Continental truck tire line bending

Continental, one of the three biggest auto part manufacturers in the world, consuming the last part of an investment program of $ 210 million to complete the expansion of the production capacity of tires of trucks at the factory of Camaçari, Bahia.
The project, frozen during the collapse of the heavy vehicle industry in 2012, was resumed despite the new phase of low in the sector. The line, which initially produced up to 300 thousand cargo tires per year, has already reached capacity of 500 thousand units and, according to the company's timetable, will reach 600 thousand tires until 2017.
To this end, the Brazilian subsidiary still has available approximately $ 30 million of the budget announced by German multinational in 2011 to the tire business development in Brazil. In 2013, had already completed the expansion cycle of the line of tires for cars, where the installed capacity has increased from 4 million to 6.5 million units per year.
The additional volume, however, comes at the best moment in the industry. With the fall of more than 13% in vehicle production in the country, sales of tires to automakers retreat nearly 11% this year, according to figures from Anip, the entity of the national manufacturers of tires, which includes all brands. Accompanying the settings made by your customers vehicle industry, Continental has granted collective vacations Bahian factory workers in the second half of this month.
Even so, the company informs that it is able to compensate for the lower consumption of automakers with new contracts in the portfolio and the best performance in the spare channel, where demand grows around 12% this year-according to a survey of Anip, based on data collected through April.
Among the recent supply agreements, Continental tires will equip the new Sandero, to be presented by Renault at the end of this month, and the sports version of the Uno, Uno Sporting, which is being restyled by Fiat. "When you have a customer base that changes every year, you can plan for growth, regardless of positive or negative performance of the market," says Renato Sarzano, Chief Executive Officer, responsible for Continental tire Division in Brazil.
According to him, the company, close to finalize the program of expansion in Camaçari, is ready for the expected demand for at least the next three years. The goal is to grow at a rate of 10% per annum average going forward.
In 2014, it is expected a result a little more modest, with a high of 8% of revenues in 2013. "Until may, we had a performance aligned to this plan," says Sarzano. The Executive, however, says that there are doubts in relation to numbers of June and July, when the tires retail consumption will be influenced by the completion of the World Cup, in addition to the automakers ' production stops.
Anyway, Continental got used over the last two decades the twists in the direction of the tire business in Brazil. Its first factory in the country would be built at the end of the years 90, in Paraná, to supply Mercedes-Benz, which at the time was riding the Compact A-class in the city of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais. In the end, the project never left the paper and, in 2005, the Mercedes failed to produce the car in mining unit.
In Camaçari, the project did in 2006, but, also in this case, Continental had to review the strategies. The initial idea was to allocate 80% of production to markets in North America. The goal, however, became infeasible amid heavy production costs in Brazil and the appreciation of the real. Today, exports are not enough to account for 20% of the Continental tire production in Bahia.
This year, the company had a new experience with the sponsorship of the World Cup in the country. Delays in construction have left directors of array in Germany apprehensive. But, remember Sarzano, nothing too different than the world in South Africa in 2010, also sponsored by the multinational. Whatever the outcome of the tournament, Continental expects to finish the Cup with your brand better known among potential consumers of tires.