Dunlop Tyres: Reviving A Legacy
- By Nilesh Wadhwa
- August 26, 2026
In a significant move to revive its iconic legacy in India, Dunlop Tyres is accelerating expansion plans with a sharp focus on in-house manufacturing capacity for commercial vehicle tyres and strategic collaborations in the consumer segment.
Executive Director Sakchi Ruia outlines an ambitious roadmap that leverages the brand’s pioneering heritage, embraces electrification and targets value-driven growth across key segments amid a rapidly evolving Indian tyre market.
In the competitive landscape of the Indian tyre industry, few names carry the historical weight of Dunlop. As the pioneer of the pneumatic tyre globally and a foundational player in India since 1896, the brand is poised for a significant revival.
In an exclusive interaction with Tyre Trends, Sakchi Ruia, Executive Director of Dunlop Tyres, shared her vision for breathing new life into the iconic marque, focusing on capacity expansion, segment-specific growth and adaptation to emerging technologies such as electrification.
Ruia, an MBA from Columbia Business School who brings experience from McKinsey & Company, has been instrumental in steering Dunlop’s operations since joining in 2023. Her leadership emphasises leveraging the brand’s storied heritage while addressing modern market dynamics.
“Dunlop as we all know is the first tyre brand in the world, first pneumatic tyre brand and it has been very monumental in India as well. We have very big plans for the brand and are looking to really revive the brand here. We are exploring both greenfield and brownfield opportunities,” she reveals.
The company has already made inroads in the truck and bus radial (TBR) segment, with broader ambitions spanning multiple vehicle categories. This strategic revival comes at a time when India’s automotive sector is experiencing robust growth across consumer and commercial segments, driven by rising vehicle ownership and evolving consumer preferences.
NAVIGATING A COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
India’s tyre market is one of the most fiercely contested globally, with legacy domestic players, international entrants and new challengers vying for share.
When asked about competition, Ruia embraces it as a catalyst for progress. “I think competition is good, right? I think it takes the industry forward with the competition,” she notes.
“I think we see a lot of stakeholder development, ecosystem development. Like we see a lot of machine makers are now coming to India to manufacture. And that’s because of the whole pool of all the players combined,” she explains.
Dunlop, she emphasises, on the other hand, is no newcomer. “Dunlop is not a new player in the industry. It’s a legacy player, it’s seen the wave, it’s been there.” She highlights the ample room for growth in a market where demand has not yet outstripped supply.
“I think there’s a lot of space for a lot of players right now. It’s not a space where demand is far exceeding supply still. So I think there’s a lot of space for people to really make their mark,” she avers.
Ruia pointed to supportive policies favouring locally manufactured tyres as an opportunity for Indian players, including Dunlop, to flourish. The ecosystem, she believes, benefits the entire industry and enables established brands with heritage to differentiate themselves through quality and reliability.
ADDRESSING COST-CONSCIOUSNESS AND VALUE IN COMMERCIAL TYRES
On the other hand, coming to the commercial vehicle segment, which continues to remain highly cost-sensitive, Ruia argues that true value lies beyond upfront pricing.
Discussing the competitive nature of business and the acquisition cost for commercial vehicle customers, she observes, “I think what feeds drivers value in the commercial segment is cost per kilometre. So that really gives advantage to the value players. It’s about providing value-for-money; whoever’s manufacturing quality tyres really gets value.”
She notes that Indian customers in this segment are discerning. “India is a very quality-conscious market in that regard. Because they look at cost per kilometre, not just cost per tyre. They want tyres which run longer kilometres, give better mileage. I think there’s a lot of scope and space and the market itself filters out the players,” says Ruia.
On the concept of tyre-as-a-service or cost-per-kilometre models gaining traction among competitors, Ruia expresses keen interest.
“Cost per kilometre for sure, we work heavily in the commercial segment with the TBR. We really do see that the end-consumers are very supportive for this metric. And they really value the lifelong value of the tyre that they get, not just upfront cost. Tyre-as-a-service is very interesting; we haven’t explored it yet. But that’s something which I was also very interested to hear about today,” she says.
CAPACITY EXPANSION AND SEGMENT PRIORITIES
A cornerstone of Dunlop’s future strategy is establishing in-house manufacturing capacity, particularly for the commercial segment. Ruia confirms that plans are advancing, though details remain under wraps for now.
“I think once the announcement is there, everyone will know about it. It’s initial stages right now. We’re in discussions about really formalising and crystallising the plans,” she explains.
Furthermore, the company is already evaluating both greenfield and brownfield options, with timelines tied to ongoing discussions. In the interim, Dunlop maintains presence in two- and three-wheeler tyres through partners (Ludhiana-based Ralson India), a segment close to the brand’s heritage where it once held significant market share. “Two- and three-wheeler remains very close to Dunlop’s heart. We’ve always done well in this segment,” Ruia affirms.
Passenger car radial tyres (PCR) are on the longer-term horizon. “PCR tyres again is something which is in the pipeline, not in the foreseeable future. But eventually, yes, we’d want to get into that segment as well. It is growing. So, you know, let’s see how the plans evolve. Right now, our focus is the commercial segment,” the Dunlop executive says.
Ruia explains that collaboration opportunities in the consumer segment will complement in-house commercial production.
Outlining her top three priorities for the next 3–5 years, Ruia says, “I think the top thing that we’re looking for is to definitely have in-house capacity for commercial vehicle tyres. That’s one thing which is top of mind for us. We are also looking to explore good collaboration opportunities in the consumer segment. Because we’re going to be doing in-house manufacturing for the commercial segment. That’s going to be number two. And number three, I think we really, really want to focus on the new-age solutions.”
EMBRACING ELECTRIFICATION AND NEW-AGE TECHNOLOGIES
Electrification represents both a challenge and a major opportunity for the global automotive and allied industry. With trucks and buses increasingly shifting to electric powertrains, tyre requirements are evolving rapidly.
“I think, electrification is a very interesting and exciting opportunity for everyone across the board, consumer and commercial,” Ruia says.
“There are some unique requirements for tyres, such as lower rolling resistance, ability to handle higher instantaneous torque, reinformed sidewalls and lower noise due to the silent nature of EVs. Electric vehicles are going to be much heavier, less noisy and have high torque requirements. So tyres will also need to take shape accordingly,” Ruia says.
Key adaptations will include better sidewalls, enhanced load resistance and reduced noise levels. “I think the industry as a whole will develop tyres to meet those requirements. I don’t think it’s going to be an option for anyone (to not develop EV tyres). But we’ll all evolve to meet those requirements,” she says.
Ruia stressed that the tyre industry will align with government focus on EVs. “I think the government is also focusing a lot on EVs. And I think the tyre industry will flow with that demand,” she adds.
She mentions that new-age product development, particularly for EVs, forms a critical part of Dunlop’s forward-looking strategy.
As Dunlop moves to formalise its expansion plans, the focus remains on quality, heritage and innovation. Ruia’s pragmatic yet optimistic outlook underscores a brand ready to reclaim its position by combining legacy strengths with forward-thinking investments in capacity, partnerships and technology.
For the tyre industry, Dunlop’s revival signals not just renewed competition but also fresh momentum in expanding choices for consumers in India. With in-house manufacturing on the horizon and a clear emphasis on value-driven performance and electrification, the company is positioning itself for sustainable, long-term growth in one of the world’s most dynamic markets.
Hidden Cost In Tyre Plants: How The Rubber Moves
- By Gaurav Nandi
- October 14, 2026
Interroll’s Gianmichele Piciocco argues that some of the largest efficiency gains in tyre manufacturing lie in the interfaces between machines, not only in the machines themselves.
Tyre manufacturers invest heavily in the best building machines and the fastest curing presses. The systems that connect them, however, are often specified late, inherited from earlier projects and seldom revisited, according to Gianmichele Piciocco, Global Strategic Business Development Manager at Interroll.
“Material flow is the backbone of the entire tyre industry,” Piciocco tells Tyre Trends. In his experience, engineers select and position process equipment first, and transport follows. The consequences emerge later, in energy consumption, maintenance stoppages and the cost of expansion. He argues that ‘we have always done it this way’ becomes a design constraint in its own right once technology, product mix, energy costs and safety expectations have changed. The examples that follow point to two closely connected areas: system optimisation during design and expansion, and lifecycle optimisation during operation.
THE LAYOUT TRAP
Piciocco says the pattern is consistent across the tyre manufacturers he advises. “In many cases, the layout initially proposed does not fully match what is ultimately implemented, often to contain the initial investment,” he says. Soon after start-up, plants may find that they need more buffer capacity, or that future expansion was not fully considered. With no floor space left, the remedy for material flow is often inclines, declines and additional levels, which can significantly increase costs.
The alternative is far cheaper if raised early. “At the design stage, and with possible expansion in mind, it is worth asking whether small changes in machine positioning could support more effective and flexible material flow,” he says.
The issue is especially relevant in India, where sustained market growth does not always mean new greenfield plants. Expansion often happens inside operating sites, where new capacity must coexist with several generations of equipment from multiple vendors. Without a common architectural logic, each extension can add another component family, control standard and maintenance practice, increasing complexity and the potential for integration and compatibility problems.
REOPENING THE BELT QUESTION
Green-tyre transfer illustrates how convention hardens into constraint. Uncured rubber is soft and contamination-sensitive, and belt conveyors have long been the default because a continuous surface supports the tyre and certified belt materials address contamination. Piciocco does not dismiss that logic. He argues it should no longer be treated as absolute.
Left on widely spaced rollers, a green tyre can begin to deform during relatively short stops, and contact with the wrong material can degrade quality after curing. One approach being evaluated by Interroll combines closely spaced rollers, software that keeps them ‘skating’ when the line stops and transfer materials selected to meet contamination requirements. Where a roller solution suits the application, he says, component cost can be materially lower than a belt’s. Because a belt is a continuous element, maintenance work can also take longer and be more complex.
The larger benefit, he argues, is commonality. The same families of rollers, drives and transfer modules can serve both pre-cure and post-cure sections, reducing the spare parts a plant holds and the skills its teams must learn. “Who is interested in saving money in the life cycle of the plant? The user,” he says.
SAVING ENERGY BY DESIGN
Piciocco says moving from conventional 400-volt drive systems to zoned 24/48-volt roller conveyors can reduce energy use, with savings of up to 50 percent in some applications. The low-voltage architecture can also simplify installation and maintenance and reduce exposure to hazardous voltages at machine level, subject to applicable safety standards. The advantage, he stresses, comes chiefly from the on-demand, zoned operating principle, in which only the zones a product needs are active, rather than from voltage alone.
Another example concerns a leading tyre producer that wanted a more compact layout within an existing plant while retaining sufficient buffer capacity and scope for future expansion. The initial conveyor concept required several accumulation loops, curves, inclines and declines, making both engineering and installation relatively complex.
“Working together, we proposed a solution comprising a motorised ascending spiral, an overhead bridge and a gravity spiral for the descent,” Piciocco says. “Each spiral has a footprint of roughly three metres in diameter. At a height of about 7.5 metres, the motorised spiral can provide buffer capacity for approximately 25 to 40 tyres, depending on their dimensions.”
The configuration provided the required buffer in a very compact footprint, with fewer powered components and a cleaner, more modular installation. Its cost was in line with, or slightly above, the conventional solution. Piciocco says the question he put to the customer’s technology director was simple: “Are you thinking about today, or the next 10 years?”
GROWING WITHOUT REBUILDING
A brownfield expansion is not simply a matter of adding more metres of conveyor. New sections must fit existing space, controls and maintenance organisation while the plant keeps running.
Interroll’s modular platforms, including the MCP range, are built from standard modules. RollerDrive EC5000 units, managed by MultiControl electronics, form a highly scalable and energy-efficient material handling system.
In a conventional centralised architecture, adding zones can require additional I/O, cabling and software changes. In a decentralised system, expansion means adding a module and an Ethernet connection. Independently controlled zones can also absorb small cycle-time differences and micro-stoppages without passing every interruption down the line. Upgrades follow the same logic. The 24-volt EC5000 versions rated at 20 and 35 watts with Analogue Interface (AI) can be used as replacements for the earlier EC310, supporting a more straightforward maintenance approach and the extension of existing installations.
ROUTING WITHOUT OVER-ENGINEERING
Not every route variation calls for a sorter. When tyres must be directed to testing, quality inspection, rework or the next process, Interroll’s position is that a modular conveyor backbone with targeted transfers and diverters often gives a better balance of performance, footprint and cost than a sorter built for distribution logistics. Further downstream, particularly after warehousing, higher volumes and more destinations can justify a dedicated sorter such as the company’s MC-S range.
Piciocco’s warehouse example shows the risk of getting this wrong. A large operator that stacks and stores tyres with considerable automation then needs a separate, costly sorting system to retrieve and route them. In this part of the process, he says, a solution such as Interroll’s MC-S can provide the required throughput with a more efficient layout and a significantly smaller footprint.
CONTINUITY INTO DOWNSTREAM HANDLING
Where load and duty allow, the same architecture can extend past the individual tyre. A 24/48-volt modular pallet conveyor, the MPP platform, can handle a load of up to 500 kilogrammes per metre while retaining decentralised control and zero-pressure accumulation. Rollers of 60 millimetres in diameter allow a closer pitch and more support points, which, after application validation, can reduce vertical undulation when handling tyre stacks.
Piciocco is careful not to make continuity a dogma. Above the platform’s operating envelope, robust 400-volt heavy-duty conveyors remain the correct choice.
FROM REACTION TO PLANNING
Maintenance is where Piciocco sees the most overlooked cost. When total cost of ownership and plant availability are considered, he says, maintenance and stoppage-related costs can account for around 10 to 15 percent of the overall cost associated with material flow in some applications, including labour, spare-parts inventory and lost production during downtime. “Maintenance is often treated as something that simply happens. It should not be. Much of it can be avoided,” he says.
Connected drives, such as the RollerDrive EC5000 BI with MultiControl, make more than 100 parameters available, including operating hours, cycle counts, temperature, system status and error type. If the torque required by a motor rises progressively, the system can flag an abnormal trend before it develops into a stoppage and give the maintenance team a stronger basis for planning an inspection.
Without that information, a failed motor can cause a prolonged stoppage while crews identify the source and check whether the spare part is available. With an early warning, maintenance can schedule the intervention; for an accessible RollerDrive with the spare available, replacement can take less than an hour. Piciocco calls this preventive rather than predictive maintenance. The data does not replace maintenance expertise, but it gives teams a stronger factual basis for decisions, and standard components make diagnostics and training common across the plant.
GLOBAL STANDARDS, LOCAL EXECUTION
A shared catalogue alone does not make a standard, Piciocco says. It also needs consistent selection criteria, spare-parts strategies and support after start-up. Interroll has production, engineering and service capabilities across the world’s main industrial regions, allowing global standards to be supported by local execution. Its life-cycle offering includes structured maintenance programmes, dedicated stock of critical components, periodic audits and staff training, scaled to how critical the application is.
He applies the same logic across markets. Using a smartphone as an analogy, Piciocco says the same platform can be used in a basic configuration or with more advanced functionality, depending on a plant’s needs and technological maturity. A manufacturer can therefore retain common components, diagnostics and training across sites while adapting the level of automation to local conditions.
That flexibility extends to how far automation should go. Speaking for himself, not Interroll, Piciocco says not every producer needs a dark factory. The appropriate level of automation depends on volumes, product mix, process maturity and available skills. “If people do not understand how the technology works, you can have the best technology in the world, but it will not be used properly and may even become a limitation,” he says.
REAL ISSUE
Asked what single mindset shift the industry needs, Piciocco did not hesitate. “Interface,” he says. “The machines are already quite optimised. The problem is how we serve the machine.” As individual machines become increasingly optimised, the interfaces between them play a growing role in improving productivity, simplifying maintenance, reducing energy consumption and enabling future expansion.
“Material flow should not be the last part of the engineering process,” he adds. “If it is considered earlier, we can contribute to a solution that supports optimisation of the entire plant.”
ATIRE Appoints Thierry Miche As Director Of Oem And Product
- By TT News
- October 13, 2026
ATIRE, a leading Sri Lankan Solid tyre maker, has appointed Thierry Miche as director of OEM and product, effective September 2026, bringing more than 25 years of experience in the global tyre and mobility industry to the role.
At ATIRE, Miche will lead the company's OEM and product activities, focusing on portfolio development, OEM relationships and expansion into new technical and commercial markets globally.
Miche joins from Michelin, where he spent 26 years in senior product and operational leadership positions, including roles at Solideal and Camso before their integration into the French group.
His most recent position was product Management Director for Beyond Road, with global strategic and operational responsibility for the product portfolio. He led teams across Belgium, Canada, France and the US, working with research and development, industrialisation, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and aftermarket sales, and supply chain functions.
Previously, Miche was Product Line Executive Director For material handling, overseeing the global product platform and holding full profit and loss responsibility for three manufacturing sites in Belgium, Germany and the US. He also led global research and development teams in Belgium and Sri Lanka.
His career has spanned product management and engineering, technical support, warranty management, quality assurance and systems. The experience covers the development and delivery of products across engineering, industrialisation, validation, sales and supply chain operations.
The Tyre Giant That Doesn’t Want A Dark Factory
- By Sharad Matade
- October 13, 2026
ZC Rubber, China’s largest tyre maker, is running 18 AI agents across its Hangzhou 5G plant. It insists the goal is smarter manufacturing, not emptier factory floors.
Walk into the industrial conversation about automation these days and ‘lights-out’ production tends to come up within minutes: factories with no people, no lighting and machines working in the dark. However, ZC Rubber, the Hangzhou-based group that ranks among the world’s top nine tyre companies, would like to correct that impression before it takes hold.
“We see this as a 5G Smart Factory, or Future Factory V2.0, rather than a ‘dark factory’. The goal is intelligent manufacturing, not simply removing people from the production process,” the company said in an interview.
That is a notable position from a company that has just put 18 AI agents to work across its production chain and reports defect rates well under half those of its earlier operations. It is also a considered one, and the details explain a good deal about how the world’s largest tyre market is approaching the factory of the future.
PEOPLE AT THE EXCEPTIONS
ZC Rubber’s division of labour is simple. Automation, AI and real-time data are steadily taking over what the company calls ‘repetitive and highly standardised operations.’ Its people are being moved towards engineering, process management, quality assurance and the handling of exceptions, meaning the unusual problems that no model has seen before.
“We will continue to increase automation, but fully unmanned production is not the goal,” ZC Rubber said. “It is about combining intelligent systems with human expertise.”
The same logic applies to the future. Asked whether lights-out production is on the roadmap, ZC Rubber was clear. “We do not see fully lights-out production as a goal in itself. Technology will be introduced where it brings clear improvements in quality, efficiency, safety and sustainability,” it said.
EIGHTEEN AGENTS, ONE PRODUCTION CHAIN
The scale of the AI deployment is considerable. Since June 2025, ZC Rubber has introduced 18 AI agents across the full production chain. Their use ranges from AI-assisted formulation and virtual simulation to equipment maintenance, production scheduling and quality control. According to the company, they have helped shorten tyre development cycles by 50 percent and lifted production efficiency by 50 percent.
Where does the value come from? Not from any single stage, the company suggests. “The biggest value comes from using AI to analyse production data, optimise process parameters and support faster decision-making across the manufacturing process,” it said. ZC Rubber does not currently publish a stage-by-stage breakdown of the gains.
INSPECTION AND THE DEFECT RATE
Quality control is where the company’s numbers are most striking. Its latest AI-based visual inspection systems, it says, can achieve a defect detection rate of close to 100 percent, improving both the speed and the consistency of inspection. That matters most in high-volume passenger car radial (PCR) output, where human inspectors face the twin problems of fatigue and sheer throughput.
Zooming out, the company says AI and digital quality control across its smart manufacturing system have cut its product defect rate from 1.2 percent to 0.5 percent.
HOW THE SYSTEMS TALK TO EACH OTHER
“Thousands of sensors collect production data in real time, while 5G connects equipment, quality inspection and logistics systems,” the company said. The APS+MES system pulls production, quality and logistics information into one place ‘so operations can be monitored and adjusted quickly’. AI and big data analytics then help staff spot problems and make faster production decisions.
AN EARLIER SET OF NUMBERS, UPDATED
ZC Rubber’s earlier claims of a 15 percent efficiency gain, up to 40 percent lower defect rates and a 5 percent cut in energy use make one notice that the latest figures are considerably better. The company is candid about why. “Those figures reflect an earlier stage of our smart factory development,” it said.
The current numbers, for the 5G Smart Factory, are a 50 percent improvement in production efficiency, defect rates down from 1.2 percent to 0.5 percent and a 10 percent reduction in overall energy consumption.
As for which technology deserves the credit, ZC Rubber declines to rank them. “We do not break down the improvement by individual technology,” it said, naming instead the key components: AI-based process control, automated inspection, intelligent logistics, APS+MES production management and data-driven quality control.
ENERGY, MEASURED VALVE BY VALVE
The energy figure is worth a closer look, because it comes from a fairly granular system. ZC Rubber’s energy management combines 5G, IoT, big data, AI and digital-twin technologies. Smart sensors, smart meters and smart valves feed real-time data into a central energy platform, while AI supports analysis and operational optimisation.
The division of labour among the technologies is neat. “5G provides the connectivity, while AI, big data and digital twins help turn the data into better energy-management decisions,” the company said.
TWO PLATFORMS AND A DIFFERENT STARTING POINT
The manufacturing story is inseparable from the development story. ZC Rubber runs two proprietary technology platforms: the X-Tech System, primarily for truck and bus radial (TBR) tyres, and the Phecda Tech System, primarily for PCR tyres. Each integrates compound formulation, tyre structure, process engineering, simulation, testing and intelligent manufacturing within a single development framework.
Their defining feature is what the company calls the Forward-development Approach. Traditional development, it explains, “often starts from an existing product and improves it through repeated design and testing cycles”. ZC Rubber starts elsewhere: with the target performance, whether that is vehicle characteristics, duty cycle, climate, road conditions or customer requirements. The compound, tyre structure and manufacturing process are then built around those targets. “This shifts the workflow from repeated iteration to a more integrated, target-driven development process,” the company said.
That, it argues, is where the halving of development time comes from. The 50 percent reduction reflects ‘a more integrated digital development process’, combining engineering expertise with simulation, AI-assisted tools and closer links between R&D, testing and manufacturing. AI lets engineers evaluate more design options against defined performance targets, and virtual simulation cuts out unnecessary physical iterations.
How tightly these platforms are wired into live production data has not been shared publicly. X-Tech and Phecda, the company said, connect R&D, manufacturing and validation within an integrated development process, but the detailed real-time data architecture behind them ‘is not something we currently disclose publicly’.
Henry Shen, ZC Rubber’s Senior Vice President, has made the wider point in the context of the group’s recent State recognition. “Our objective is not simply to develop an individual material, tread pattern or manufacturing process,” he said. “X-Tech and Phecda are complete development systems that connect user requirements with simulation, materials, tyre engineering, manufacturing and validation.”
THE STATE PRIZE
That recognition is significant. ZC Rubber, together with Harbin Institute of Technology, has been awarded the Second Prize of China’s State Science and Technology Progress Award for a project titled ‘Key Technologies and Green Intelligent Manufacturing of High-Performance Tires’. It is one of the country’s highest state-level honours for scientific and technological innovation, and ZC Rubber says it is the only Chinese tyre manufacturer in the past decade to win it at the Second Prize level or above.
The company backs the claim with spending. In 2025, it invested around RMB 1.54 billion (approximately USD 226 million in R&D, equal to 3.43 percent of annual revenue, according to its annual report. The award, it says, recognises technologies that have ‘progressed beyond laboratory research into industrial application’.
GLOBAL FOOTPRINT
ZC Rubber has built a truly global footprint, combining a strong manufacturing base in China with an expanding network of operations across Europe, the Americas, Southeast Asia and beyond. In China, the company operates through multiple sites, including its headquartered in Hangzhou and facilities in Tianjin, Chaoyang, Jiande, Qingquan, Yonggu, Anji and Jintan, supported by dedicated units for recycling technology and automotive aftermarket services in Hangzhou.
Beyond China, ZC Rubber has established a European presence through ZC Rubber Europe GmbH and its Europe Technical Center, alongside ZC Rubber America Inc. in the United States, ZC Rubber Brazil IMP EXP LTDA in South America and ZC Rubber Thailand Co. Ltd. and PT. Matahari Tire Indonesia (MTI) in Southeast Asia.
The company is also preparing for further expansion, with new projects under development in Vietnam and Mexico (Marea Tire de Mexico, S.A. de C.V.) and a feasibility study underway in Egypt. Together, these locations allow ZC Rubber to serve customers closer to their markets, strengthen supply chain resilience and combine local insight with global technical expertise.
CUSTOMISATION WITHOUT THE PENALTY
The forward-development model has a commercial payoff: tyres tailored to where and how they will be used. Asked whether the platforms allow genuine mass customisation, including regional climates and EV-specific requirements, ZC Rubber answered ‘to a significant degree’.
“X-Tech and Phecda allow us to develop tyres around specific climates, road conditions, vehicle applications and performance targets, including EV-specific requirements,” it said. On the factory floor, flexible production lines adjust output as product mix and orders change. The company does not disclose a separate efficiency figure for customised production, though ‘the goal is clear: to increase product flexibility while keeping production efficient’.
The regional examples are concrete. In Asia, X-Tech underpins the X-Elite Truck Tyre Series. In Europe, it is applied to the WESTLAKE Gen II commercial lineup, with a focus on fleet efficiency, performance and regulatory requirements. Phecda sits behind the WESTLAKE ZuperAce Z-007 and GOODRIDE Solmax 1 passenger tyres, and technologies from both platforms have been applied across ARISUN’s full TBR and PCR ranges for the Americas.
“International markets do not have identical requirements,” Shen said. “A tyre developed for European highway fleets, Southeast Asian transport operations or passenger vehicles in the Americas must respond to different vehicles, roads, climates and customer priorities.”
WHAT COMES NEXT
Much of the technology commonly billed as next-generation is already in service at ZC Rubber. Automated logistics, AI-based visual inspection, process optimisation, digital simulation and virtual testing are all in use. Digital twins are applied in areas such as energy management, and a broader digital-twin virtual factory is part of the next-stage plan.
The company frames the coming three years as a period of deepening rather than reinvention: more smart-factory applications, more AI and industry-specific models and close attention to emerging technologies such as humanoid robotics ‘as they mature’.
That phrasing may be the most revealing thing about ZC Rubber’s approach. It is chasing results rather than headlines. As the company itself puts it, the launch of the Hangzhou plant marks ‘a new opportunity and starting point’, and its stated ambition is to become a world-leading tyre company with higher standards. Whether the lights stay on, it seems, is the least of its concerns.
AMETEK Completes USD 5bn Acquisition Of Indicor Instrumentation Businesses
- By TT Bureau
- October 12, 2026
AMETEK recently completed its USD 5- billion all-cash acquisition of a portfolio of instrumentation businesses from Indicor.
The businesses, collectively known as Indicor Instrumentation, make equipment for industrial and scientific applications. Their products serve markets that overlap with AMETEK’s existing operations and generate recurring revenue from consumables, services and aftermarket support.
David A Zapico, AMETEK’s Chairman and Chief Executive, said: “We are excited to complete this highly strategic acquisition and to welcome the Indicor Instrumentation team to AMETEK. With its mission-critical solutions, deep technical expertise, and strong positions in attractive end markets, Indicor Instrumentation is an excellent fit with AMETEK. We also see meaningful opportunities to create value through integration into our proven operating model.”
Indicor Instrumentation is expected to contribute about USD 350 million to AMETEK’s sales in 2026 and to be modestly accretive to adjusted earnings for the year.
The acquired businesses will join AMETEK’s Electronic Instruments Group and Electromechanical Group, according to their products and market focus.
Comments (0)
ADD COMMENT