CTA Boosts Investment in Tread Rubber Production

Continental Tire the Americas has reportedly upped its investment in its retread stock rubber plant in central Mexico.

Details of the increased investment were not offered by CTA, which announced the investment at its annual commercial tire dealer meeting, held in Bonita Springs, Fla., earlier this month. Some 150 commercial tire dealers from the U.S. and Canada attended the meeting.

In the opening session of the dealer meeting, Paul Williams, CTA executive vice president for truck tires, said, “We first opened the ContiLifeCycle tread rubber manufacturing plant in May 2011 with the intent of supplying our ContiLifeCycle retread licensees and company-owned plants throughout our current footprint of the U.S., Mexico and the Andean region, and expanding in the near future to include the Mercosur countries.

“Due to overwhelming demand, today I am happy to announce a multi-million dollar investment at this central location, which is occurring more than a year earlier than anticipated,” Williams said.

The investment, according to Williams, “includes a capacity increase by adding an additional curing and finishing line, and doubles the size of the manufacturing facility to allow for additional space for both raw materials and work in progress.”

“This expansion allows us to accommodate the growing need for retreaded truck tires in our current markets, and to comfortably expand as we reach even further across the Americas,” Williams said. “The result is that Continental now has the ability to cap more than 1.2 million truck tires annually with our ContiTreads. An additional expansion has already been planned for 2014, which involves yet another curing and finishing line to be installed.”

CTA currently offers 14 ContiTread tread patterns in various widths and depths, and the portfolio continues to expand, said ContiLifeCycle manager John Barnes. “The new truck tires we release beginning in 2012 will be evaluated for production as ContiTreads. The majority of these product launches will immediately include a retread component with the same pattern as the new tire, and performance just like it as well. So this year marks the beginning of our seamless transition from new products just available to the market to ContiTreads as well, making even greater availability of a true lifetime product.”

GRI recently conducted programs in Sri Lanka to empower women and motivate children under its Green x Circle initiative. The company said these endeavors aimed to address the needs of the community, focusing on both women empowerment and youth motivation.

GRI recently organized a training program titled "Management of household finance under current economic conditions" at the Ingiriya Rubber Collecting Center in Sri Lanka, South Asia led by Shashika Nimali, an NLP practitioner and life coach. The company said this initiative provided women in the industry with essential skills and knowledge to effectively manage household finances. GRI's tailored training sessions equipped participants with tools for informed decision-making, ultimately fostering greater financial security and independence, the company said.