BANGKOK—Qingdao Sentury Tire's Thai factory has started production, the Chinese tire maker said.
According to an April 10 news release, the company said that the factory is now moving into stable production phase and the annual production is 12 million of semi-steel radial tires. The plant is a 4.0 smart factory, the firm said.
The company commissioned Finnish Cimcorp in 2015 to supply nearly $34 million worth of turnkey material handling system for the plant.
The system covers the handling of PCR green tires from the tire building machines to the curing presses, as well as finished tire sorting, palletising, warehousing and shipping.
The automation system includes six independent automation lines, each consisting of monorail systems for the unloading of the tire building machines and transfer of green tires to the curing buffers; green tire buffer storage; spotting stations; and monorail transfers for press delivery.
Established in 2009, Sentury manufactures and sells tires under the brand names Landsail, Delinte and Sentury, with 13 ranges and more than 400 sizes.