Changing rapidly, Chinese tire industry has demonstrated some new trends to attract wide attention from market participants.
SO what kind of trends can be foreseen for the tire industry of China in 2017?
Intelligent manufacturing
Under the state strategy of “Made in China 2025,” Chinese tire industry embraces innovations of intelligence, automation and informationization.
Shandong province, which produced more tires than any other province in China, urged to slash outdated capacities of the tire industry in 2016.
Thus, tire manufacturers that stick to traditional ways of production may face the risk of being eliminated against such a background.
In the past two years, major tire makers such as Triangle, Double Star, Wanli Tire and Sentury have put in huge investments to build “intelligent factories.”
“If Wanli Tire realizes ‘Industrial 4.0,’ our company can add production value per capita by three times while reducing energy consumption greatly,” said Shi Zheng, general manager of Wanli Tire.
Compared to traditional ways of production, “intelligent manufacturing” can play a more and more important role in cutting labor costs, improving product diversification and enhancing productivity.
It has become an irresistible trend for the traditional industries to embrace “intelligent manufacturing” in order to transform and upgrade themselves. Whether the tire industry can achieve “intelligent manufacturing” would probably impact the industry’s long-term development.
Green tire industrialization
Statistics show the world has a car parc of about 830 million currently, which contribute 18 percent of the global carbon dioxide emission.
Authorities forecast cars would generate twice the current volume of carbon dioxide by 2030.
As such, it would be urgent to develop a green tire industry that is low-carbon, environment friendly as well as fuel and gas saving.
China launched the campaign of green tire industrialization as early as in 2012.
Wanli Tire, Zhongce, Linglong Tire, Fengyuan and SailunJinyu have some products certificated as the green tire level.
Complying with the state strategy, the R&D of green tire would be an effective way to increase product competitiveness.
Waste tire processing
By the end of 2015, China generated up to 12 million tons of waste tires, only some 5 million tons were recycled.
The 60 percent of the waste tires that were not recycled became a new form of pollution.
China’s 13th Five Year Plan promotes recycling economy, which shows the direction of the future development of waste tire recycling technology.
In April 2016, Linglong Tire reached an agreement with Shanghai Jiaotong University, under which the two sides decide to develop a waste tire recycling project.
The need of sustainable development and the companies’ rising sense of social responsibility are directing the waste tire recycling to a new way of development.
New material R&D
China’s rubber industry relies heavily on import.
Currently, the tire production in China cannot meet the increasing demand for intelligent and environmental productions.
In recent years, China’s companies are trying hard to develop new materials to meet such new needs.
The discovery of new materials such as taraxacum rubber, guayule rubber and white carbon black promises more space for the development of the new tire technology and the industrialization of the technique is going to embrace a bright future.
