Taylor said in an interview the company has begun the initial engineering for the expansion project in Turkey, which he maintained is a strong base for off-the-road tires.
Tying in with that expansion, the company has signed an agreement to sell its brake business, including a plant, in Italy, he said, but he did not elaborate on the potential transaction.
“We currently truck rims from Italy to Turkey,” Taylor said. “We have a lot of Turkish manufacturers that make tractors.” The company purchased the Italian operation in 2012.
Titan's plan is to create a manufacturing center in Turkey, which will expand its presence in the country significantly. After the expansion is complete, he indicated the Quincy-based firm is considering producing tires in the country.
In terms of Brazil, Taylor said Titan currently has substantial size but wants to gain additional ground. “We'll be able to grow there. Our LSW technology outperforms anything else, so we'll add to what we currently do in Brazil. We pretty much have all the equipment we need in storage in California and Quincy.”
In addition, he said construction has begun on a facility at the firm's leased 10-acre site north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, where subsidiary Titan Tire Reclamation Corp. plans to operate a pyrolysis system developed by Green Carbon to reclaim oil, carbon black and steel from off-the-road tires—in particular mining tires—and conveyor belts.
Green Carbon, controlled by Taylor's brother, Fred, developed the pyrolysis system. Oil reclaimed from the system is expected to be sold back to oil companies to be refined as bio kerosene, steel can be used for production of tool bits on shovels and bulldozers, while Titan would reuse the carbon black.
Equipment is being moved to the site, located in the oil sands, he said. He expects the operation will be up and running in April.
Titan said the system will be able to process 100 million pounds of rubber annually.
In addition, the company has other initiatives involving products in the works and slated to come on stream in the next few months.
For instance, Titan will produce what Taylor termed top of the line ATV Goodyear tires, new underground mining tires and wheels along with “new super single tires in conjunction with three-piece wheels for ease of dismounting.”