Saving a tonne in mining tyres

Heavy industrial mining, forestry and construction operations are set to enjoy enhanced efficiencies through Bridgestone Southern Africa’s (BSAF’s) state-of-the-art tyre maintenance grab trucks.

The company has invested a total of R10 million, and the two speciality vehicles have already been deployed to mining, construction and industrial customers across South Africa.

“The mobility and versatility of the Stellar grab truck is an extremely important enabler for operations that rely heavily on earthmoving equipment, particularly in mining, where downtime can have a major impact on production outputs,” says Walter Roux, operations manager for Bridgestone Mining Solution Centres. “The incredible machinery makes the process of replacing tyres much faster, keeping machines productive and available for longer.”

Each vehicle can easily pick up off-the-road (OTR) tyres with a maximum weight of 6 tonnes and a wheel size of 63 inches. These are said to be some of the most sophisticated grab trucks currently active in South Africa.

The units are manipulated using advanced wireless controllers. This is vastly safer than older manual processes that potentially placed people’s lives in danger.

“The grab truck service is one of many mobility solutions provided by Bridgestone in our efforts to become a trusted partner in the mining and construction industries. The service frees customers from having to make a substantial investment in equipment they might only use a few days of the month. They can then focus on their core operations while we take care of their mobility needs,” concludes Roux.

Prometeon opens new R&D centre in Turkey

Prometeon Tyre Group, the only company in the tyre business fully focused on the industrial sector, has opened its newest R&D centre in Turkey. Built at a cost of $15 million (about R213 million), it’s the group’s largest R&D facility worldwide.

The centre will work on the development of new tyre technologies that can reduce fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions. Achieving the same production levels with lower energy costs through leaner processes and reducing fuel consumption by decreasing the rolling resistance of products are also part of the new facility’s goals.

Prometeon’s R&D centre is located at its Kocaeli plant, the first tyre factory in Turkey. It was built in 1960. With this investment, the R&D team in Turkey will grow to comprise 30 engineers.

Alexandre Bregantim, global chief technical officer of Prometeon Tyre Group, described the opening as “yet another remarkable milestone in the Prometeon Tyre Group’s successful path”.

“Over the last three years, we have implemented several strategic initiatives that made Prometeon healthier, stronger and more resilient. Strategic interventions at every stage of the company’s value chain as well as a very strong focus on sustainability and human resources have allowed our company to tackle the pandemic promptly and effectively, both financially and commercially. The new R&D centre fits into this strategy and will allow us to achieve our goals, improving our offering of both products and customer services, consolidating our partnerships with OEMs and further raising our quality and efficiency standards,” he said.

Prometeon Tyre Group owns three R&D centres worldwide (there are also centres in Italy and Brazil). The group also boasts a development centre in Egypt.