YRC expanding conveyor belt capacity in $13.5 million project

TOKYO—The Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd (YRC) is expanding the conveyor belt production capacity of its Hiratsuka factory in Hiratsuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture.

The investment is part of the Japanese group's effort to strengthen its industrial products business, said YRC in a March 14 statement.

The project, to be carried out "in stages," will have an initial capital investment of $ 13.5 million (¥1.6 billion).

The expansion will focus on establishing new production lines for a diverse range of fabric belts with reduced power consumption, YRC said, which will be suitable for use in applications that require resistance to abrasion, heat, oil and flames.

The company said the investment will increase production capacity at the Hiratsuka factory by 1.3 times and will enable it to respond to changes in the conveyor belt market environment.

Construction on the project began this month, and production operations are planned to start in October 2023.

The recent announcement is part of a series of measures by Yokohama Rubber to restructure its multiple business (MB) segment, as defined by the Yokohama Transformation 2023 (YX2023) strategy launched last year.

The strategy aims to shift the MB segment's portfolio to products "with highly stable earnings and strong growth potential," YRC said.

Accordingly, the segment is concentrating resources in its two strongest business domains: hose and couplings and industrial products.