Chinese tire maker Qingdao Sentury Tire Co Ltd. has ordered for its factory being built in Thailand a turnkey materials-handling solution from Finnish robotic automation systems supplier Cimcorp Group.

The order, valued at $33.6 million, is for a fully automated handling system based on Cimcorp’s “Dream Factory” solution, according to the company, which called the deal it’s “largest-ever order.” It will cover the handling of the factory’s passenger car radial green tires from tire-building machines to the curing presses, as well as finished tire sorting, palletizing, warehousing and shipping for Sentury. The system is expected to become operational in stages this year and during 2016.

Qin Long, Qingdao Sentury Tire president and CEO, said the tire maker wanted to “build a modern tire plant with the latest automation technologies to ensure high product quality and high productivity from the beginning.

“Our experiences with the first project with Cimcorp have convinced us that they are a competent and reliable partner for us for the Thailand project.”

The facility, due on stream this fall, will cover the company’s line of Landsail and Delinte tires, including new light truck AT, HT and MT tires. Sentury Tire said.

Manufacturing capacity will be built out in two phases, starting with 5 million tires annually before expanding to 12 million tires sometime next year.

Cimcorp, a unit of Murata Machinery Ltd., said its solution for the new plant — located about 100 miles outside of Bangkok, Thailand — will feature six automation lines, each consisting of monorail systems for the unloading of the tire-building machines and the transfer of green tires to curing buffers; green tire buffer storage; spotting stations; and monorail transfers for press delivery.

Cimcorp is installing a monorail transfer system in Qingdao Sentury Tire Co Ltd.'s new plant being built in Thailand.
In addition, Cimcorp’s scope of supply includes finished tire buffers and palletizing stations, rail guided vehicle (RGV) loops, stacker cranes in a high-bay warehouse, and shipping buffers in the dispatch area. The company said that material flow will be controlled by its warehouse control software, which will integrate the various technologies — robots, monorails, RGVs, stacker cranes and pallet conveyors — into a seamless system. The company also will supply to Sentury monorail systems for unloading tire-building machines and transferring green tires to curing buffers.

Sentury, which was established in 2009, manufactures and sells tires under the Landsail, Delinte and Sentury brand names, including a full range of summer and winter tires for passenger cars, ultra-high-performance vehicles, SUVs, CUVs, light trucks and off-road vehicles, as well as aircraft tires.

It is represented in the U.S. by Sentury Tire Americas in Miami.

Cimcorp, which has locations in Finland and Canada, recently supplied automated handling systems for Sentury’s Qingdao plant in China, and following the success of that project, Cimcorp said Sentury chose to use the same Dream Factory concept for its Thai factory.

Kai Tuomisaari, Cimcorp’s vice president of sales and projects, said “today’s state-of-the-art tire plants are efficient, well organized, dynamic and lean. This flexible efficiency can be achieved through modular automation and total control of the process flow. This is exactly what we will be supplying for Sentury’s new factory in Thailand.”

Source: tirebusiness.com