In view of the growing sales of its off-highway tyres (OHT), Yokohama Rubber Co. has started up production at its Visakhapatnam plant in India, built to expand the production capacity of tyres used on agricultural and other equipment. The new plant was originally scheduled to begin production in the first quarter of 2023 and the earlier than planned start-up will enable Yokohama to respond more quickly to expanding global demand for OHT tyres, it adds.
It began the construction of the Visakhapatnam plant in the third quarter of 2020 to supplement a 1.6x expansion of production capacity at the Dahej Plant. In its initial production stage, the Visakhapatnam plant will have a daily capacity of 69 tonnes (rubber weight). The plant’s daily capacity will be increased to 132 tonnes in the second stage planned to start in the first quarter of 2024. Further expansion of the plant’s capacity is under consideration.
Yokohama also has two other tyre plants in India—the Dahej plant in the state of Gujarat and the Tirunelveli plant in Tamil Nadu. The plants produce three of the group’s core OHT brands— Alliance, Galaxy and Primex brands—which are used on agricultural, construction, industrial and forestry machinery. It says sales have been expanding faster than the overall OHT market.
The plant’s opening ceremony held on August 16 was attended by Jagan Mohan Reddy, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, the Indian state where the plant is located, Masayuki Taga, Consul General of Japan in Chennai, and Nitin Mantri, a member of the board and managing officer of the Yokohama Rubber and the head of the Group’s OHT division.
In his greeting at the opening ceremony, Nitin Mantri said, “We are very excited with this best-in-class facility that will set a new benchmark for quality and productivity in the OHT segment. With our increased capacity we will reduce our lead times to better serve our global customer base”.
Yokohama Rubber’s medium-term management plan, Yokohama Transformation 2023?YX2023) covering FY2021–FY2023, includes a commercial tyre strategy that positions the group’s OHT business as a future growth driver. It intends to capitalise on the strength of a multi-brand line-up, to develop new markets and meet diverse customer needs.