XTRAX-branded off-the-road (OTR) tyres have started rolling out of Apollo’s Limda plant in Gujarat. A result of state-of-the-art technology, continuous production of OTRs began with an enormous 49-inch tyre (or over eight feet high), weighing as much as 1,100 kilograms or 1.1 ton. XTRAX tyres cater to vehicles in the mining and construction industry. This particular 49-incher would be fitted on to 90-tonner dumper trucks.
What leaves one amused about these huge tyres is the volume of raw material used per tyre more than 35 kgs of bead wire around 170 kgs of fabric and 850 kgs and more of rubber, apart from other material in similar quantities.
The time taken to produce a single 49-inch XTRAX, right from the mixing of compounds to the final product is around 24 hours. The last stage of production called curing, itself takes over eight hours. Special conveyor belts have been installed inside Apollo’s flagship Limda plant to facilitate the movement of these bulky products from one location to the other and a crane to load them on to trucks from the loading bay.
With tyres of this size, changes are inevitable!
Said Satish Sharma, Chief, India Operations, Apollo Tyres Ltd.: “Our OTR journey has been hastened since the acquisition of Dunlop South Africa and the OTR capabilities they have. The production of large OTR like the XTRAX 49-inch, has successfully filled a vital gap we had in our product portfolio. Producing higher size Off-The-Road tyres involve superior technology and skills.”
What leaves one amused about these huge tyres is the volume of raw material used per tyre more than 35 kgs of bead wire around 170 kgs of fabric and 850 kgs and more of rubber, apart from other material in similar quantities.
The time taken to produce a single 49-inch XTRAX, right from the mixing of compounds to the final product is around 24 hours. The last stage of production called curing, itself takes over eight hours. Special conveyor belts have been installed inside Apollo’s flagship Limda plant to facilitate the movement of these bulky products from one location to the other and a crane to load them on to trucks from the loading bay.
With tyres of this size, changes are inevitable!
Said Satish Sharma, Chief, India Operations, Apollo Tyres Ltd.: “Our OTR journey has been hastened since the acquisition of Dunlop South Africa and the OTR capabilities they have. The production of large OTR like the XTRAX 49-inch, has successfully filled a vital gap we had in our product portfolio. Producing higher size Off-The-Road tyres involve superior technology and skills.”
Currently, off-the-road tyres manufactured by Indian companies range from 24-inch to 49-inch, with the market size being valued at Rs. 7 billion a year.According to the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ATMA), the average monthly production of OTR tyres in India is around 11,800 units. This has seen a 9% growth in the April-December (FY08-09) period, over the same period last year.
