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.

Hankook Tire revealed the Design Innovation 2020 project, which defines a vision for the future driving and innovation in mobility.

Launched in 2012, the Design Innovation is Hankook’s R&D project held every two years, in collaboration with one of the world’s leading design universities.

Under the theme ‘Urban Reshaping’, professors and students from the Department of Industrial Design at the University of Cincinnati in the U.S. focused on the transformation of cities geared by reconfiguring mobility as part of living spaces rather than stand-alone purpose in the future with augmented automation infrastructure and cutting-edge technologies such as eco-friendly technology, autonomous driving and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Throughout the project, modular platform of mobility concept named ‘Hankook Platform System (HPS)-Cell’ was proposed with tyre representing the root of mobility. It is applied with ‘Hankook Electric Mobility Technology (H.E.M.)’ which represents Hankook’s passion for future technological breakthroughs. Then a scenario was created which distinguishes mobility as a moving platform and its function as a pod (space), clearly elaborating that tire indeed sits at the center of the mobility.

The tyre of HPS-Cell embodied an airless tyres’ double-layered unit-cell structure to acquire complex rigidity. It is a concept tyre that uses sensor technology to not only identify tire treads and road conditions in real time, but also to respond to wear-out risks and change tread patterns according to the road condition utilizing variable wheels and optimized infrastructure.

The scenario was brought into reality in a concept film and a mock-up. The productions suggest that in 2040 urban population will be able to use this mobility platform combined with pods of various forms to each meet a specific purpose. The modular platform can also be combined with commercial pods such as urban farming to maximize the scalability and efficiency of movement within smart cities of future generation.

The unveiled productions will be exhibited at various global channels and will represent Hankook’s capabilities in design innovation globally.

Jimmy Kwon, Vice President of Hankook Tire Brand Lab said, “Hankook Tire is incorporating new ideas with our cutting-edge technology to explore design concepts for the next generation, as Hankook believes creativity is the first step towards bringing the imagination into the reality. We are more than excited to present this year’s works as they speak for the essence of the future mobility that Hankook envisions.”

TATNEFT has announced the development of a new line of ATV tyres called the KAMA Quadro ATM. The first model has been made in 25x8-12 standard size at its Nizhnekamskshina factory in Russia.

The ATV tyre, which is developed by Kama Scientific and Technical Center, has been specially designed for off-road driving, providing excellent cross-country ability in mud and snow. The tyre’s special rubber composition ensures high reliability and traction performance.

The first batch of tyres will go for pilot testing to TATNEFT subdivisions that operate off-road special vehicles.

The KAMA Quadro ATM range is currently being developed in nine tyre sizes covering 12 to 14 inches diameter, with nine more sizes coming up over the next year. The factory will begin production of 25x10 tyres for the rear axle in addition to the already manufactured  25x8 tyres intended for the front axle.

The KAMA Quadro ATM will meet the needs of the TATNEFT Group’s all-terrain vehicles used in oil fields and will also be used to equip Russian ATV manufacturers and the secondary market. (TT)

Kumho tyres have outperformed 52 rival manufacturers to ace the Auto Bild magazine’s summer tyre test with its ECSTA HS51 high-performance pattern tyre.

The annual test is among the most comprehensive of its type, the results of which are regarded as highly significant by both the European tyre trade and its consumers.

Conducted on both wet and dry surfaces, it left Kumho in a fighting third place overall. However, while the further qualifications caused the two leaders to slide down the order, 33 of the 53 entries were eliminated by the initial braking test. Kumho’s highly competitive and consistent scores in almost every discipline ultimately left it as the sole test winner.

 Awarding the ECSTA HS51 their coveted ‘Exemplary’ badge, the Auto Bild testers commended it for its precise steering response, secure wet grip, well-balanced handling, short braking distance, low wear rate and affordable price.

Unlike some tyre tests, where the products are supplied by the manufacturers, those for the Auto Bild ones are covertly purchased by the magazine from regular retail outlets. The chosen size was 205/55R16, the direct fitment for the bulk of Volkswagen Golfs and Audi A3s etc., and therefore arguably the one most common within the European car market.

UK purchasers currently have the choice of 35 sizes of ECSTA HS51 for wheels of 15 to 18 inches in diameter. The qualification round of the test was carried out at ATP (Automotive Testing Papenburg) in Germany and the other tests were performed at the IDIADA facility in Spain. 

Thus, our newly developed "Tire Leap AI Analysis" utilises advanced AI-based analysis technology to analyse (for example) electron microscope imagery of tyre rubber compounds in order to achieve high-precision analysis that far exceeds human capabilities, thereby making it possible to derive accurate estimates of rubber properties from structural data found in this imagery.

Specifically, it is a technology that estimates rubber properties precise from combining data on the individual raw materials contained in a rubber compound with data on its internal structure. In the future, we will continue to develop this technology and develop technology to estimate the future rubber properties from electron microscope imagery of unused rubber.

■ Technology to Precisely Estimate Rubber Properties Based on Structures & Materials

Tire Leap AI Analysis utilises an AI-based image analysis system to analyse the internal structures of rubber in images captured by an electron microscope in order to infer information about the properties of the rubber based on its structural data (i.e. the results of image analysis). By combining this structural data with data about the materials that make up rubber compounds, this technology is then able to derive information about the physical properties of rubber with a high degree of precision.

■ Technology to Detect Changes in the Internal Structures of Rubber After Use & Estimate Resulting Changes in Rubber Properties

By comparing images of a tyre that has never been used (i.e. that is brand new) with images of a tyre that has been used (i.e. after wear over time), this AI-based image analysis system can determine where changes have occurred in the internal structures of the tyre’s rubber and then estimate the physical properties of the rubber in the areas that have undergone these changes. The practical application of this technology will facilitate the design of new rubber compounds that are less prone to performance degradation due to wear and tear, thus contributing to the development and advancement of Performance Sustaining Technology.

Dr. Miki Haseyama, Hokkaido University: We have developed a new AI technology that is able to estimate the extent of changes in the structures based on analysis of images of the internal structures of rubber. As compiling data for this kind of machine learning would otherwise be extremely time-consuming, one of the main merits of this new technology is the fact that this AI does not require prior field data from structural changes in rubber for machine learning. Rather, this AI uses deep learning to learn about the properties of new rubber (i.e. prior to undergoing structural changes) and then estimates the extent of changes in the structure by analysing how data from old rubber (i.e. after undergoing structural changes) compares to the data that it has previously learned about new data. This approach to machine learning allows the AI to automatically detect various types of changes in the structures of rubber.

Kiyoshige Muraoka, Senior Executive Officer, Sumitomo Rubber Industries: We have been working jointly with Hokkaido University to further advance the development of AI technology that can understand how the internal structures of tyre rubber change through use. We have already put this new technology to use in the development of our latest “ENASAVE NEXT III” fuel-efficient tyres, which not only achieve the highest possible “AAA-a” rating for fuel efficiency and wet grip performance (under Japan’s tyre labelling system), but also reduce changes in tyre performance that occur over time as a result of use by half. Moving forward, we will continue to advance our Tire Leap AI Analysis technology to find and analyse slight variations in the internal structures of rubber that human senses and knowhow have been unable to detect so that we can then use the resulting knowledge to develop new technologies that further enhance tyre performance and ensure that this high performance lasts longer. In this way, we will accelerate research and development toward producing high-performance tyres that provide greater safety and peace of mind with the aim of contributing to the realisation of a sustainable mobility society for future generations.

References:

Ren Togo, Naoki Saito, Takahiro Ogawa, Miki Haseyama, “Estimating regions of deterioration in electron microscope images of rubber materials via a transfer learning-based anomaly detection model,” IEEE Access, vol. 7, pp. 162395-162404, 2019.