During a media and dealer event to showcase its race tire development, Giti Tire USA also highlighted its state-of-the-art tire manufacturing facility in Richburg, South Carolina, and its relationship with Formula Drift.
During the full-day event in late May, Giti gave attendees a closer look at its automated, data-rich manufacturing process and its R&D center. To end the day, Giti’s Formula Drift drivers took to the track with helmet-strapped attendees riding shot gun to give them a taste of the speed and skill involved in Formula Drift racing.
Take a look at the photos and video below for an armchair traveler look at the ride-and-drive event.
Formula Drift drivers lined up their vehicles, fitted with Giti’s Champiro SX2 RS, outside of Giti Tire USA’s manufacturing facility in Richburg, South Carolina. A statue of the Giti elephant stands in the lobby of its manufacturing facility in South Carolina. Used in Giti’s logo and branding, the elephant harkens back to Giti’s Indonesian roots and is traditionally a symbol of durability, resilience and strength, a reference point for the Giti brand An employee at Giti’s manufacturing facility controls a machine that creates tire plies. Formulating the piies with the correct materials is done by computers, which Giti personnel monitor. With close to 700 employees, the 1.7 million-square-foot plant operates using a straight-line manufacturing system – raw materials are mixed into the tire’s sub-components on the south end of the plant, and on the north end, the finished product is stored in a 400,000 square-foot warehouse. In addition, the factory uses a mix of automation and craftsmanship to produce close to 8,000 tires per day.Spools of steel belts line the floor of the manufacturing facility. Esch spool has a unique identification number that employees can scan to track all materials in the manufacturing process. Spools of high-tensile steel that make tire beads are categorized awaiting to be used in the manufacturing process. In its R&D Center on site with its manufacturing facility, Giti employees demonstrated how various machines test the strength, operating temperature and other factors of different materials used in the tire manufacturing process. As part of its R&D Center, Giti Tire has a 3D printing lab where it can make parts for the different tire machines in the plant without having to wait on another supply chain to deliver it. Giti executives this helps keep downtime to a minimum so that the plant can run efficiently. Amanda Sorenson’s Formula Drift vehicle, sponsored by the Air Force, whips up smoke from its GT Rsdial Champiro SX2 RS tires during Giti’s Drift Along event. Giti dealers decide which helmet they’ll use before hopping into a Formula Drift car with one of Giti’s drivers.
For the third season in a row, Nokian Tyres and Powdr have joined forces to plant a tree for every 2023 and 2024 season pass sold at participating resorts. The 2023 program was announced in April and applies only to those season passes purchased during the resort’s discounted price windows.
