish sheet of rubber, which I later learnt was known as RSS. Later, in the early sixties, during our Organic Chemistry lessons, we learnt that C5H8 is the formula for Isoprene, which is the building block of natural rubber. Going down the memory lane of the past 57 years of knowledge acquisition in the rubber industry might turn out to be an exhaustive exercise. However, it is my sincere hope that some of my experiential insights might help the modern-day managers to seek areas that may strengthen their foundations in this era of rapid shifting sands.

I should say I am at a loss in finding an appropriate definition of knowledge from the vast interpretations which appear to be too academic. One practical and easy to understand definition I have come across in that knowledge is the ability to understand, apply and transfer information and experience to solve problems and adapt to changing circumstances, Merely the possession of facts is meaningless. It is the skill of using them effectively for survival, development and progress that is more important. It reminds me of the many research findings and innovations that are gathering dust in many institutions. In the case of early humans, knowledge emerged through direct observation of nature, trial and error and sharing same with groups. In my opinion, the context has virtually been the same over the ages, although the scope and the contents have undergone drastic changes during the course of human history, particularly through the four industrial revolutions and apparently heading for an unprecedented and a somewhat incomprehensible future.

If I am asked the question how I have acquired knowledge during my working life, I would say without any hesitation that it was through a process of osmosis. Those who studied botany under the biological sciences may perhaps vaguely remember how plants absorb water, minerals and other nutrients from the surrounding soil through their root systems by the process called osmosis. In a similar manner, we also acquire knowledge from the external environment through our sense facilities, namely the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and the skin, and through perceptions, which are processed by our brain and the central nervous system. The Buddhist doctrine gives a clear description of this process, which are well in line with the biological and physiological sciences. I, however, would not wish to go in to a philosophical deliberation at this point of time. Knowledge acquisition is a lifelong process with the ‘cradle to grave’ concept, and according to the modern scientific findings, starting at the moment of our conception in the mother’s womb.

I would now endeavour to delve a little into the knowledge acquisition modalities available to us trainees during our formative days of the career in the rubber industry from the late sixties onwards. The modern rubber technologist (if the term is still in use) may perhaps find them archaic as if they are viewing the archaeological remnants exhibited at a museum. It was hands-on experience from the beginning in what was termed a 3D industry, namely dirty, difficult and dangerous. This was mainly due to the particulate and dusty nature of the various fillers used such as carbon black and the toxicity of the rubber chemicals, coupled with the usage of high energy consuming motor driven machinery, both electrical and heat, usage of steam and compressed air, emission of high noise and vibration, fumes and high material load in some industries such as tyre manufacturing and tyre re-treading. The complexity and diversity are further aggravated by the macromolecular nature of both natural and synthetic rubber, which necessitates the somewhat illogical steps of breaking and remaking using a vast array of heterogeneous raw materials to facilitate the processability and for achieving the performance requirements of the products, some of which are of highly composite nature. As a consequence of the above, rubber product manufacturing industry was not at all the preferred choice for young school leavers like me. Hence, my entry into the rubber industry was due to the pure necessity of finding employment. However, the practical involvement with the identification and weighing of the multitude of rubber raw materials somehow had its attraction for me, which prompted me to read the limited number of text books and supplier literature that were available at that time. The real turning point in my career in the industry was the opportunity I got to follow the two-year part-time course at the then Ceylon College of Technology (now a university) to study for the Licentiate of the Institution of the Rubber Industry, LIRI (UK). This was equivalent to a full time BSc today. We were very fortunate to have three well-respected and dedicated teachers of the day in our quest for the acquisition of knowledge. Teaching was a noble profession for them, and I am very proud to state that their photographs adorn the entrance to the auditorium at the Plastics and Rubber Institute of Sri Lanka, where I joined as student in 1969 and ended up as its President for the year 2024.

Another remarkable feature during those days came in the shape of representatives from well-reputed giants in the raw material manufacturing companies such as Bayer, ICI, Monsanto, ACCI Rhien-Chemi and Polysar, names which to my knowledge are not existing now, or may be as mergers. These were invaluable opportunities for us the young technologists to gain the technical knowledge and discussion about the technical problems. The short technical sessions conducted by some of them in the evenings were eagerly awaited occasions during our days to share knowledge over a cup of tea. I am a little puzzled whether some of the similar events conducted online as webinars have the same effects or if at all that personal rapport.

The Bayers Technical Programme conducted annually at Thane, India, during those days was another avenue for gaining very valuable theoretical and practical knowledge, and I was fortunate to associate with prominent professionals such as R R Pandit, who left this world a few years ago, and Dr S N Chakravarthy.During my working with the Bata Shoe Company of Ceylon for 12 years, I had the opportunity to represent the company at a few of the Regional Technical Meetings held in the Far East. These were invaluable platforms for sharing knowledge and information of the technical developments of the individual companies. They were also enjoyable opportunities for networking and building up some lasting relationships. After following the programmes, it was compulsory that we give a presentation to the management and staff about our learning experiences, and more importantly, to plan development activities, the success of which was one criterion for our individual performance evaluation. Knowledge by itself is not power unless it is shared – a truism that will not apply to politics and the intelligence services. I well remember the case in a place I worked later about how some staff members who were sent to Japan for training deliberately skipped sharing what they learnt at company expense with the fellow staff members despite the several reminders.

As a passing remark, I may mention that my period of working in the tyre retreading and rubber products manufacturing companies in Kenya (for about 14 years) offered me the good opportunity of working with multiethnic communities while imparting my knowledge to train and develop staff members.

Now, coming to the global rubber product manufacturing, it can be seen that the focus on mixing, curing and reinforcement knowledge requirements has expanded into a multidisciplinary portfolio over the past 50 years, and the quest will continue. It is not prudent to do comparisons as ‘now and then’ because knowledge acquisition and its management is heavily dependent on the needs and requirements at any particular era or period of time. Unlike in our generation, a vast knowledge base, which is sometimes bewildering, is available at the touch of a fingertip for the modern-day managers, and apparently, most of it is related to their work and operational activities. My discussions and chats with many managers reveal the fact that they are overburdened with their daily activities and are working at different stress levels. They seldom seem to have any time or opportunity to integrate their work with the core values such as respect, gratuity and empathetical understanding.

The famous quote of Sir Issac Newton comes to my mind at this juncture: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” He wrote this statement in a letter to Robert Hooke in February 1675, acknowledging that his own scientific discoveries were built upon the work of his predecessors, a sentiment that symbolises humility and scientific progress.

Knowledge and discipline go hand in hand. How to use knowledge appropriately needs discipline to comprehend. The consequences of using knowledge for the sake of knowledge, purely for application to industry, without giving due recognition to humanity and our core values is surfacing rapidly at the cost of trust, wellbeing, harmony and human development in every aspect of human activity, both locally and globally. In this respect, I remember the famous line from the poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Samual Taylor Coleridge, which we happened to study in our literature class a long time ago.

‘Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink’ illustrates the irony and anguish of being desperately hot and thirsty whilst being surrounded by nothing but ocean.

The author is a Management Counsellor from Sri Lanka.

Service is being there to assist the client to experience less lost profit. Some may say pain; obviously, of the financial kind and not physical kind.

Navigating life’s challenges becomes considerably more complex when a flat tyre comes into play. Preferably first thing in the morning, as the tyre’s lost its pressure over night. The tyre wasn’t capable of delivering its usual level of service when you required it to do.

A tyre service delivery has the client’s wellbeing in mind when managing the usually large asset for a fleet operation that is known as ‘TYRES’. From initial selection through procurement service and end of first life, decisions are required based on experience, knowledge and data. Supply alone cannot support such an operation requiring service to monitor, measure, maintain and manage tyres in operation. In a round the clock operation, tyres don’t just operate on one shift.

Electronic surveillance is becoming part of daily life, no different for tyres. Uninterrupted service, but can you can stay awake long enough?

What has changed is the service a tyre now receives from tyre pressure monitoring. Operating at the appropriate pressure, a tyre can deliver the highest level of service it is capable of. The service provider now becomes the service receiver. Indeed, both are becoming the service controller with the delivery of smart tyres. The tyres provide service to the control systems of the vehicle, updating on current conditions and even considering what is to be experienced based on what the tyres are feeling, just as a human does, in delayed response.

THE SERVICE LOOP CLOSES.

Good service always should breed trust and respect and so loyalty. Unfortunately, sometimes prices come into play. As our industry knows only too well, quality is never (ever) low cost. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is. Is your (or someone else’s) life worth a fist full of money? Bean counters have a lot to answer for when it comes to tyre operations.

Service is supporting your client to assist them to generate a profit. Would you turn away someone who helps you make money? So how do we assist to reduce the pain point? Real-time tyre pressure monitoring, know the issue before it becomes a problem, before the hazard threshold is crossed. With ease data can be streamed in real time. A tyre service centre is able today to alert a fleet operator that a tyre is in need of attention, before the situation develops into a catastrophic tyre failure. The nearest service facility can be alerted, the vehicle with the problem tyre already known to the service facility is attended to and returned to service. The service loop closes again. The tyres assist you making a profit, ergo a service provider.

Someone or something that makes my life better is to me a service provider. I consider that a reflection of the trust a client invests in their supplier to be a prime indicator of the level of service that is utilised. There are times when service is ridden rough shod over as price becomes the primary driver. Service suffers, returns from the tyre operations fall as tyre costs rise, though more importantly, machine availability drops. Remember, the sweet low price is long forgotten when low quality is found.

What is your level of service to your clients? Will they return to you or go looking elsewhere?

Our tyres rarely complain and endure the harsh conditions we ask them to operate in, without attention and generally without any care.

Remember the level of service your tyres provide to you and yours. Can you emulate this level of service provision to your clients, friends and family?

Take care, stay TyreSafe!

The past few years have not been easy for Indian industries. From post-pandemic recovery and supply chain issues to trade policy shifts and geopolitical conflicts, businesses across sectors have been navigating uncertainty. Yet, amidst this turbulence, the Indian tyre industry is emerging resilient – steadily carving out a global presence and positioning itself as a poster boy of India’s manufacturing story.

In the last one month alone, three developments have highlighted the strength, adaptability and future-readiness of the Indian tyre sector. Together, they offer a glimpse into an industry not only responding to challenges but also reimagining the road ahead.

Despite rising protectionism and the lingering aftershocks of disrupted global supply chains, Indian tyre exports have continued their upward march. In the last fiscal year, tyre exports from India have grown by nine percent year-on-year – a clear indication of global confidence in Indian-manufactured tyres. Tyre exports from India reached INR 250.51 billion compared to INR 230.73 billion in the previous fiscal, as per data released by the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India.

This isn’t just a story of volume. It’s a story of credibility – built on strong domestic manufacturing capability, world-class quality standards and a heightened focus on research and development.

Today, Indian manufactured tyres are competing with the best on parameters of performance, durability and cost-efficiency and providing a value proposition difficult to match. Indian tyres are exported to over 170 countries, with significant presence in the United States, European Union, Latin America and Southeast Asia. The US remains the top export destination, accounting for 17 percent of India’s tyre exports by value, followed by Germany (six percent), Brazil (five percent), UAE (four percent) and France (four percent).

With an estimated annual turnover of INR 1 trillion and exports exceeding INR 250 billion, the Indian tyre industry stands out as one of the few manufacturing sectors in the country with a high export-to-turnover ratio.

This export momentum has been further facilitated by the government’s active support in promoting domestic manufacturing through Make in India and other export-enabling reforms.

Perhaps nothing captures the maturing of the Indian tyre industry better than the recent global rankings by Brand Finance, the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy, which features four Indian tyre manufacturers – MRF, Apollo, CEAT and JK Tyre – among the world’s 15 strongest tyre brands. In fact, MRF, with a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score of 83.5, ranks as the third strongest tyre brand in the world after Michelin and Goodyear, according to the Brand Finance report.

This is not mere symbolism. It reflects decades of effort in building product trust, expanding global footprints and investing in brand equity. From high-performance radial tyres to off-the-road solutions, these companies are not just making tyres – they are shaping mobility experiences across geographies.

If the present is promising, the future looks even more exciting. A Vision 2047 report by PwC forecasts a CAGR of 11–12 percent for the Indian tyre industry over the next two decades. That is not just encouraging – it’s transformative.

This projected growth rides on several powerful drivers including rising demand from rural and semi-urban India, rapid growth in two-wheeler and commercial vehicle segments, a paradigm shift towards electric mobility and smart transport, greater OEM activity within India as global players deepen their localisation strategies and government policy support that encourages domestic production and discourages non-essential imports.

It’s also a growth that aligns with national priorities – self-reliance, sustainability and job creation.

India’s tyre industry is no longer playing catch-up. It is setting benchmarks. It is innovating, expanding and winning trust in markets around the world. It is making bold bets on sustainability, supply chain resilience and digital transformation. Tyre manufacturers in India have collectively invested nearly INR 270 billion over the last 3-4 years. These investments, spanning both greenfield and brownfield projects, highlight the industry’s confidence in India’s long-term growth potential and the industry’s commitment to capacity expansion and technological advancements.

As we steer towards 2047 – India’s centenary of independence – the tyre sector stands ready to play a pivotal role in the journey. One that connects not just places but aspirations.

Rajiv Budhraja is Director General of the New Delhi-based tyre industry association, Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ATMA).The views expressed here are personal.