In a move that will further strengthen its North American business, Japanese tyre and rubber products company Toyo Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd. is expanding its research and development (R&D) base at its Toyo Tire North America Manufacturing Inc. (TNA) facility.
Scheduled for completion during 2017, the expansion will build upon the product development capabilities, and the resources and personnel at the existing TNA R&D department.
As the Toyo Tire Group’s North American tyre manufacturing base, TNA supplies the market with high-quality tyres developed in collaboration with the Tire Technical Center, which is the TTR R&D headquarters in Itami City, Hyogo, Japan.
The tyres are manufactured using Toyo’s highly automated and proprietary ATOM (Advanced Tire Operation Module) technology.
Expansion of the North American R&D capabilities will involve increasing staff at each stage, from product planning to product design to commercialisation in order to take a more direct and meticulous approach to meeting market needs.
The group plans to increase the number of R&D staff by one and a half times; to introduce equipment to measure and evaluate the static and dynamic properties of the tyre; and to accelerate product evaluation and feedback into the development process.
The expansion will also allow the company to expedite development of both original equipment and replacement tyres that more closely meets customer needs, and thereby increase the value of its North American tyre operations.
TNA completed its Phase Four plant expansion in 2016, increasing annual production capacity to 11.5 million tyres (calculated for passenger car tyres), and is now the Toyo Tire Group’s largest tyre manufacturing facility.
To further bolster its business focus on North America, the group has created a North America Business Development Division at its Osaka, Japan headquarters effective January 1, 2017. The unit will be directly involved with promoting the North American business, and enable swift decision-making and appropriate management of the business.