MADISON, Tenn.—Marangoni Tread North America is expanding tread rubber capacity at its plant in Madison to meet growing demand for its products.
The project, for which no investment sum was disclosed, includes adding capacity to produce the company's XP Extreme Performance Ringtread treads for wide-base single truck tires, Marangoni said.
"With unit sales up this year, production had to be increased right away," said Bill Sweatman, Marangoni Tread North America President and CEO. "Independent retreaders' business remains strong and we expect demand to continue to increase as we move into 2019."
The new production line, expected to be in operation in the second quarter of 2019, will produce spliceless Ringtreads up to and including 500mm widths, Marangoni said.
Marangoni offers four products for the wide-base sector: RDA-One and RTA-One for long-haul applications; RZ12 for regional applications; and RSSY3 for on-/off-road applications.
"Our primary goal, every day, is to provide our customers with the best in class products at the time they need them," Chanthavy Vongsamphanh, vice president operations, said.
The project will boost the 14-year-old plant's overall capacity by 20 percent, Marangoni said, and expand the workforce by 10 percent.
Marangoni opened the Madison plant in 2004 and has expanded it a number of times since, including a $10 million project in 2012.
Marangoni Tread North America is a subsidiary of Rovereto, Italy-based Marangoni S.p.A., which recently disclosed plans for a global partnership with Borrachas Vipal S.A. of Brazil in what Marangoni said could become the largest global independent player in the retreading sector.