In 2007 Eurotire announced its plan to build a new OTR radial tyre manufacturing facility in Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Romania. This location was strategically selected as being a shipping and transportation hub (for the efficient delivery of large OTR radial tyres to customers throughout the world) and its having a ready and highly qualified employee base. Eurotire confirms that the newest OTR radial tyre manufacturing plant in the world is fully complete and that limited production of tyres was initiated at that facility in 2010.
Field testing and proving of the new radial tyre products produced at that plant was started in earnest at that time as well. Furthermore, additional sizes, material compounds, and tyre designs have continued to be developed and tested at that facility. Production levels of certain tyre sizes have already been increased.
The plan was aggressive – build a state of the art radial tyre manufacturing facility with on-site laboratory, testing and product development capabilities and have it ready to begin producing radial tyres by 2010. Not only was that plan aggressive, many thought that it couldn’t be done. Eurotire confirmed that the plan had gone forward and was in process when a prototype Eurotire radial tyre was displayed at the 2008 MINExpo. Since that time information regarding the new facility and the products to be created there was kept secure for competitive reasons.
The attainment of this goal gains greater significance from the fact that the output capabilities originally planned for the completed facility were expanded while construction was still in process. This will allow the facility to provide higher manufacturing volumes when running at full production. With over $300 million invested and nearly 1,000,000ft2 of high-tech manufacturing and product development space, Eurotire has created a true worldclass radial tyre manufacturing facility; a facility that includes one of the most modern laboratories and dynamic tyre testing facilities in all of Europe.
Eurotire continues field performance evaluations on a wide range of radial tyre sizes at multiple customer mine sites around the world. In addition, discussions are in process with mining companies who want to secure future production of Eurotire’s radial tyres as well as Eurotire’s OTR bias tyres. Eurotire says it “is committed to supporting its dedicated customers in having a consistent supply of high quality radial and bias tyre products in the months and years to come.”