Making a tyre is an extensive process that includes everything from formulation to testing. With the advancement in software-defined technology, tyre testing is increasing within a simulated environment. However, as real as the rubber wheel is, its testing in real-world environment stands as imminent in future course despite the current trend of simulation.

Alluding to this, Black Donuts Head of Tyre and Material Development Ilkka Lehtoranta told Tyre Trends, “Alongside the advanced laboratory equipment and various simulation methods, real-world tyre testing remains essential now and in the future. Physical testing in diverse conditions is critical for final evaluation and validation. Real-world tyre testing will continue to play a significant role moving forward. At Black Donuts, we offer comprehensive tyre testing services through our subsidiary, BD Testing. This company specialises in outdoor testing to ensure that products perform reliably in all environments.”

Commenting on the role of simulation in tyre development, he said, “Simulation plays a critical role in tyre development, offering a proven and essential part of the design process. One key type of simulation is finite element analysis (FEA), a mathematical method used to model and simulate physical phenomena. FEA is widely employed across industrial sectors including tyre manufacturing to predict and validate design performance before creating physical prototypes.”

“For tyre development, simulation tools provide significant advantages. By conducting design verification and validation virtually, companies can reduce the need to produce experimental tyre, which saves raw materials and minimises waste. This approach not only supports environmental goals but also accelerates the development timeline, allowing for faster iterations and refinements. Black Donuts integrates various simulation methods into its development process, heavily relying on the results to optimise designs,” he added.

Testing facilities

The Finnish company offers comprehensive tyre testing services with a primary focus on outdoor testing rather than indoor facilities. While indoor testing facilities are widely available globally, including in Europe, Asia, India and North America, Black Donuts has chosen to concentrate on outdoor testing. The company leverages the expertise of skilled test engineers and drivers, who understand the nuances of environmental and external factors, to deliver dependable testing outcomes. 

“We operate a proving ground in northern Sweden, where winter tyres are tested under snowy and icy conditions. Additionally, we have a testing centre in Finland’s Tampere region, which serves as a hub for evaluating tyre properties across a range of conditions. The facilities enable grip testing on ice, snow, wet and dry surfaces; noise testing for internal and external evaluations; handling and comfort assessments; aquaplaning analysis and tailored tests developed to meet specific customer needs,” informed Lehtoranta.

He mentioned that test drivers are central to Black Donuts' outdoor testing process as their expertise in assessing tyre behaviour is critical for validating designs and providing feedback to engineers. This collaboration ensures the test results are seamlessly integrated into the design and development process, allowing engineers to refine tyre properties based on real-world performance insights. 

Winter testing is conducted during the colder months to utilise natural snow and ice conditions. While the company does not have an indoor snow-testing facility, it makes use of local resources such as ice halls for ice-related evaluations. For summer tyres, the focus shifts to testing grip, handling and noise levels under both dry and wet conditions. 

In addition to testing during tyre development, Black Donuts supports homologation and certification processes. Through its subsidiary, BD Testing, the company provides accredited testing services and official test reports required for certifications by authorities. This includes European homologation tests for snow and ice performance, as well as specialised assessments such as road wear impact evaluations for studded tyres in Scandinavian markets. 

The company also conducts internal testing to collect data, monitor market trends and benchmark tyre performance. “This continuous research helps us to identify industry standards and emerging trends, ensuring that our tyre development projects remain innovative and competitive,” averred Lehtoranta.

Industry peek

Black Donuts provides end-to-end solutions for the global tyre industry, catering to both manufacturing and tyre research and development needs. Its services cover tyre design and production, materials research and development, making the company a comprehensive partner for tyre manufacturers globally. Whether supporting the establishment of new tyre plants, upgrading existing facilities or offering specific technical expertise, it has a broad portfolio of engineering and technological solutions. 

In production, Black Donuts assists manufacturers with everything from setting up greenfield projects to improving brownfield facilities. For existing manufacturing lines, the company conducts thorough audits to identify bottlenecks, inefficiencies and quality issues. The focus often includes increasing automation, enhancing productivity, reducing manufacturing costs, improving quality, minimising scrap and waste and even reducing tyre weight. These solutions are tailored to meet the specific demands of the client. 

For greenfield projects, it offers turnkey solutions. These include site selection support, plant layout design, architectural planning, defining machinery specifications, automation strategies and utility calculations. During the execution phase, an on-site engineering team supervises construction, machinery installation, commissioning and the ramp-up of production processes. The company also trains operators, troubleshoots quality issues and supports clients in improving efficiency. The level of post-production support is flexible with options for ongoing assistance tailored to the client's needs. 

Alluding to how the design and production process differ across regions, the executive said, “The design and production processes themselves are generally consistent across regions. However, automation levels may vary based on factors like labour costs and plant location. European facilities, for instance, often require higher automation levels due to higher manpower costs, though automation is increasingly being adopted in Asia as well. This trend has significantly reduced manpower requirements in tyre manufacturing globally, driven by advancements in automation technologies.”

Research and development

In tyre development, significant trends include the growing demand for sustainability, increased automation in production processes and evolving design needs tailored to regional and market-specific conditions. Tyre materials development is a subset of tyre development but is critical due to its role in addressing environmental and performance challenges. Black Donuts works on both these aspects, helping clients innovate while navigating changing demands in the tyre industry.

The push for sustainability is the most pressing challenge in tyre material development. There is an increasing emphasis on replacing fossil-based materials with sustainable alternatives like bio-based and recycled raw materials. Black Donuts plays a pivotal role in identifying and testing new materials available in the market, integrating them into tyre compounds and ensuring its compatibility with production processes.

In addition to working with existing materials, Black Donuts has initiated its own research and development efforts to explore innovative, out-of-the-box sustainable solutions. These include new bio-based raw materials currently under internal development, which are expected to be launched soon.

On the tyre development front, it offers comprehensive services for creating new tyre lines across segments like passenger car radial (PCR), truck and bus radial (TBR) and off-the-road (OTR) tyres. The designs cater to various markets including Europe, US, Asia and Africa, ensuring optimal performance under different environmental and regulatory conditions.

Customisation for specific client needs, whether summer or winter tyres, and adapting designs to suit regional preferences are also part of the company's everyday operations.

Competitive edge

The rapid evolution of technology, automation and sustainability trends demands agility and adaptability. Black Donuts maintains an active presence in the market, staying updated on global developments by leveraging its extensive partner network, including machinery and raw material suppliers, to gather insights and anticipate emerging trends.

Alluding how the company selects partners, the executive revealed, “The partner selection process is fundamental to delivering high-quality, innovative solutions. Many members of our team have decades of experience and longstanding relationships with suppliers, which provide a solid foundation for selecting trusted partners. Besides, there are several factors that are taken into account to source new partners.”

One of the most crucial factors in selecting partners is the technological capability. Black Donuts prioritises partners that offer cutting-edge technologies, which can add value to both the company and its customers. It also carefully evaluates the ability of potential partners to deliver machinery, raw materials and components as promised. Moreover, the company seeks partners who share values of sustainability.

While Black Donuts draws on its established relationships with trusted suppliers, the company remains proactive in sourcing new partners and exploring the latest advancements in technology and materials.

Sustainability

The executive noted that in the next five years, the proportion of renewable or bio-based materials in tyre production is expected to remain relatively modest. “Currently, aside from natural rubber, which makes up around 20 percent of tyre materials, the use of other renewable materials is almost negligible. While the industry faces challenges in sourcing and incorporating bio-based and recycled raw materials, it is estimated that within five years, the share of such materials could reach 30-35 percent of the total tyre content,” said Lehtoranta.

Alluding to industry goals of incorporating 100 percent renewable materials in tyres by 2050, he noted, “Incorporating 100 percent renewable materials in tyres is possible, but it will require collective action across the entire industry. All stakeholders must align and collaborate towards this common goal. Many mid-sized and smaller companies may struggle with this transition on its own, which is where industry partners can offer valuable support. This is also why companies are increasingly focusing on researching and developing new bio-based raw materials in order to expand the availability of these alternatives in the market. However, scaling these innovations to a commercial level remains a challenge as many promising ideas have not yet been fully realised on a large scale,” informed the official.

He also noted that achieving sustainability in tyre production will undoubtedly require significant investment. A key challenge is that sustainable raw materials are currently more expensive than conventional alternatives. Unfortunately, many end consumers are not yet willing to pay a premium for tyres made with sustainable materials.

Market presence

Black Donuts has a presence on all continents. “We have a strong market footprint, serving a wide range of regions. For instance, of the 25 largest tyre manufacturers, 20 have been or are currently our customers. We also have upcoming projects across Europe, Asia, North America, South America and Africa, highlighting our global reach and ongoing expansion,” said Lehtoranta.

He added, “In terms of revenue, our biggest business segment revolves around providing end-to-end solutions for tyre plants including services related to tyre factory setup and operations. This is the largest segment in terms of financial impact. Additionally, tyre and material development is another major part of our business contributing significantly to our overall revenue.”

North America is one of its largest markets, followed by Europe and Asia, though revenue distribution can vary year by year due to the nature of projects.

He also noted that regulations play a crucial role in driving the business. The regulation concerning studded tyres, for instance, which has been important in the European market. Winter tyre regulations, particularly the requirement for the snowflake symbol on tyres, are also significant, especially in Nordic countries.

Additionally, a newer regulation being prepared by the European Commission concerning tyre abrasion, which is becoming a more prominent issue due to sustainability concerns, is also slated to drive business.

Commenting on the same, the executive said, “Tyre abrasion, especially concerning microplastic emissions, has gained attention in Europe as tyres are recognised as a major contributor to microplastic pollution. The industry and authorities are now focusing on reducing this issue by improving tyre wear properties. The goal is to ensure that tyres generate less microplastic per kilometre driven. This is particularly relevant in regions with snowy and icy roads, where tyre performance and durability are critical.”

Furthermore, he highlighted that the difference between snow and ice significantly impacts tyre performance. Ice presents much lower friction than snow, which is why ice poses a more challenging driving condition. Tyres perform worse on ice, resulting in longer stopping distances. In regions with icy roads, like the Nordic countries, manufacturers often use studs to enhance grip on ice, improving safety by reducing braking distances.

Expansion and demand

The executive mentioned that the company is expanding in the Asian and North American markets. “While winter tyres are a big demand in these regions, it's important to note that winter tyre usage varies by region. In China, for example, there is a significant demand for winter tyres, particularly in colder regions, and Japan has a large market for them as well, with regulations encouraging its use. North America, especially in regions with harsh winters, also has a strong market for winter tyres,” said Lehtoranta.

“Despite the slowdown in the European market and concerns about the US market, we still see North America as a strong growth area for us. We haven't noticed any significant slowdown in our business there and the market remains promising. However, we also see great potential in Africa, where we are seeing a lot of investment activity,” he added.

Answering what factors led the company to explore avenues in Africa, he said, “Several factors are driving the growth potential in Africa. Currently, there is little local tyre manufacturing in the region and many countries are looking to establish local industries to boost the economies and create jobs. Additionally, Africa has significant natural resources including natural rubber and oil, which can be used to produce synthetic rubbers and other raw materials needed for tyre manufacturing. Local production would enable companies to add value by refining these raw materials into finished products like tyres, creating a more sustainable and profitable cycle.”

Commenting on future plans, he said, “Our focus will be on the entire tyre lifecycle, from raw materials to production, performance and ultimately, the end of life of the tyres. We are working on developing solutions that handle tyre disposal and recycling with the goal of creating a fully sustainable tyre manufacturing process. This approach would ensure that our products and services are environmentally friendly throughout the entire supply chain.”

Industry challenges

Tyre manufacturing factories often encounter several challenges when setting up greenfield and brownfield projects. One of the primary challenges is managing the project’s schedule and budget, ensuring that the project stays on track and within financial constraints. Another critical aspect is reaching the targeted capacity for the plant, which can be challenging given the complexities of large-scale projects.

Additionally, there are technological hurdles that the company must overcome, especially in terms of innovation and research. Developing new technologies and sustainable solutions for the industry is not an easy task and requires a long-term commitment.

In terms of business challenges, the company is focused on technological innovation and research. Developing cutting-edge technologies and creating sustainable solutions for tyre manufacturing is a key priority. However, this process is often time-consuming and requires significant effort.  This is where Black Donuts’ know-how and cutting-edge solutions come into play. The company is currently focused on pushing the boundaries of what is possible within the tyre industry, particularly regarding sustainability.

Regarding operations in India, the company is in the early stages of its expansion. Although it does not have a physical office in India yet, it has begun operations under the leadership of a technical director. The goal is to develop the business in India and gradually establish a technical centre that will focus on tyre simulation and other technical areas of tyre development.

The Chinese market is another area of focus. While it is not the largest market for the company, it remains an important one, with ongoing projects and customers in China. The company recognises that China is a significant player in the global tyre industry, and it continues to engage with the market, even though it is not the biggest revenue driver.

Additionally, the company is observing a trend where manufacturing is returning from Asia to local markets, a shift that began before the pandemic and has been accelerated by it. This trend is visible in regions like Africa, North America and Europe, where companies are establishing local production to mitigate supply chain issues and reduce reliance on distant markets. This shift represents a significant opportunity for the company to expand its operations and grow its presence in these regions.

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.

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has elected Joe Hinrichs as chairman of its Board of Directors, effective 7 October 2026. He will also chair the board's Governance and Executive Committees. Hinrichs joined the board in 2023 and succeeds Laurette Koellner, who will retire at the 2027 annual meeting under Goodyear's Corporate Governance Guidelines.

Hinrichs most recently served as President and Chief Executive Officer of CSX Corporation. Before that, he held numerous leadership roles at Ford Motor Company, including President of the Global Automotive Business, Executive Vice President and President of Global Operations, Executive Vice President and President of the Americas, President of Asia Pacific and Africa, and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ford China. He also led Ford Canada. Hinrichs holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Dayton and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Koellner previously held several leadership roles at The Boeing Company. She joined Goodyear's board in 2015, became independent Lead Director in 2019, and Non-Executive Chairman in 2024.

Hinrichs said, "I would like to recognise and thank Laurette for her leadership, dedication and unwavering commitment to Goodyear. On behalf of the Board, we are grateful for her many contributions throughout her more than a decade of service. I look forward to working alongside my fellow board members and the leadership team as we continue to innovate, strengthen our competitive position, create long-term value for our shareholders and build a stronger Goodyear."

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.