SHIYAN, China—Qingdao Doublestar Group has started trial production at its passenger car tire factory in Shiyan Oct. 21.
This marks Doublestar's third Industrial 4.0 factory in China with full-process smart manufacturing, Doublestar said.
Doublestar, which broke ground for the 4.3 million-sq.-ft. factory last year, said the facility has annual capacity for 5 million passenger car tires and and 1.5 million truck/bus tires. The site will manufacture mid- to high-end products, such as military specialty tires and new-energy vehicle tires.
Also on Oct. 21, Doublestar broke ground on a scrap tire recycling plant at its Shiyan site, the company's second scrap tire plant in China. The facility, which will have 100,000 metric tons of annual capacity, covers nearly 1.1 million square feet and involves a $45 million investment.
At the plant, scrap tires will be turned into primary oil, carbon black, steel cord and fuel gas. Everything in a tire can be recycled and the process has "zero pollution, zero emission, zero residue," according to Doublestar.