Originally, the new plant was supposed to start production in the first quarter of 2023. According to company information, the Yokohama Rubber Group reacted to higher demand for OHT tyres. “Due to our increased capacity, we will be able to reduce our lead times in order to supply our customer base in a better way”, said Nitin Mantri, member of the executive board, Managing Director at Yokohama Rubber and Head of the OHT Division of the group, in his opening speech at the inauguration ceremony.
Yokohama Off-Highway Tires (YOHT) disposes of two further tyre factories in India – the plant Dahej in the federal state of Gujarat and the plant Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu. With Alliance, Galaxy, and Primex, the plants produce three of the most important OHT brands of the group, which are used for agricultural, construction, industrial and forestry machinery. During the first expansion period, the plant is to achieve a daily capacity of 69 tonnes (rubber weight), in the second period, which is planned for the first quarter of 2024, it is meant to be increased to 132 tonnes.
A company statement describes the strategy as follows: “The medium-term management plan of Yokohama Rubber, which covers business years from 2021 to 2023, consists of a commercial tyre strategy, which positions the OHT business of the group as future growth engine. The group plans to expand its OHT business by strengthening the multi-brand offer with off-highway tyres of the brands Yokohama, Alliance, Galaxy, Primex, and Aichi in order to develop new markets and fulfill different customer needs. At the same time, the group will increase its OHT production capacities to further accelerate the support of its competitiveness in the global OHT market.” (kle)
