AKSARAY, Turkey—Turkish tire maker Brisa Bridgestone Sabanci Lastik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. has started production at a $300 million "smart" factory in Askaray.
Under construction since 2014, the new factory is rated at 4.2 million passenger and light truck tires a year with 700 employees.
Brisa, a joint venture between Turkish industrial and financial conglomerate Haci Oemer Sabanci Holding and Japan's Bridgestone Corp., said the plant—its second in Turkey—is based on Industry 4.0 and smart factory principles.
The company said the new plant was beginning a new smart factory era in Turkey, using technologies such as robotic applications, data analytics, and digitalization within the plant.
Among the plant's efficiency improvements are fully automated tire transfer systems, tracking production through the digital twin of its plant, green building applications and increased employment of virtual reality.
"[With] the automatic tire transfer system, our tires hardly touch the ground," Brisa CEO Cevdet Alemdar said.
The technology, he said, will help the company produce "zero defect" products and double inventory turnover compared with a traditional manufacturing plant. Moreover, Brisa claims the new plant is 30 percent more energy efficient than a traditional plant.
With the digital twin of the manufacturing plant, the company has created a cyber platform that can help it track production remotely and interfere only when problems arise.
According Alemdar, the system is connected to an advanced data analytics system that generates over 800 million data points per day from smart machinery and vehicles.