India’s tyre retail industry is undergoing a dramatic makeover, moving far beyond the cluttered workshops and transactional buying of the past. Fuelled by rising demand for premium vehicles, digital-first customers and stronger export momentum, tyre makers are transforming retail spaces into sleek, immersive experience centres. What was once a routine utility purchase is rapidly evolving into a premium, advisory-led mobility experience designed for a new generation of motorists.

India’s tyre retail scene is shifting gears, leaving behind the era of crowded workshops and impersonal counters. In their place, manufacturers are rolling out sleek, thoughtfully designed, tech-powered spaces that echo the luxury of high-end car showrooms. What started as a few bold pilots in big cities has quickly become the go-to playbook for tyre brands eager to win over a new generation of savvy, comfort-loving, digital-first customers.

From urban to rural areas, this transformation reveals a profound change in how Indians approach mobility. Today’s motorists – especially those behind the wheel of SUVs, luxury sedans and electric cars – want more than just a tyre swap. They crave expert advice, a polished atmosphere and a shopping experience that reflects the elegance of their vehicles. Once a utilitarian afterthought, tyre retail is now emerging as a coveted part of the automotive journey.

Strong OEMs and replacement demand in both domestic and export markets underpin the transition.

In FY 24-25, tyre exports from India surged by nine percent year-on-year to INR 251 billion, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce. 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.

Though tyre exports have hit a speed bump due to higher US tariffs on select categories of Indian tyres compared to those of competing nations, the long-term prospects for the Indian tyre industry remain strong. According to a joint report by ATMA and PwC India titled ‘Viksit Bharat 2047: Vision and Roadmap for the Indian Tyre Industry’, India’s tyre production volumes are projected to grow nearly fourfold by 2047, while industry revenues are expected to expand almost 12 times to about INR 13 trillion.

Against this backdrop, tyre makers are modernising aggressively to retain customers and build a more profound emotional affinity. The broad shift is visible in how retailers are reinventing their spaces. Lounges with crafted lighting, upholstered seating, minimalist décor and large digital walls are replacing traditional steel racks and dusty counters. Informational murals and heritage display trace decades of tyre innovation, strengthening brand storytelling. Stores increasingly feature curated experience zones where customers can explore tyre technologies, EV-compatible profiles, eco-friendly materials and performance characteristics through visual displays and interactive tools.

A clear sign of this trend is the rise of personalised, advisory-led engagement, replacing the old dependence on technicians. Retailers now profile driving habits, terrain usage, daily distance and vehicle type to recommend tyres customised to each consumer’s pattern. This service-led model is shifting the customer’s mindset from price-first decision-making to long-term value evaluation.

The new premium outlets are designed to deliver a lifestyle-driven, hospitality-grade experience rather than a traditional tyre shop visit. Customers receive personalised mobility recommendations tailored to their vehicle, driving style and needs, supported by smart service innovations like intelligent product selection, quick-fit services and digital scheduling. The space also acts as a community hub for driving enthusiasts, creating a connected ecosystem around the brand. With lounge-style comfort, immersive storytelling and specialised tyre and service packages for luxury and performance vehicles, the outlet blends convenience, premium care and brand-centric offerings into an elevated customer experience.

“Customer experience at the point of sale is another branding exercise poised to change buyer characteristics. Multi-brand outlets often commoditise the tyre-buying experience. That’s why companies are launching exclusive brand outlets with curated customer experiences. Over the next decade, new delivery models will emerge,” said Kavan Mukhtyar, Partner and Leader – Automotive, PwC India.

Apollo Tyres articulates this change as a move towards lifestyle-led retailing. Its new super-premium outlets have been built not as showrooms but as emotionally resonant spaces.

Udyan Ghai, Group Head of Marketing at Apollo Tyres, explained that the company’s new retail architecture is anchored in long-term strategic priorities: “Our move to a lifestyle-led, immersive tyre retail format is driven by our own desire for premiumisation and category leadership. We are looking at elevating tyre retail in India by setting new benchmarks and shifting from commodity selling to a premium, lifestyle-driven experience.”

He said the brand aims to ‘emotionally engage with customers, offer tailored solutions, build a community of driving enthusiasts and tap into premium segments – all while delivering a differentiated, modern retail experience’.

Ghai believes retail ambience plays a decisive role in influencing perception. “A relaxed and well-designed lounge signals comfort, trust and premium value,” he said, adding that such environments elevate tyres from a mundane requirement to a core element of vehicle care and identity.

Digital transparency, he believes, is the second pillar of modern tyre retail. “Digital systems ensure transparency and help demystify tyre selection – tread patterns, speed ratings, durability and fitment. Consumers feel less dependent on a technician’s word and more in control, which boosts their confidence and perceived fairness,” Ghai said.

Customers today are inundated with choices, and digital systems, he said, turn tyre buying into an ‘informed, personalised decision’, comparable to selecting a smartphone, a pair of performance shoes or even a detailed insurance plan. According to Ghai, this new retail model is ‘a strategic investment in the future of mobility retail’, designed to be scalable and to support community-building events, workshops and enthusiast interactions. As India moves towards EVs and connected cars, he said these premium outlets will provide EV-focused tyre expertise, interactive digital tools and personalised recommendations that appeal to younger, digitally savvy motorists.

CEAT shares a similar philosophy. Its national retail revamp focuses heavily on digital immersion, consistent messaging and design-led layouts. Lakshminarayanan B, the company’s Chief Marketing Officer, said the modernised CEAT Shoppes are fundamentally reshaping the category.

“The modern layouts and digital integration in CEAT Shoppes are revolutionising the tyre-buying experience, making it more experiential and customer-centric,” he said, adding that these updated outlets elevate the experience, build trust through uniform communication and drive decisions by reducing ambiguity around features and value.

Lakshminarayanan highlighted CEAT’s attempt to harmonise customer experience across demographics: “The approach in urban markets through premium stores, product offerings and services is to create access and aspiration for premium customers. The same is replicated in upcountry markets also.”

The CEAT Executive said the company is building for a future where personalisation will be the defining characteristic of tyre retail. “CEAT is focused to drive the future of tyre retail through end-to-end personalisation,” he said.

As experiential retail takes hold, service portfolios inside tyre stores are expanding faster than ever. Advanced wheel balancing, laser-driven alignment systems, nitrogen inflation, premium alloy wheel installations, EV-oriented tyre consultations, digital appointment scheduling and real-time tyre-health diagnostics are now standard. Many outlets also provide car detailing, interior cleaning, ceramic coating, PPF application, brake checks, battery inspections and multi-point vehicle health reports, making them full-fledged mobility centres.

Global players have pushed the envelope even further. Michelin’s 25,000-square-foot Experience Store in Nashik features a heritage wall and innovation displays showcasing electric mobility, materials science and environmental responsibility. It houses precision wheel-alignment bays, detailing studios, and accessory galleries. “We are proud to unveil Michelin’s first Experience Centre in India. The sole purpose of this store is to go beyond traditional tyre retail and provide customers with an immersive experience of the brand,” said Shantanu Deshpande, Managing Director of Michelin India.

Continental Tyres is also strengthening India’s premium retail ecosystem through its CPD outlets, which include ambient lounges, diagnostic equipment, premium alloy wheels and digitally enabled guidance. “With our new CPD store in Indore, we bring Continental’s promise of safety, innovation and comfort closer to Madhya Pradesh’s clients,” said Samir Gupta, Managing Director of Continental Tyres India. He added that the brand’s ‘In the Market, For the Market’ approach is central to its retail expansion strategy.

Even in rural markets, tyre retail is becoming more formalised, structured and service-oriented. JK Tyre’s ‘Steel Wheels’ format is targeted at towns with populations under 100,000 and offers standardised layouts, value-added services, best-in-market pricing and instant claim facilities. “Our Rural expansion programme will help us reach the interiors of the real Bharat that is economically vibrant but often underserved. We are not just building retail points; we are also enabling entrepreneurship and access,” said Managing Director Anshuman Singhania.

Together, these developments mark a decisive shift in how tyre brands engage customers. Tyre stores are increasingly functioning as lifestyle environments, designed for comfort, informed decision-making, personalisation, transparency and community. The industry is moving away from a product-first mindset to a customer-experience-led philosophy.

As premium cars, SUVs and EVs become mainstream, and as younger motorists prioritise digital empowerment and ambience, tyre retailers are aligning with these new expectations. India’s tyre makers are building a retail landscape where experiential engagement, technology integration, service breadth and emotional connection define long-term brand success.

For an industry long anchored in grease, metal and functionality, the transformation is profound. Tyre retail in India is no longer just about fitment; it is becoming a premium mobility experience, curated for a generation that demands clarity, comfort and an elevated relationship with every aspect of vehicle ownership.

CEAT’s Chennai and Halol plants are the only tyre facilities globally with two WEF Global Lighthouse Network inductions, and the company has also won the Deming Grand Prize for manufacturing excellence.

Yet 30 km from Mumbai, CEAT Specialty’s 49-acre Ambernath plant tells a different story: tyres too heavy for automation, built instead around nitrogen curing, induction presses and orders as small as one unit – a bet that sustainability will win markets in Europe and America.

The stakes: an INR 5 billion investment in all-steel radial technology, capacity expansion to 160 tonnes/day and a Camso manufacturing deal Tolani pegs at up to USD 1 billion – turning a manufacturing constraint into a competitive edge.

Amit Tolani, Chief Executive of CEAT Specialty, does not talk about tyres the way most executives talk about their products. He talks about them the way an engineer talks about a puzzle that keeps changing shape. “The way to look at it is that the manufacturing processes that we follow – how modern they are, how capable they are, how technically efficient – that’s what matters,” he says, sitting inside the plant that has become the nerve centre of CEAT’s off-highway tyre (OHT) business.

That plant – the Ambernath facility, a division of Mumbai-headquartered RPG Group’s CEAT Limited – is not a conventional tyre factory. It builds tyres that can weigh up to over 600 kilogrammes, tyres too large and too heavy for the automation that has transformed the passenger-car tyre business. And it is this constraint, as much as any strategic masterplan, that has shaped how CEAT Specialty has chosen to compete.

A PLANT THAT CANNOT SIMPLY COPY THE ROBOTS

Ask Tolani why Ambernath has not adopted the wall-to-wall robotic automation seen at CEAT’s Chennai or Halol facility, and the answer is refreshingly unglamorous: physics. “PCR tyres can be lifted by an ordinary human being, or a forklift, or robots,” he explains. “For these tyres, which are 600–700 kg, it’s very difficult to have a conveyor that can just lift them.” In the processes that do lend themselves to automation – mixing, calendering, curing – Ambernath’s equipment, he insists, is ‘as modern as the Chennai plant. More modern’. The plant intends to formalise that claim in the coming months by pursuing Industry 4.0 certification.

Where the physical limits of scale end, digital ones have taken over. A SCADA system tracks steam lines running beneath the plant floor. Where a leak once required a worker to walk the line, take manual temperature readings and diagnose the fault, artificial intelligence now flags the location almost instantly. “The point time taken to identify the problem is close to zero,” Tolani says. Every tyre carries a digital identity from raw material to finished good; a single scan reveals the batch, the machine, the operator and the timestamp behind it. AI is also being trained on the plant’s visual tyre inspection – traditionally a human, eyeball-driven task – using high-resolution cameras to catch defects, and on optimising mixing recipes and cycle times, the invisible chemistry that determines how a tyre performs in a paddy field or a quarry.

CURING WITHOUT STEAM

The most technically striking claim to emerge from Ambernath concerns curing – the energy-intensive process of vulcanising rubber under heat and pressure that has, for a century, meant steam. “This plant has already started using nitrogen curing on one of the lines,” Tolani says. Alongside it sit two proof-of-concept induction curing presses – a steam-free process, while the nitrogen conversion has come via LMT. “There are two presses that are already commissioned here,” he says. “We’ve already started working in that direction, where we want to take a lead in this space.”

The bulk of the plant’s newest investment, however, is going into something more conventional in principle but strategically significant in intent: all-steel radial off-the-road tyres. CEAT Specialty has committed INR 5 billion to this latest phase of expansion, representing a decisive shift in product architecture. Where a car’s tyres are universally radial, only 60–70 percent of truck tyres have made that transition, and agricultural and OTR applications lag further still – agriculture because usage is seasonal, OTR because a fabric-belted bias tyre still does much of the heavy lifting. All-steel radial construction changes that calculus by delivering higher load-carrying capacity and greater comfort, attributes increasingly demanded not only by Indian buyers but, crucially, by European and American customers. “It’s for demand from the European market, the US market – and the Indian market is also growing in such a handsome fashion that we want to cater to it,” Tolani says.

LEAN BY DESIGN, NOT BY SLOGAN

CEAT’s manufacturing philosophy is inseparable from its most prized accolade: in 2017, CEAT became the first tyre company outside Japan to win the Deming Prize, the world’s most prestigious award for total quality management; in 2023, it became the first tyre company anywhere to win the Deming Grand Prize, a distinction held by only 33 organisations globally as of 2025. Inside CEAT, this discipline is branded QBM – Quality Based Management – a homegrown fusion of Total Quality Management, the Toyota Production System and Total Productive Maintenance.

“We are a Deming Grand organisation. That means we follow the philosophy of lean manufacturing – not to use resources or have any wastage in the process,” Tolani says. That philosophy is embedded, quite literally, in the plant’s straight-flow layout, which runs from raw material storage through mixing, stock preparation, tyre building, curing and final finish in a single unbroken line. Even small batch sizes, he says, are produced without the wastage, excess labour or lost efficiency – what the plant’s internal vocabulary calls ‘Muri’ – that might otherwise creep in.

That same lean instinct underpins one of Ambernath’s more unusual competitive claims: a minimum order quantity of one. In an industry historically built around economies of scale, the plant will build a single speciality tyre to a customer’s specification without demanding batch aggregation – a capability the company says few OHT plants worldwide can match. Self-managed teams on the shop floor plan and execute changeovers themselves, allowing a highly automated, digitally traceable line to pivot rapidly to low-volume, customised orders. A related innovation, branded Unistage, builds and shapes an agricultural or OTR radial carcass into its final toroidal form on a single drum rather than the conventional two-stage process, reducing the handovers.

AN R&D CENTRE BUILT FOR SPEED, NOT SCALE

CEAT Specialty operates a dedicated in-house research and development facility at Ambernath, distinct from the group’s broader R&D infrastructure, and Tolani is candid about why. Tolani says, “This business is very, very different. There is no Pareto here – no 80/20 rule where a handful of product sizes serve the bulk of demand. Because farm and off-highway equipment come in such a long tail of sizes and configurations, and because the plant supplies numerous international OEMs directly, the time taken to develop, validate and commercialise a new tyre has to be compressed.”

“We needed a dedicated facility, closer to the manufacturing, so that we can quickly pilot, quickly turn around,” he adds. A new Compound Laboratory, opened in September 2025, now anchors materials science work spanning OTR, agricultural and industrial segments, while AI-assisted testing has trimmed, by Tolani’s estimate, roughly a third off the time from concept to market. The centre’s pipeline currently spans all-steel OTR tyres, a newly launched forestry range, very high flexion (VF) agricultural tyres and expanding work in earthmoving and material handling.

CAMSO ACQUIRED FOR BRAND, CHANNEL AND CATEGORY

CEAT Specialty’s move into Camso – a name Tolani values at up to USD 1 billion in brand potential across agricultural tracks, power sport tracks and material handling – may be its most consequential strategic bet. “It was a natural fit for us in terms of completing our portfolio,” he says. Ambernath, built in 2018 solely for agricultural radial tyres, gains through Camso’s new OEM ties (Massey Ferguson, John Deere) and construction-channel access across South America and Europe.

Under a three-year Michelin agreement, CEAT can currently manufacture and sell only compact construction tyres and tracks under Camso, taking over end-consumer sales in that segment – with other categories opening up once the term ends. The impact is already visible: standalone, CEAT Specialty’s off-highway mix is 85:15 agriculture to non-agriculture; with Camso’s, it shifts toward 50:50.

THE NUMBERS BEHIND THE AMBITION

Ambernath is running at 105 tonnes a day, at 92–95 percent utilisation – ahead of schedule. A further phase, due within 45 to 60 days, will lift capacity to 160 tonnes. Camso, still integrating, runs at roughly 50 percent.

Off-highway tyres make up close to 20 percent of CEAT’s speciality revenue, with the agriculture-to-non-agriculture split narrowing from 85:15 to near 50:50 once Camso is included. Domestically, Tolani credits GST reforms for a strong OEM market, led by Mahindra and TAFE, while mining stays flat – a segment Camso’s construction heritage should help lift as the new all-steel OTR line comes online.

When the World Economic Forum inducted CEAT’s Chennai facility into its Global Lighthouse Network in January 2025, it made the Indian tyre-maker the first tyre brand in the world to hold two such honours – Chennai following in the footsteps of the company’s Halol plant. Add to that CEAT’s Deming Grand Prize, awarded by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers for sustained excellence in Total Quality Management, and the company finds itself in rarefied company: one of only a handful of manufacturers worldwide, and the only tyre brand to hold both distinctions.

Behind these accolades sits a quieter, harder story – one of culture change, shop-floor scepticism and years of disciplined, incremental investment in artificial intelligence, the Industrial Internet of Things and automation. In an interview with Tyre Trends, Jayasankar Kuruppal, Senior Vice President, Manufacturing at CEAT, spoke on what these recognitions actually mean on the factory floor, and where the company believes manufacturing is headed next.

AWARDS AS A BY-PRODUCT, NOT THE GOAL

CEAT’s Chennai plant has posted striking numbers since its digital transformation began: a 54 percent improvement in dispatch turnaround, a 25 percent uplift in labour productivity, an 18 percent reduction in cycle times, a 31 percent improvement in operating cost and a 47 percent cut in Scope 1 and 2 emissions. Yet Kuruppal is quick to reframe the narrative around these achievements.

“The awards are lagging indicators, not the goal. What actually matters is what they force us to build: a common language for problem-solving across every plant, real-time visibility into quality and efficiencies and a workforce that trusts data over gut-feel,” Kuruppal said.

“That discipline shows up directly in the numbers – tighter process capability, better efficiencies and faster changeovers leading to shorter lead times. There is a commercial dividend too: global OEMs increasingly audit manufacturing maturity, and being part of the WEF Global Lighthouse Network gives us instant credibility in those conversations,” he added.

WHAT’S REALLY DRIVING THE INVESTMENT

CEAT has been pouring capital into AI, IIoT and automation across its plants. Is this cost pressure, premiumisation or a simple need to stay globally competitive? Kuruppal’s answer suggests it is all three, each playing a distinct role.

Kuruppal explained, “Quality, cost and efficiency is what gets the funding approved. Premiumisation is what’s shaping which lines we automate or upgrade first – you cannot hold the tolerances a premium radial demands with manual, operator-dependent processes.” According to him, global competitiveness, meanwhile, sets the ambition. “We’re not benchmarking ourselves against the best tyre plant in India anymore – we’re benchmarking against the best factories in any industry,” he added.

Asked to rank the three forces, he summarised neatly: competitiveness sets the ambition, premiumisation sets the sequencing and cost discipline keeps the whole effort honest.

REPLICATING HALOL AT CHENNAI: CULTURE OVER CODE

Chennai’s transformation built directly on lessons learned at Halol, the world’s first tyre facility inducted into the Lighthouse Network. And when asked what proved hardest to replicate, the technology, the culture or getting the underlying processes right, Kuruppal said, “Technology was actually the easiest part to copy. A use case that works at Halol can be re-deployed at Chennai in weeks.”

But the real difficulty, as per Kuruppal, was culture, people and change management. At Halol, habits such as daily data reviews, operator ownership of quality metrics and a managerial focus on coaching rather than firefighting were built steadily over several years. Chennai, by contrast, has had to replicate that trajectory on a compressed timeline, with a workforce encountering these practices for the first time.

“We had to resist the temptation to just parachute in dashboards and call it digital. We spent real time getting the underlying process standardisation right first, because AI on top of an unstable process just gives you a faster route to the wrong answer,” Kuruppal said.

Jayasankar Kuruppal, Senior Vice President, Manufacturing, CEAT

WHERE THE RETURNS SHOW UP – AND WHERE THEY HAVEN’T YET

The productivity and dispatch gains at Chennai, he explained, hit the balance sheet in different ways. The productivity improvement lowers conversion cost per tyre and improves absorption of fixed costs as volumes grow. The dispatch improvement is more of a customer-experience story: less finished-goods inventory sitting idle, and OEMs and dealers receiving faster, more predictable delivery windows – ‘which matters a lot when you’re chasing premium and export business’.

Not every initiative has paid off yet, however. Kuruppal was candid about the areas still short of return, singling out ‘some of the more exploratory AI use cases – like computer-vision pilots – which need more data cycles before the accuracy justifies scaling them further’.

QUALITY, MAINTENANCE, OUTPUT: AI TOUCHES ALL THREE

Rather than picking a single area where artificial intelligence delivers most value, Kuruppal argued that its power lies in the way it now touches quality, maintenance and output simultaneously – and that these reinforce one another. “Better quality data feeds better predictive-maintenance models, which reduces unplanned downtime, which directly lifts output,” he said. The most immediate impact shows up in more consistent product quality, higher yields and earlier detection of equipment issues. He pushed back, though, on the idea that AI at CEAT is a single flagship project: “On our floor, it’s dozens of narrow, specific use cases, each solving one operator’s or one supervisor’s actual problem.”

JUSTIFYING THE SPEND IN A MARGIN-TIGHT BUSINESS

Tyre manufacturing is not a business with room for indulgent technology spending, and Kuruppal was clear that CEAT does not fund innovation for its own sake. “Every use case has to show a clear line to quality, efficiency, cost or capacity enhancement before it gets budget,” he said. The company deliberately starts small – piloting on a single line, proving value with real production data, and scaling only what works – a discipline that means ‘the savings from scaled use cases fund the next round of pilots’. He offered a broader rationale too: in a commodity-adjacent business where raw material costs sit largely outside a manufacturer’s control, manufacturing capability itself becomes the differentiator. “If we can’t always control input costs, we can control how efficiently and consistently we convert them into tyres,” he added.

CHENNAI PLANT WIDENS ITS PREMIUM PUSH

CEAT on Oct. 1 announced an expansion of manufacturing capabilities at its Chennai plant across passenger car and SUV, commercial vehicle and two-wheeler tyres. The company said the move targets premium customers in India, Europe and North America.

What’s new

Cars and SUVs: The plant now makes the SportDrive SUV ZR22. CEAT said this makes it the first Indian tyre company to manufacture 22-inch tyres in India. It also makes the 4SeasonDrive+ all-season tyre and the CrossDrive RT rugged-terrain tyre, built for the U.S. market.

Trucks and buses: The plant can now produce seven advanced truck and bus radial sizes, including wide-base tyres that can replace dual-tyre setups, and low-profile sizes. CEAT is also scaling light truck steel radials in 15-, 16- and 17.5-inch sizes.

Two-wheelers: The SportRad Racing Slick range targets track use, and SportRad ST is a sport-touring range for motorcycles above 650cc.

“This investment strengthens our ability to compete in premium segments with products developed and manufactured in India,” CEAT managing director and CEO Arnab Banerjee said.

The 163-acre plant in Sriperumbudur, Kanchipuram, runs on connected machinery and real-time analytics. It also has a 9 MW rooftop solar installation and operates as a zero-liquid-discharge facility.

FROM PILOT TO SCALE: AN OPERATING-MODEL PROBLEM

With a large share of CEAT’s lines now running as ‘smart lines’, when asked what changes when a company moves from isolated pilots to scaling technology across multiple plants, the CEAT executive explained, “The problem changes completely. A pilot is a technology and data-science problem – get the model working, prove the use case. Scaling is an operating-model problem – standard work, training, change management, IT infrastructure that can handle load across sites and governance so every plant isn’t reinventing its own version of the same solution.”

CEAT has built what he calls a central playbook – reusable architecture, common data standards and the ability to roll a proven use case out to a new plant in weeks rather than months. “Just as importantly, ownership shifts: at pilot stage, a project team owns the initiative; at scale, it must become the plant’s own way of working, run by operations rather than a digital team sitting alongside it,” he added.

BRINGING 80 PERCENT OF THE WORKFORCE ALONG

CEAT reports that more than 80 percent of its workforce is now digitally enabled – a transformation Kuruppal admits did not come without resistance. “Yes, and I’d be understating it if I said otherwise,” he said. Crucially, he insists the resistance was never really about technology itself but about ease of operation. What worked, he explained, was making tools visibly useful to the person using them first – an operator seeing a dashboard that helps them hit their own target before it ever becomes a management reporting tool. CEAT invested heavily in shop-floor-specific training rather than generic digital-literacy courses and made a point of promoting from within, demonstrating that digital skills opened up better roles rather than closing off old ones. The company has also created new shop-floor roles beyond data scientists and engineers – ‘Business Translators’ and ‘Champions’ who act as torchbearers driving scaled implementation and wider blue-collar involvement.

CONSISTENCY, NOT JUST DEFECT COUNTS

Asked whether tighter process control has genuinely reduced defects, Kuruppal reframed the question around consistency. “Tighter process control means less batch-to-batch variation, which matters enormously in tyre manufacturing because so much of performance and durability comes down to material consistency through mixing, extrusion and curing,” he said. Real-time monitoring now catches drift early, rather than at final inspection – both a quality win and a material-efficiency win, in the form of less scrap and rework. The habit that has changed most, he said, is that quality data now drives daily decisions on the shop floor, rather than featuring only in a monthly review.

MANUFACTURING FOR A PREMIUM, ELECTRIC FUTURE

CEAT’s push into premium tyres calls for a step-change in manufacturing discipline. “Premium tyres are far less forgiving of variation, so the shift starts with tightening process capability across every stage – not just final inspection. That means more precise equipment, better process capability and closed-loop control,” said Kuruppal. In this context, flexibility takes on a different meaning: a wider SKU mix, smaller batch sizes and faster changeovers are pushing the company towards more modular manufacturing, alongside a workforce increasingly weighted towards process engineering expertise.

Electric vehicles introduce an additional layer of complexity. EV tyres must carry greater weight, handle instant torque and operate more quietly, tightening specifications around structural strength, noise and rolling resistance beyond those of conventional tyres. On the shop floor, that translates into new compound formulations requiring precise mixing, reinforced construction demanding tighter control of building machines and significantly lower tolerance for micro-variation.

CEAT’s existing leadership in the e-two-wheeler tyre segment, Kuruppal noted, is already feeding lessons – particularly on noise and efficiency – into how the company prepares lines for growing e-four-wheeler volumes in India.

SUSTAINABILITY AND RESILIENCE, BUILT IN

Sustainability, once a separate reporting exercise, is now ‘a line item in almost every manufacturing decision’, with energy and emissions sitting alongside cost and quality when evaluating new processes or equipment – Chennai’s 47 percent emissions reduction being the clearest proof point. Resilience, too, has become as much a data problem as a sourcing one. “Real-time visibility into inventory, machine health and production schedules means we can see a disruption coming and reschedule around it rather than reacting after a line has already stopped,” Kuruppal said, pointing also to greater flexibility in shifting product mix between lines and earlier warning signals from digitised supplier and logistics data.

SPEED AS A COMPETITIVE WEAPON

Manufacturing speed and flexibility, Kuruppal argues, have become one of CEAT’s most important competitive dimensions, as OEMs compress their own development cycles and expect tyre partners to match their pace – faster prototyping, faster line trials, faster ramp-up to volume. Chennai’s faster dispatch turnaround is part of the same story. “It’s not just about making tyres faster; it’s about the whole chain from order to delivery being more predictable and quicker,” he said.

GROUND STILL TO COVER

For all its Lighthouse credentials, Kuruppal was refreshingly honest about the distance still to travel. “Being part of that network is genuinely humbling. You see factories in electronics and consumer goods running end-to-end AI-driven planning and quality systems at a level of maturity we’re still building towards – particularly in advanced analytics for demand-and-production planning and in scaling generative-AI use cases beyond pilots,” he said. CEAT’s strength, he believes, lies in shop-floor execution and quality; the next frontier is connecting that data seamlessly across the full value chain, from raw-material sourcing to the end customer.

MANUFACTURING AS A GROWTH DRIVER

Perhaps the most striking shift Kuruppal describes is a change in how manufacturing itself is perceived within the business. “Traditionally, manufacturing was viewed in this industry as a cost centre that executes what sales and product teams decide,” he said.

“Today, our manufacturing capability is directly opening up premium and export opportunities, because global customers evaluate factory maturity as part of their sourcing decision. It works in the other direction too, shaping which premium and EV products the company can confidently commit to launching. Manufacturing has moved from being an execution function to being a genuine input into growth strategy,” he added.

WHAT COMES NEXT

Looking ahead, Kuruppal frames the next horizon as connecting what CEAT has built plant-by-plant into a single, integrated digital thread – spanning raw-material and demand planning, production and distribution – so decisions are optimised end-to-end rather than site-by-site. Generative AI, he said, is increasingly being explored for process and equipment troubleshooting and knowledge capture, making the expertise of CEAT’s best engineers accessible across every plant. Sustainability, meanwhile, will be designed into new lines from the outset rather than retrofitted. “The common thread is moving from isolated smart use cases to a genuinely integrated smart manufacturing system,” he explained.

THE ONE NUMBER THAT MATTERS

Answering the question on if he could track just one metric across every CEAT plant, what would it be, he admitted, “If I’m honest, no single number tells the whole story, but if forced to pick one, it would be Overall Equipment Effectiveness – OEE.”

“As a composite of availability, performance and quality, a healthy and rising OEE generally signals that machines are running, running at the right speed and producing good tyres – which is really the definition of a plant working as it should,” he said. It has its limits – OEE alone won’t reveal a lapse in safety culture or the pace of digital adoption – which is why, in the end, Kuruppal names two figures he watches above all: OEE and safety indicators.

Tana Oy has appointed Panu Ärölä as its new Territory Business Manager, a role he will assume on 2 November. In this capacity, he will focus on strengthening customer and distributor relationships across designated markets while contributing to the company’s ongoing expansion within the waste management and recycling sector.

Ärölä returns to Tana after previously serving as Sales Manager, where he developed expertise in distributor network growth. His background includes extensive international experience in sales, marketing, business development and strategic leadership. Most recently, he held the position of Head of Sales and Marketing at Jet-Tekno Oy, overseeing customer relationship development and business growth initiatives.

Gerd Schreier, VP – Sales, Marketing & Channel Development, said, “We are delighted to welcome Panu back to Tana. His industry knowledge, customer focus and experience in international sales make him a valuable addition to our team. We look forward to working with him as we continue to develop our business and create value for our customers and partners.”

Stephan Sielaff took over as chief executive of the Schill+Seilacher Group on 1^st October , as the chemicals group seeks to strengthen links between its businesses and focus more closely on customer needs.

Sielaff brings about 30 years of experience in developing international businesses and organisations. His previous roles include positions at Unilever, Symrise, Archroma, Lenzing AG and SSI SCHÄFER Plastics.

His priorities at Schill+Seilacher include getting closer to customers, encouraging greater knowledge-sharing across the group and making better use of capabilities across its businesses and locations.

“A good product alone is no longer enough. What matters is the value we create for our customers,” says Stephan Sielaff.

The group said it would seek to share knowledge, pursue opportunities jointly and strengthen connections between its locations and business areas.

Sielaff's appointment is intended to support a more integrated approach across the group as it develops its businesses in the years ahead.