The plant operates around the clock, 350 days per year, and produces thousands of specialist high-performance SUV tyres daily. Manual processes and automated machinery are both in place at the site, with machines focusing on producing the various different parts of a tyre, such as the sidewalls, treads and inner liners.
In 2015, the plant installed a number of online tyre measurement systems across various stages of the production process. The systems inspect the components as they are manufactured, undertaking the crucial job of comparing each part produced with the original design.
This has meant that the plant has been able to improve its understanding of the behaviour of the process variables, including line speeds, temperatures, pressures, etc, and how the quality of products produced is affected by these variables.
For example, Micro-Epsilon’s thicknessCONTROL.TTP profilometer system measures the profile of the tyres’ sidewalls by using two directly opposed laser triangulation sensors, which travel across the top and bottom of the tyre to measure the thickness. Six measurements are taken on each profile (12 in total) of sidewall features, including thickness, width and area. These numbers are then compared to the stored design. The entire process is automated. The line knows what is being produced at any one time, and any changes in design automatically updates the tools and dies needed. This helps to reduce tool wear and improve process quality.
Prior to installing the profilometer system, the plant used an offline method, where random samples were periodically removed and inspected. However, rubber is not a stable material: it stretches and shrinks depending on the temperature and pressure of its surroundings. Because of this, the plant could never be sure of seeing any long-term trends or issues.
