Michelin introduces tire technologies of Brazil

Improvements for strengthening cannot be seen: new rubber compound on the carcass and nylon coating the rim

An eye on the evolution of heavy commercial vehicles, Michelin chose Brazil to launch its new generation of technologies that increase performance and useful life of tires for trucks and buses. The entire family of tires Multi Z passes the count with the XCore, set a series of improvements which enhance the carcass from the three areas: tire bead (area in contact with the wheel), top (which is in contact with the ground) and flank (side).
The tire won a new compound rubber, reinforcing the internal structure and increasing, according to the manufacturer, its resistance to shocks, perforations and infiltrations. A new nylon protection was also added around the rim, the area that is in contact with the wheel: before layer formed rubber only, now consists of a sandwich of rubber with nylon, providing more resistance to overheating in the bead. The third modification consists in reducing the distance between the cables from the top of the tire, increasing resistance to assaults on tread.
Second Feliciano Almeida, Director of marketing and sales of buses and trucks tires from Michelin to South America, the development of these technologies – genuinely Brazilian are the answer to the needs of the carrier, which faces across the country the most different and severe conditions of use of its vehicles.
"Within the concept innovation, Michelin bothered to understand the local needs by creating innovations that increase by up to 10% the total useful life of the tire, in addition to increasing its level of recap.," he said.
The Executive points out that the biggest advantage is the durability of the tire, which will lead to productivity gains by using his ability to use: "we know that the tire is one of the three largest costs of a transporter. It was necessary to create tailored solutions for the customer to have a housing that give him greatest productivity advantages. That's why these new technologies come to meet this demand, by contributing to the reduction of operational cost of transportation, be it passenger or cargo ". He added that new technology adds 1% increase in the price of tires from next month, when it will be available on the market.
Marketing and product manager, Fernanda Pepper, pointed out that to define such improvements, the company outlined a profile of 200 thousand tires used in Brazil and gathered into a database during 14 years, to identify what are the major causes of ' untimely death ' of tires in the country.
"We find that accidental damage that cause punctures and infiltrations, in addition to the damage of resistance thereon are the biggest responsible for the destruction of cargo tires, which led us to develop technologies of reinforcement for important product areas."
She tells that to validate the new Michelin undertook trials in 80 thousand tires for four years until finally reaching the tech today presented to the national market. For now, every improvement will be applied according to the needs of categories of tires: the new internal rubber compound will be used in all versions of tires, both the road and the mixed urban, while the new rim nylon protection will be used in road and urban, and lowering distance between cables from the top urban and mixed us tire.
MORE EXPANSION PLANS FOR BRAZIL
Michelin's President for South America, Jean-Philippe Ollier, said that the new generation of tires with technologies of reinforcement and durability will contribute to increasing the competitiveness of Brazilian transport and that its development is part of the contribution of € 60 million that Michelin has annually to the area of research and development (P&D) worldwide, including Brazil.
Reinforces that other news should arise within the universe of technology packages XCore and they may be expanded to other countries in which the company operates, depending on the needs of each market.
About new expansion plans, Ollier says Michelin concluded the sum of $ 1 billion dedicated to industrial operations and increased production capacity, which included the € 300 million for the expansion of the factory of Itatiaia (RJ), in 2012 (read here).
"There are new investment ideas to the industrial segment, including Itatiaia, in which we can invest twice as much as we did in this first phase of expansion," he revealed.