Trelleborg adding earthmover tires to its OTR portfolio

STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Trelleborg Wheel Systems S.p.A. is expanding the range of OTR tires it produces into the earthmoving sector, a strategic move that eventually could result in capacity expansions at the firm's plants in North America and Asia.

The OTR move—along with plans to expand the firm's motorcycle tire portfolio—were key takeaways from a Capital Markets Day presentation last week by Paulo Pompei, president of Trelleborg Wheel since March 2017.

In the presentation, Pompei stressed Trelleborg's recent move into all-steel radial tires for earthmoving applications—suitable for open pits and quarries, underground mines, as well as general construction—as a key strategic decision to expand his firm's presence in this sector from regional to global.

Trelleborg's first new product line for this sector is the earth moving radial series introduced earlier this year at the Intermat construction/infrastructure exposition in Paris.

Pompei did not spell out Trelleborg's sales expectations for the new market segment, but said the global market for such tires is valued at close to $3.7 billion—$2.5 billion in the premium sector where the Trelleborg brand competes and $1.1 billion in the lower tier markets, where the Mitas brand competes.

To expedite the move into the radial earthmover tire sector, Trelleborg is upgrading and expanding capacity at its tire plant in Otrokovice, Czech Republic, which it took over in mid-2016 as part of its acquisition of Czech rubber producer CGS Holding A.S., parent of tire maker Mitas A.S.

Trelleborg declined to provide specifics on the Otrokovice expansion, other than to say it will be completed in 2020 and covers "high-end production" of radial agricultural tires and OTR tires. The Swedish company also is extending its R&D testing center devoted to this segment.

At the same time, Trelleborg hopes to have an expansion/upgrade of its Ruma, Serbia, plant—where it makes bias and radial agricultural and industrial tires—running at full speed by year-end. Construction of a production hall is nearly final, a company representative said. Installation of new equipment has started.

The project will expand the Ruma facility's annual capacity by more than 50 percent. No investment or employee figures were disclosed.

At Intermat, Trelleborg debuted the EMR range in 22 sizes, covering 24- to 33-inch rim diameters.

At that time, Pompei said the introduction of the new EMR range "stands as a key milestone for Trelleborg in the construction tire industry."

The new range follows by a year the debut of a range of radial Trelleborg OTR tires for the loader/grader, skid-steer and backhoe sectors and by five years the launch of the Brawler solid tire series in sizes up to 35-inch rim diameter for the waste and recycling industries.

"In all tire segments that Trelleborg is operating in," he said, "our ambition is to become the customer's first choice, providing solutions that are able to accelerate the performance of our customers in a sustainable way."

Trelleborg said the EMR range is engineered to enhance productivity in critical construction applications, delivering premium damage protection and durability. The tires' multi-surface tread design provides control and grip on sand, rock, gravel or soil, Trelleborg said.

The firm's other radial OTR series are the ERD, ERL, SK and TR Series, which first were shown at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2017 in Las Vegas last fall.

At Intermat, Trelleborg also featured the Brawler HPS Soft Ride, a new version of the Brawler solid tire line that offers significantly improved operator comfort and equipment-life through reduced vibration, courtesy of a series of holes through the tire near the base. This construction yields a solid tire that is tough yet much less stiff.

"The adoption of the Brawler series in mining applications all around the world is growing fast," Pompei said at Intermat. "It is contributing significantly to drive the association of the Trelleborg brand with innovation, business acceleration and premium service; supporting our long term strategy to become a world leader in the specialty tire segment."

Trelleborg also recently disclosed it's consolidating production of farm and industrial wheels and rims to its plant in Liepaja, Latvia, where it will be able to produce wheels and rims in sizes ranging from 3 to 54 inches in rim diameter.

In his Capital Markets Day presentation, Pompei said Trelleborg also sees market opportunities in the two-wheel and specialty tire markets, where it already competes with a range of Mitas-branded on- and off-road tires.