Pirelli selects site in Germany for MIRS plant

BREUBERG, Germany (Jan. 17)—Pirelli S.p.A. has selected the Breuberg plant of its German subsidiary Pirelli Reifenwerke GmbH as the second site for its automated MIRS tire manufacturing system, with production expected to start this summer. Pirelli has budgeted nearly $100 million over five years to erect and equip a 167,000-sq.-ft. building on the Breuberg plant grounds to house 12 MIRS production modules. The MIRS unit will create 200 new jobs at the plant, and will turn out 1.5 million high-performance and ultra-high-performance tires a year at full capacity, Pirelli said. MIRS—Modular Integrated Robotized System—is Pirelli´s proprietary advanced tire manufacturing system, promising among other things 80-percent higher productivity at 25-percent lower cost, compared with conventional methods. The first unit is operating at Pirelli´s headquarters plant in Milan, Italy.