Circular, both in shape and in process. New life breathed into tossed and tattered tyres, through thorough, hands on and hi-tech testing, they’re turned into long-lasting, high-quality, good-as-new tyres for the UK’s fleets of busses and trucks.
That sounds like a bit of an advert. We have to tread that line quite carefully sometimes. Yes, Michelin wants you to buy its products, like every business in the world. But as the tread wears thin on old tyres, so does the patience of the UK’s retread manufacturers.
They’re battling with the cheaper, poorer quality, single-use tyres being imported into the UK. This circulation has created an an industry wide problem, but it’s one being answered by companies like Michelin, and competitors such as Bridgestone. We feel that these companies’ efforts need to be shared.
And along the way, you’ll read about the interesting blend of manual and automated tyre inspection – the phases where you need an operator to get up close and personal, and the points where robotics and X-rays are needed.
The testing phases are varied and numerous, with one of the latter stages involving a pressure test. If the tyre fails this, you know about it. The bang can be heard from anywhere in the factory. Thankfully, the tyre that we observed passed this test.
There are also some great examples of circularity, beyond the main event of retreading. There’s a point in the process that causes a huge amount of mess; as the old tyre is detreaded, large amounts of black crumb spew all over the place. This is promptly scooped up off the factory floor and ends up on sports pitches and athletic tracks, as well as carpet underlay, roads, and ship fenders.
We were also given the history behind the famous ‘Michelin Man,’ which the company have made famous over the years. His origin story is unusual, and he’s been on quite a journey since his birth in the late 19th century.
Read the full story from The Manufacturer Magazine Q2 Edition
