There couldn’t be any industry that isn’t implementing, or at least knowing about, automation. And if there’s actually one, then it has probably been living under a rock. The tyre industry has already opened its doors to automation, and this helps make tyre manufacturing more sophisticated and reliable. The tyre manufacturing process itself has been experiencing constant changes – from different tyre sizes and constructions to targeting less usage of energy. Automation must be on every tyre company’s to-do list, if it hasn’t adopted it already. Don Heelis, Sales Manager, Cimcorp, gave Tyre Trends more insights on the different aspects of automation in the tyre industry and its absolute requirement, when we met him at the Tire Technology Expo 2022 in Hannover, Germany. Read on…

The philosophy of tyre manufacturing has changed dramatically. A part of the change in that philosophy relates to automation implementation in the tyre manufacturing process. However, we also find more technical perspectives being adopted and taken into account at new, modern tyre factories today.

This technical perspective can be considered to be coming from a few different areas, one of them certainly being from the actual production part of the tyre factory. Therefore, with production machinery, mixers, extruders and tyre building machines, the level of technology being implemented in these processes is increasing. Moreover, these processes are getting more sophisticated.

The other aspect of this is integrating the production across all the different areas (another factor for the dramatic change in the modern tyre factory). In the past, the different areas of production were not necessarily well connected. However, today we see them getting connected a lot more – and this is being driven and enabled by technology.

This is where companies like Cimcorp come in – who happen to provide material handling and automation technology so that different tyre manufacturing processes are better integrated.

Explaining this, Don Heelis, Sales Manager, Cimcorp, said, “When you produce your work in process, what you’re producing is in synchronisation with what’s being produced in other areas of the factory. This helps minimise the work in process and have a manufacturing process that’s more efficient.”

Going the modular way
But how does one integrate different machines and processes in the plant with all the different machines and manufacturing processes involved? Heelis let us in on this.

“The trick is to implement the automation and connectivity in a modular way,” he revealed and went on, “That way, the connectivity is physical and mechanical but involves software as well. Thus, we take an approach where the modules are flexible and can connect to various inputs and outputs; however, the module is in itself standardised. Hence, the modules can work for different factories – only the interconnection needs to be flexible.”

The green tyre
While implementing automation, one, of course, would want to implement it where they get the biggest value. “Traditionally, that has been in the palletising area – in managing and handling the finished product. Basically, palletising, storing and retrieving the finished product,” Heelis informed us and continued, “This is where everyone has traditionally looked in the past. However, a lot of focus has been put on the green tyre area in the past 10 years. That includes green tyre handling, storage and retrieval and its automatic delivery to the curing process.”

A green tyre is work in process – simply put, a tyre that has not been cured. “A green tyre is made up of a number of components. It’s built on a tyre-building machine,” Heelis further told us. “Once a green tyre is built, it is buffered, followed by being cured – and automation machines are required in order to do this. Hence, this is a key element of the modern tyre factory.”

He added, “This has been an area of key focus where productivity and simplicity can be gained. In fact, the whole process can be done with less plant floor space. Ultimately, factories that want to be competitive have to implement automation technologies in that area.”

Increased efficiency
There are many brownfield factories out there that have to modernise and be viable for the future. One of the key areas that they need to modernise and automate in is green tyre handling. Heelis asserted, “By having an automated storage and retrieval system, one can track and trace all of the work in process. Plus, one is able to store in a manner that maximises the quality of the green tyres. And then, one can deliver them from the storage system to the curing process in a very systematic and accurate way. This way, when a particular green tyre is needed in the curing area, it can be delivered there in the appropriate amount of time.”

“In this methodology, when the green tyre arrives at curing, it is at that point in time when it is needed, and the production does not have to stop,” Heelis further shared. “If this can be achieved, then the curing process can be run more efficiently; the efficiency can go from 80 percent to over 95 percent. In theory, one can increase the output of their factory by 10 percent. In such a case, one can imagine how many tyres can be produced in a factory by following this methodology.”

Automation – its role during the pandemic and inflation
While automation tends to bring in efficiency, how have companies managed to keep up their competence and productivity during the thorny period of the Covid pandemic? The pandemic has definitely brought some insights to the tyre industry from a management point of view, like it did to many other sectors. According to Heelis, automation has come to the rescue of the tyre industry in the pandemic as well.

“One important thing that the industry learnt from the pandemic was that it has a risk to its ability to produce products,” he mentioned and went on, “The absence of automation will make any company in the industry highly dependent on the labour force, which might not be available to keep the production going. On the other hand, with automated processes, a company is less at risk to events like a pandemic.”

Another issue we are dealing with right now in the global economy is inflation. Inflation equals to costs going up – from the cost of materials to the cost of labour. “Nonetheless, a company can mitigate some of the impacts of inflation if it has embraced automation. In fact, the ones who automated their brownfield factories three to four years ago are in a much better position today than their competitors who had not,” Heelis pointed out and went on, “This is because the former can mitigate some of the inflation costs, is less dependent on the workforce and is able to produce better-quality products – and at a higher level of efficiency at that. We know that there is a tremendous shortage of people in the workforce in the US right now. Therefore, automated companies have a significant competitive advantage.”

From the tyre industry’s challenges due to the pandemic and inflation, we turned to the challenges Cimcorp itself faces on the commercial side. Heelis responded that, commercially, the current challenge for them is being a low-cost, high-quality producer – which one has to be in order to compete in the market. “Furthering this challenge is how we become a low-cost, high-quality producer and stay that way. And from our perspective, the way to get there is through innovation and technology,” he stated.

Automation in the Asian tyre industry
CIMCORP opened up an office in India roughly three years ago. With its presence in the country and Asia, Heelis told us that the tyre companies in Asia are no stranger to automation and are implementing it. “As a move forward, the mentality is that if you want to be a world-class manufacturer and build a new factory, then you build the factory with automation. And this is a global perspective,” Heelis asserted.

Cimcorp’s customers in Asia range from traditional tyre manufacturers to new manufacturing entrants in the industry, so it’s a mix. Throwing further light on this, Heelis said, “We all know the traditional manufacturers like Bridgestone, Michelin, Goodyear, Continental and more. But beyond these, there are new companies emerging. And these new companies have an advantage in some ways because they are not constrained by the old ways of thinking. They are forward thinking, with a clearer mindset to do things in the current environment – the environment of automation and technology.”

“Moreover, the manufacturers who don’t invest in automation, and try to run the company with practices that were developed in the 1960 and 70s, will not be able to survive or compete,” he further added. “Their market will eventually consider them to be non-competitive, non-global and unable to produce the quality expected of them.”

Cimcorp has plans for India as well. “Our strategy is to continue to grow our business in India with the domestic tyre manufacturers, and we have been successful at that,” Heelis shared and went on, “When I say domestic, that goes for manufacturing facilities within India, from Apollo Tyres to MRF to JK Tyre to Goodyear to Michelin. Thus, we plan to continue to build our business with those factories and customers from an automation perspective, and then from a full customer service point of view.”

The other aspect comes to brownfield factories. Heelis averred, “With brownfield factories, whether in North America or Asia, the cost of automation is the same; there may be different payback scenarios between the two. However, it stands true that no matter where a company is present in the world, if it is operating a brownfield factory, then it needs a strategy to modernise. And the strategy to modernise is based on implementing automation.”

Automation in brownfield factories – what will it take?
The strategy to modernise when automating a brownfield factory is especially challenging in an already existing system. Therefore, when automating a brownfield factory, one of the most important considerations is to not interrupt their day-to-day production, Heelis cited. He mentioned that the factory has to continue making its certain number of tyres each day. Hence, a strategy that enables the factory to do that is needed – while concurrently implementing automation there.

“Besides, when you implement automation, you have to be able to do it in a standardised way,” Heelis further enlightened and continued, “This can be done with the help of flexible automation modules that can work in a lot of different scenarios. Therefore, you can deal with different brownfield factories depending just on how you arrange your automation modules. Thus, you can come up with a custom solution for every different brownfield factory out there with the help of a modular approach and on the basis of how you connect those automation modules together.”

Service provided
From providing standard modular systems to hardware to software, Cimcorp strategically has a service aspect to its business – Success Services. Therefore, the approach from its service side is to enable its customers to be as successful as possible.

“That could be achieved by providing a 24/7 support. So if the customers contact us due to an issue they are facing in the solutions provided by us, we are available at any time of the day or night to support them,” Heelis revealed and added, “We can do it remotely. In fact, as technologies emerge further, we’ll see how we can do this more remotely with virtual techniques. Here, their serviceperson could be using special tools, which enables our people (who are remote) to actually be in virtual situations in our customers’ plants. In such wise, we can be more responsive and be as if we are in place in real-time in order to provide a service.”

Tyre warehouse automation or manual operation – making the choice
Nevertheless, Cimcorp does not just stop at its 24/7 services or providing its automation solutions for tyre manufacturing processes. It goes beyond that – to the finished product warehouses. However, interestingly, that depends to a degree on which part of the world the automation is needed in; while some areas will need automation that is well advanced, some areas will use a more manual operation.

Heelis explained, “There are some key factors that determine whether the facility/area in question needs to be automated or not. For example, the cost of real estate. If it’s a manual operation, then that typically involves a very large warehouse, say around 100,000 sq mt.”

“For automating, on the other hand, you require lands that are much smaller,” Heelis further highlighted. “For instance, land is very expensive in Japan. Thus, one wouldn’t want a very big footprint warehouse over there. Which means, you go vertical wherever land is expensive.”

“On the flip side, land is very cheap in some areas and inexpensive to build the generic building (like in some areas of the US). So there is less incentive to go vertical with automation there,” he added. “But there might be other factors that could dominate.”

Choosing automation over manual operation – why?
While some main factors do influence the decision if a warehouse is going to be a fully automated one or a semi-manual one, an automated one is always preferred. For clear reasons.

“The benefit of an automated warehouse is that everything is extremely well controlled,” Heelis informed. “What’s more, you have complete control of your product – you know exactly where it is, how much of it you have and you can get on-demand access.”

“As for a semi-manual warehouse, there are fork trucks, people moving things around and putting them in different storage locations,” Heelis further clarified. “This process is much more manual, involves a lot more interaction and is time consuming. Therefore, you have much less control over the process.”

Automation – a need not to be confused as a luxury
The automotive industry has been one of the earliest industries to adopt automation. So it’s high time that tyres, an integral component of any vehicle, did so too. It’s clear that automation, today, is not a luxury but a need. No company can afford to not have it. No tyre company must be limited to older technologies, and they must invest in automation for the long term. This would not just help tyre manufacturers meet their customers’ demands without any delay, but also help modernise the industry with the world’s rapidly changing technologies.

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Michelin North America, Inc. has TreadVision by Michelin Retread Technologies at the Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) Annual Meeting. This new approach transforms the retreading process by integrating artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and advanced data analytics to boost both the quality and uniformity of retreaded tyres, ultimately enhancing fleet operational efficiency.

A central component of this system is TreadEye. This advanced technology precisely evaluates tread depth by collecting 1,200 measurement points per tyre. It delivers accurate data on tread wear and casing condition, enabling fleets to determine optimal removal points, safeguard casing integrity and minimise unnecessary vehicle downtime.

The TreadVision process further incorporates proprietary automated inspections. These systems utilise AI and predictive modelling to detect subtle imperfections and anomalies that might otherwise be missed. The application of Vision AI to automatically interpret Casing Integrity Analysis results, specifically shearography, introduces a heightened level of objective, real-time quality control. This ensures that only casings meeting strict standards proceed through the retreading line.

In addition to inspection, the technology suite automates the physical handling and flow of tyres, which streamlines plant operations and can accelerate turnaround times. By automatically managing build specifications, TreadVision standardises production parameters, reducing variability and ensuring a more consistent final product.

These advancements in quality assurance and the reduction of human error are designed to produce more reliable retreads, directly supporting fleet uptime. The system is further enhanced by integration with Michelin’s Fleet Business Insights platform, which transforms operational data into actionable intelligence. Fleets gain clearer visibility into performance trends, asset tracking and cost control, optimising tyre management from first use through multiple retread lifecycles.

Janet Foster-Whitley, Senior Director, Enterprise Dealer & North America Retreading, said, “Michelin has a long history of innovation in the mobility space. With TreadVision, we’re driving the industry forward once again. Retreading plays a vital role in helping fleets extend asset life and control operating costs, and we’re evolving the process to deliver greater consistency, improved quality and faster turnaround times.”  

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MICHELIN Connected Fleet, the data-focused fleet management arm of Michelin, has introduced Smart Predictive Tire, a new monitoring solution specifically engineered for the trailers of Class 7 and 8 fleets. This technology is designed to shift trailer tyre management from a reactive to a proactive model by delivering real-time data on pressure and temperature, alongside predictive maintenance alerts. The goal is to empower fleet operators to address tyre health issues before they escalate, thereby minimising unplanned downtime, controlling costs and extending tyre life while enhancing overall vehicle safety.

At the heart of this innovation is Michelin’s proprietary Smart Leak algorithm, which is capable of identifying subtle, early indicators of tyre degradation. By flagging these warning signs promptly, fleet managers can intervene early, avoiding more severe and costly problems. The solution not only helps in preventing roadside emergencies but also supports broader operational efficiency. Maintaining correct tyre pressure through this system can lead to a reduction in fuel consumption and slower tyre wear, contributing to a more sustainable and economical fleet operation.

The effectiveness of Smart Predictive Tire has been evaluated through international pilot programmes in Europe, where participating fleets experienced notable improvements. Data from these trials showed a significant drop (up to 80 percent) in tyre-related roadside events, an increase in the usable lifespan of tyres (up to 9 percent) in cases where chronic under-inflation was previously an issue and measurable fuel savings (up to 4 percent) when optimal tyre pressures were consistently maintained. While these outcomes are promising, Michelin notes that individual results will depend on various factors unique to each fleet, including its size, operational routes and maintenance routines.

Integrated into the company’s Trailer Premium offer, the Smart Predictive Tire solution provides flexible deployment to meet diverse fleet needs, marking a step forward in connected vehicle technology.

Damon Newquist, Vice President – Sales, MICHELIN Connected Fleet, said, “Emergency roadside service continues to be a major pain point for fleets of all sizes, especially with trailers. When there is a tyre-related event, the root cause is overwhelmingly attributed to improper inflation. Michelin’s proprietary Smart Predictive Tire solution uniquely empowers fleet operators with the tools and alerts to address these issues before they become critical. These tools are designed to help extend tyre life, reduce costs and help keep drivers off the side of the road.”

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Triangle Tyre Co., Ltd. has been recognised as an ‘Excellence Level’ facility in the 2026 Shandong Smart Factory Cultivation Library, an accolade announced by the Shandong Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology. This acknowledgment highlights the company’s significant progress and systematic achievements in intelligent manufacturing.

This provincial initiative is a key strategy to promote new industrialisation and merge the digital economy with the real sector. Enterprises were evaluated and ranked into three tiers – Pioneer, Excellence and Advanced – based on their comprehensive capabilities in digital design, smart production, lean management and sustainable operations. Over 30 businesses from the tyre sector and its related industries, including manufacturing, steel cord, rubber additives and machinery, were selected. Among these, 1 achieved the Pioneer level, 15 attained Excellence and 15 reached the Advanced level.

For years, Triangle Tyre has steadfastly advanced its intelligent manufacturing strategy, focusing on complete process digitalisation and smart system integration. Looking forward, the company remains committed to principles of innovation and green development. It plans to further integrate digital technologies with manufacturing processes, aiming to establish a modern production base that is not only smarter and more efficient but also safer and more environmentally sustainable.

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BANF, a Korean intelligent tyre system company, and Silicon Labs, the leading innovator in low-power wireless, have developed a tyre monitoring platform capable of real-time, high-resolution data processing specifically designed for autonomous vehicles and connected fleet operations. A detailed case study documenting this development is now available on the Silicon Labs website.

The system directly addresses the limitations of conventional Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS), which only trigger alerts after pressure drops substantially, leaving critical safety and efficiency issues undetected. BANF has transformed the tyre into an active intelligence node by integrating the Silicon Labs BG22 Bluetooth LE SoC into its in-tyre sensor architecture. This ultra-low-power system-on-chip was chosen for its robust RF performance, enabling reliable wireless communication even within the tyre's challenging environment where steel belts and thick rubber typically create a Faraday cage effect that impedes signals.

Inside the tyre, BANF's iSensor captures 3-axis acceleration, pressure, temperature and tread depth data at 4 kHz sampling rates. Rather than transmitting this raw information, the system performs onboard processing to extract key signals indicating wheel-nut loosening, slip events or reduced friction before sending concise alerts to the vehicle. This approach reduces communication load while accelerating response time. The integration of Silicon Labs' Secure Vault technology ensures automotive-grade security, protecting tyre data from tampering or spoofing for autonomous applications.

Power delivery has historically prevented advanced tyre sensing due to battery degradation from heat, centrifugal force and mechanical stress. BANF solved this through proprietary wireless power transfer technology. The Smart Profiler, mounted on the mudguard or fender, delivers continuous power to the iSensor using magnetic resonance, enabling battery-free operation with uninterrupted data acquisition at thousands of Hertz.

This real-time tyre intelligence feeds directly into chassis control, stability systems and autonomous driving algorithms for driverless trucks and buses where human intuition cannot detect traction loss. BANF plans to leverage accumulated data for predictive maintenance, route optimisation and insurance-linked services, positioning this solution as foundational infrastructure for next-generation mobility. Through this partnership, BANF and Silicon Labs have digitised the vehicle's last analogue domain.

Adam Sunghan You, CEO, BANF, said, "Tyres generate terabytes of data related to friction, load and mechanical stress, but until now there was no viable way to capture and transmit that information in real time. By combining Silicon Labs' BG22 with our wireless power technology, we have unlocked a new level of tyre intelligence."

Ross Sabolcik, Senior Vice President – Product Lines, Silicon Labs, said, "Compute is no longer confined to the CPU – it extends across intelligent peripherals and sensors. BG22 enables reliable, secure connectivity even in extreme environments, empowering innovators like BANF to digitise traditionally analogue systems."

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