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Marangoni Meccanica, the leader in tyre assembly machinery design and production, has undergone a re-branding. It is now Marangoni Machinery. The new corporate brand identity comes at a time when the company, which was recently recapitalised and spun off from the Marangoni Group, is evolving through a strategic journey with the objective of offering to its customers an even more powerful support and commitment.

The company has been a leader in the market for long and has a unique brand identity. Marangoni says the new branding reflects the company’s market-leading position better and demonstrates the comprehensive lifecycle of machinery and services offered to its customers across the globe. The new brand Marangoni Machinery and its new logo work well across digital and physical channels. “They evoke a feeling of ideas, dynamism, collaboration, movement, positivity, speed—and velocity, which work all together for obtaining the highest quality and satisfaction for the customers,” Ricardo Mastronardi, the new CEO, says.

“Marangoni Machinery has a unique value proposition in the global tyre industry, especially in the big tyre segments like Agriculture and OTR. We are driven by a continuous Customers focus: each new feature is designed to support Customer’s growth and performance, oriented to best efficiency and quality, Mastronardi told Tyre Trends 

 

Foreseeing and inventing new solutions

Research is an activity of fundamental importance for Marangoni Meccanica. The company’s collaboration with the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Trento - Laboratory of Maieutics, allows sharing knowledge and skills that can greatly improve the technical culture of its designers. The project ‘Marangoni Station - New Generation’ aims at creating software that can be used on a variety of IT media

 

The company’s main activity is the design and manufacturing of machines and technologies related to the production of new tyres, mainly machinery for tyre building of Agricultural and OTR tyres industry.

Within the flow of activities that lead to the creation of a product, research is an area of fundamental importance. The ability to match the customer's needs and, if possible, to foresee them by inventing new solutions is Marangoni Meccanica’s core strength.

The company designs around the customer’s needs, searching for new solutions to address improvements, optimisation and coming industry challenges an eventually find out new needs and anticipate what the market will require in the coming years.

Software solution

Most of the companies in its customer portfolio are not equipped with integrated supervision systems, especially for the production process. Those companies simply exchange data within their databases regarding the manufacturing process aspects, for example recipe data loading necessary for machine work, neglecting the aspects related to the plant components. Those topics are usually managed in a traditional way, not integrating the new production technologies that allow improving the working conditions by increasing the productivity and the production quality of the plants.

Being a partner who can cooperate, apart from being a mere supplier, even in the areas of plant management, is a distinctive aspect that no competitor is currently able to provide. The Company can customise and enhance the essential engineering functions for its applications, such as the total integration of external software tools developed with research institutions for satisfying the most demanding customers.

For the development of this new powerful software platform, Marangoni Meccanica has started an important collaboration with the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Trento - Laboratory of Maieutics, which will allow sharing knowledge and skills that can greatly improve the technical culture of its designers. The Department research group has been working for many years on the development of technologies, so it is an important reference in the industrial engineering field, having the advantage to count on the skills of all the project members within the company. The project consists of software writing for industrial automation components, characterised by a strong inter-disciplinarity among sectors such as user interfaces, industrial process engineering, communication networks and software design.

Reasons underlying the research

The modern scenario of industrial plants requires an ever-increasing level of integration of functions such as data communication management, operator-machine interfaces, data processing and connections to company systems for production and maintenance management. Industry 4.0 responds to the latter needs, as this new industrial revolution aims to develop data communication networks via the Internet and similar networks. This project adheres to the basic values of this new development context, namely the development of machine data management systems (SCADA - Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition), data analysis and communication on data networks, as well as creating interfaces for the operator of the production plants (HMI - Human Machine Interface).

Therefore, supervision and control software play a fundamental role in the management of complex machines and systems.

HMI and SCADA are two terms closely related to the extent to which an operator is an integral part of the components of a plant management system.

HMI and SCADA

Human-Machine Interface (HMI) is a control panel designed for interactive communication between the operator and the process / machine carrying out the tasks of entering orders, display the results connected to the process / machine status in real time. Moreover the Marangoni Machinery vision is to let HMI to become an effective gate to get access to the whole production machines even into a network and/or stand-alone mode: in such a way the Customers can have access to a variety of information (operations, maintenance, alarms etc.) to enhance the production lines to be in real-time controlled.

SCADA system is a Supervision, Control and Data Acquisition System. It is also referred to as 'telemetry,' a system having a full data communication and data control, which includes two-way communication (measurement and control) between the process system and the operator's position. In addition to this, the capacity of SCADA systems to control and monitor multiple devices, such as remote terminal units (RTUs) connected with process transmitters and final control devices, implementing basic control functions such as Start / Stop, or multiple regulation circuits including safety shutdowns, warning, notice, or PID controllers, allow the RTU devices to communicate digitally with a Master Unit (MTU) terminal in a central position where operators can monitor the process and intervene in it.

This HMI SCADA software is used in all sectors with the aim of providing a direct means of machine control, automation, security, data storage, analysis, and communications as well as allowing connectivity to a wide range of functions within the system.

In a few words the HMI software is used to monitor SCADA systems.

Customers have been increasingly demanding SCADA / HMI systems with the following features:

1. Improve control and monitoring of the process, system or plant.

2. Manage important information, such as warnings, alarms, machine shutdown, and increase productivity by decreasing shutdowns. Analysing data in real time in order to prevent unexpected stops, and resume activity more quickly.

3. Simplify the interaction between systems of different manufacturers with proper communication modes.

4. Optimise the effectiveness of user control on data and help with alarms or data groups to know the status of the system and the possible problems.

5. Enhance the quality for the correct functioning of the system.

6. Reduce operating costs through the integration and the maintenance of the process and plant.

It consists of additional software to complement our supply of machines and plants whose complexity requires systems allowing a more intuitive and quick management control, helping our customers to monitor the process in real time, especially remotely through communication networks (data, videos, etc.).

Aim of the Project

This project aims to create an HMI / SCADA software platform offering:

 - A user-friendly application in terms of persistence, business logic, graphic interface;

- The use of technologies for the creation of architectures and software structures that guarantee the optimisation of software writing and maintenance, through proper software patterns;

- The creation of responsive software allowing their use on multiple web browsers and various platforms (PC, tablet, mobile);

- The creation of suitable documentation both for the upstream analysis of the engineering process and for the control of the final product.

Goals

The result of the project is the creation of a development environment consisting of a series of applications able to:

- manage basic recipes for each type of machine

- communicate with the PLC by managing the flow of information that starts and arrives from it.

- have a graphical interface (HMI) that can be easily used in all the application contexts (design, control, monitoring, visualizations, reporting).

- allow the use on multiple web browsers and various platforms (PC, tablet, mobile) at the highest possible application level.

Basically, Marangoni Meccanica customers ask for a support where, in addition to providing machines and systems, it can integrate product with their "company system," allowing an easy, functional use even by staff whose level of specialisation is not uniform. Hence the success of this project is to have a tool enabling the company to be for its customers more and more a partner, and not only supplier.

 

 

Interview 

 

Perfectly in lane for era of transformations

Over the next five years, the industry is poised to enter a transformative era. Marangoni Machinery (MM), global tyre industry leader, especially in Agriculture and OTR segments,  is perfectly positioned and prepared to play a leading role in this evolving context, “thanks to our creativity, flexibility and engineering innovation capabilities, assures the company’s CEO Riccardo Mastronardi

TT Report

What drives you to start afresh as a new entity? How much do you think Marangoni Machinery impact global tyre industry?

Marangoni Machinery (MM) has a great technological background and exceptional innovation and engineering capabilities. The new shareholders clearly perceived that this potential in the last years has been partially untapped and big opportunities were ahead of us, therefore they decided to invest. MM has a unique value proposition in the global tyre industry, especially in the big tyre segments like Agriculture and OTR. We are driven by a continuous Customers focus: each new feature is designed to support Customer’s growth and performance, oriented to best efficiency and quality.

How does Marangoni Machinery see the tyre industry evolving in the coming decade?
Technology innovations and developing end-user requirements are driving the off-the-road tyres market into unexplored territory, presenting fresh challenges to manufactures and suppliers. The global market for off-the-road (OTR) tyres is estimated to significantly grow in the next years.

Technological advancements and market changes in the OTR tyre industry are presenting several challenges to manufacturers and suppliers. From an end user’s perspective, the imperative is to continue to drive efficiency and productivity, even as equipment gets larger and places additional stress and performance demands on the tyre.

Over the next five years, the industry is poised to enter a transformative era and we in MM believe to be perfectly positioned and prepared to play a leading role in this evolving context, thanks to our creativity, flexibility and engineering innovation capabilities.

What is your added strength in R&D and also in business development?

MM R&D is oriented to a new Customer’s experience approach. The new machines are tailor designed according to Customer’s needs and requirements in order to achieve the best quality output, and at the same time best reliability, safety and productivity.

As customer demand and technology developments change, what challenges do you foresee in providing tyre making machinery?

Main challenges are about time to market and installed base refurbishment: nowadays Customers are looking for renewal plans to get new machines within short lead times, plus new equipment oriented to increase productivity for premium products as well, so our challenge is to be ready for both business needs by serving Customers on reduced lead-time and on increased quality output.

What new products do you plan to offer?

MM is mainly oriented to “turn-key systems”: from complete Tyre Building Machines up to all comprehensive “Production Site” composed by multiple production units with software supervision platform to get an integrated and efficient management manufacturing system architectures. About new products MM is offering new tyre building core technologies (drums, toolings and robotics) to enhance the tyre productivity and quality by proprietary patents and proven solutions, mostly oriented to Agro and OTR industry areas (Stage-1, Stage-2 and Unistage solutions with Strip-Winding embedded architectures).

Any move to widen your network of sales and after-sales services?

We are definitely strengthening our Sales and After Sales Organisation in order to better satisfy our growing Customer Base. We are also planning to internationalize our After Sales Services to be closer to our Customers’ production facilities and serve them better and quicker.

Are there any new areas in tyre industry that Marangoni Machinery plans to cover?
As said above, our company is characterised by our strong and distinctive engineering capabilities. Those capabilities allow us to tackle disparate challenges and solve them in a creative, effective and efficient way. Our deep knowledge of the Tyre Industry together with our distinctive capabilities, open for us unexploited opportunities that we plan to explore in the next years.

What other new elements have been included in the new entity?
We are in the process of transforming a family owned business into a structured and managerial modern company where M&A opportunities will be also explored.

What is your take on the general economic slowdown, particularly in the Asian markets?
Frankly speaking, till now, we are not experiencing any slowdown in our business leads, especially in Asia. In our Agriculture and OTR segments in Asia we experience a significant growth led by China and India, supported by all end-use sectors; much of the gain in radialisation is seen in this region; mechanisation of agriculture is definitely a major growth driver. We need to carefully consider the significant threat to global economic growth amid coronavirus outbreak

Do you see the new regulations in import/export in some markets impacting your business?

Not yet, potentially yes, even if our solutions are not so easily replaceable and customers loyalty is very high.

 

The tyre industry is entering one of the most transformative phases in its history. Manufacturing is no longer defined only by production capacity, compound formulation or tread design. The future will be shaped by how effectively manufacturers combine advanced engineering, intelligent manufacturing, sustainability, application-specific innovation, smart technologies and global competitiveness.

For us at Rubber King Tyre Pvt. Ltd., the direction is clear: the tyre of the future must perform reliably where conditions are most demanding. This philosophy is captured in our brand promise: ‘RULE THE TERRAIN – Tyres for the Untamed’.

It represents more than a tagline. It reflects how we see the future of tyre engineering – developing products capable of performing across challenging agricultural fields, construction sites, mining environments and demanding material-handling applications as per customer expectations.

Devin Gawarvala

FROM TYRE MANUFACTURING TO PERFORMANCE ENGINEERING

Customers today are increasingly evaluating tyres on total performance rather than purchase price alone. Tyre life, traction, load-carrying capability, resistance to cuts and wear, heat management, equipment uptime and overall cost per operating hour are becoming critical considerations.

This is particularly relevant in the OTR, agriculture and industrial segments, where operating conditions can vary dramatically.

The future, therefore, belongs to application-driven tyre engineering. Instead of developing products primarily around dimensions and specifications, manufacturers will increasingly engineer tyres around the machine, terrain, load cycle, operating hours and customer requirements.

At Rubber King, this approach aligns closely with our focus on pneumatic and solid tyre solutions across agriculture, construction, mining, OTR and industrial applications. The company currently operates four manufacturing facilities in Gujarat and has built its product philosophy around durability, performance and precision engineering.

SMART MANUFACTURING WILL REDEFINE CONSISTENCY

The next major transformation will take place inside tyre factories.

Automation, digital process monitoring, data analytics and increasingly intelligent manufacturing systems will enable manufacturers to achieve greater consistency while improving productivity and reducing process variations.

However, smart manufacturing should not simply mean installing more automated equipment. Its real value comes from connecting people, processes, machines, materials and data.

Data generated across mixing, component preparation, building, curing, inspection and testing can help manufacturers identify variations earlier, improve traceability and strengthen preventive quality systems.

For Indian manufacturers, this presents an important opportunity. Combining our manufacturing capabilities and engineering talent with greater automation and digitalisation can significantly strengthen India’s position as a global tyre manufacturing hub.

SUSTAINABILITY MUST WORK ALONGSIDE PERFORMANCE

Sustainability will also become fundamental to the future of tyre manufacturing.

The industry will need to examine the complete product lifecycle – from sourcing raw materials and improving manufacturing efficiency to extending tyre life and addressing end-of-life recovery. Recent industry research is already demonstrating the potential of bio-sourced materials, recycled inputs and recovered carbon black to reduce the environmental footprint of tyre production while maintaining required performance standards.

For manufacturers, the challenge is to ensure that sustainability does not come at the cost of durability or safety.

In demanding OTR and industrial applications, a tyre that lasts longer can itself contribute to resource efficiency. Extending service life, reducing premature replacement and improving operating efficiency should therefore form an important part of the sustainability conversation.

The future will require manufacturers to achieve both objectives: lower environmental impact and higher product performance.

R&D WILL BECOME THE COMPETITIVE DIFFERENTIATOR

As equipment becomes more powerful and applications become increasingly specialised, research and development will play an even greater role.

Compound technology, casing design, tread geometry, heat dissipation, rolling resistance, cut and chip resistance and load optimisation will continue to evolve. At the same time, faster testing and feedback from real-world applications will allow manufacturers to shorten development cycles.

Rubber King’s R&D approach includes product development, technology upgrades, process optimisation, material evaluation and testing procedures aligned with internationally recognised standards.

The objective must be simple: understand the application before engineering the tyre.

INDIA HAS AN OPPORTUNITY TO LEAD

India’s manufacturing ecosystem is moving from being viewed primarily as a cost-competitive production base towards becoming an engineering and innovation partner for global markets.

For Indian tyre manufacturers, this creates a significant opportunity.

To compete internationally, however, we must benchmark ourselves against global standards – not only on price but on product consistency, technology, service, innovation and application knowledge.

At Rubber King, our international presence across more than 90 countries reinforces our belief that Indian manufacturers can develop products in India while competing confidently across global markets.

The next decade of tyre manufacturing will ultimately be about engineering confidence – confidence that a tyre will perform when the terrain becomes difficult, the load becomes heavier and the operating environment becomes unpredictable.

That is where manufacturing technology, R&D and customer understanding must come together.

Because the future will not always operate on perfect roads or predictable surfaces.

It will be built for the untamed.

RULE THE TERRAIN – Tyres for the Untamed.

The author is Entrepreneurial Founder & Director, Rubber King Tyre Group

The innovative, intelligent and integrated tyre manufacturing system marks a paradigm shift and is an indispensable tool for a fundamentally different vision of the future.

This model fosters a highly networked, data-driven and agile production environment and revolutionises traditional, labour-intensive manufacturing. This model must be combined and integrated with integrated product development, intelligent automation and data-driven optimisation.

In this model, tyre design, materials and manufacturing processes are controlled within a unified framework to achieve defined objectives. The model’s principle is based on a comprehensive and integrated development process, ensuring the achievement of consistent objectives tailored to the vehicle application, operating conditions and customer requirements.

The overall model digitally integrates and networks all phases of the tyre lifecycle, from the development and design of rubber compounds to product marketing. Data relating to design, manufacturing, testing and customer service are consolidated in a centralised and unified digital system.

This model resembles an autonomous system integrating AI and enabling the automation of repetitive tasks, predictive maintenance and real-time quality control without manual intervention. However, it already takes customer expectations into account from the design stage.

The ZC Rubber model represents a transition from theory to practice, requiring a top-down strategic approach that takes into account the product realisation architecture as well as the overall organisational culture.

ZC Rubber incorporates such a model, relying on platform-based strategies that directly leverage its proprietary X-Tech and Phecda Tech Systems. This provides an effective foundation for the continuous development of speciality tyres. The integrated system supports the development of original equipment and replacement tyres for the company’s three main brands.

ZC Rubber combines materials research, product development, manufacturing and validation within an integrated development process. This expertise enables faster product development, more consistent production and better alignment with the specific requirements of automotive platforms and markets. As a result, advancements in research and development generate measurable added value for automakers, suppliers, fleet managers, dealerships and drivers worldwide.

ZC Rubber’s model enables manufacturers to simulate production scenarios and identify bottlenecks at every stage of product realisation. It is not an isolated simulation environment but rather a deeply integrated, AI-powered development approach that directly links virtual design and testing with smart manufacturing.

AI models analyse data for predictive maintenance and for overall efficiency, detecting failures before they lead to costly production downtime requiring immediate intervention. With the emergence of trends such as AI-driven automation, latency is becoming an increasingly critical factor.

Since the 1990s, various shop floor management (SFM) systems have proven their worth and have been integrated into enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. ERP is based on different manufacturing execution systems (MES), which utilise real-time information systems and embedded software, as well as programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and SCADA systems for control and data acquisition. For many years, SFM systems optimised production processes, minimised downtime and increased the productivity of tyre manufacturers. Today, however, the integration of all digital systems, including those involved in the product development phases, is essential.

For an integrated and efficient production model, latency – also known as ‘processing time’, i.e. the calculation or inference time of control systems – is of increasing importance in order to prevent malfunctions and ensure machine synchronisation. It must be virtually zero and is often measured in microseconds (μs) or milliseconds (ms) because industrial servers continuously monitor parameters such as vibration, temperature and pressure.

This is why the Chinese national standard for network architecture in tyre manufacturing mandates extremely low latency, less than or equal to 30 ms – a crucial factor for features such as remote monitoring and predictive maintenance.

Optical detection and image acquisition are playing an increasingly important role and are driven by AI-assisted feature extraction and deep learning systems. High-resolution cameras and laser monitoring systems control critical parameters in real time, such as tread and sidewall cross-section measurements, profiling and regularity, innerliner thickness mapping, bead geometry inspection and measurement of chafer thickness and width. The use of these models optimises the entire manufacturing process and ensures efficiency and precision.

Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) have been used for years in tyre factories to manage and ensure a smooth and efficient transport and flow of materials and tyres between workstations. More recently, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) have emerged as intelligent tools capable of acting and moving independently, rather than simply being piloted. Their movements within the factory require minimal programming and intervention.

Tyre manufacturing systems are becoming more sophisticated and evolving with AI-powered automation. However, the overall production of the product is safer for long-lasting quality and for the benefit of customers…

For a long time, even a simple change in tyre size in factories required numerous manual interventions in different systems. Consequently, switching from one production plan to another, according to a given set of specifications, presents a classic challenge, as everything relies on the manual configuration of complex parameters, which generates a significant source of errors and scrap.

Following the successful integration of the intelligent and innovative production plan change management system, plan changes are facilitated by networking all systems via a Manufacturing Execution System (MES). Analysis of material consistency using Big Data enables automatic parameter adjustments. This simplifies processes, improves component stability and prevents material mixing errors during line changeovers.

Tyre manufacturing remains a traditional challenge; assembling dozens of components into a complete tyre is a labour-intensive process requiring numerous highly skilled workers. Autonomous tyre manufacturing machines operate without operators, utilising robots for material handling and positioning, thus ensuring high accuracy and repeatability.

The profile stabilisation time is crucial in the extrusion process for optimising the configuration and obtaining a stable, high-quality profile in just a few seconds. Artificial intelligence models analyse this stabilisation time with remarkable accuracy.

Dry cycle time (DCT) during tyre vulcanisation is crucial and a key area for continuous improvement. In a fully integrated, AI-driven tyre production system, vulcanisation parameters are optimised in seconds. This system ensures consistent production and prevents downtime through real-time alerts and near-instantaneous deviation correction. A powerful AI system simultaneously analyses data from over 250 vulcanising presses to identify the root causes of process variations.

A final tyre inspection system can use multiple high-speed laser sensors targeting key areas of the tyre. These sensors require microsecond-precise synchronisation to ensure simultaneous data acquisition from every point on the rotating tyre, creating a precise 3D map of the entire tyre. Intelligent 3D inspection sensors are equipped with integrated processors for instant quality control. They process high-resolution surface scans and determine conformity directly within the system.

The concrete and significant results achieved represent not just improvements but a true revolution in tyre manufacturing. Applying these principles, in line with industry averages, has increased productivity by up to 68 percent, reduced the defect rate by 57 percent and decreased inventory by 34 percent.

Integrated and automated quality control systems, which continuously monitor tyres, represent a true revolution in modern tyre factories. Manual quality control and material handling, which require significant human resources, can be replaced by up to 90 percent with intelligent systems in autonomous production systems. Finished tyres are transported to the warehouse by automated conveyors and software-controlled robotic handling systems.

A fully automated tyre manufacturing system allows for proactive intervention as soon as one parameter among thousands exceeds its control limits, thus preventing malfunctions before they even occur. In a networked system, real-time dashboards display live data to operators from mixers, timers and cutting machines, such as temperatures in temperature control unit (TCU) zones and dynamic pressure.

Automated production systems, combined with innovative, intelligent and integrated models, are particularly valuable for large production facilities. Modern tyre manufacturing goes far beyond mere ‘digitalisation’ or ‘Industry 4.0’, where even minor inefficiencies can lead to significant operational losses and customer dissatisfaction. Integration – from customer expectations to manufacturing control – enables the development and management of high-performing products with optimal overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).

Most of us know the alleged Chinese curse: ‘May you live in interesting times…’. This term, in fact, is not of Chinese origin: it was first used by a British diplomat in the late 19th century and is a kind of upper-class British joke.

And yet, as we look at the world today, in political, economic, technological and environmental terms, most of us would agree that the times we live in are far too ‘interesting’ for comfort. Predicting even the near-term future is becoming more difficult, while making rational longer-term investment decisions often feels like a high-risk gamble.

Managing uncertainty requires a very special set of skills – and uncertainty is exactly what the tyre industry is being asked to deal with right now. We can all make a list of the individual challenges we face, but perhaps the best and simplest way to define this issue is by saying that the business model of the tyre industry is in question.

CHALLENGES TO THE BUSINESS MODEL

The modern tyre plant is a product of globalisation. It depends on relatively open supply chains, predictable logistics, ready access to materials, affordable energy and steady demand for products. Unfortunately, these factors can no longer be relied on.

Mike Norman

The vehicle market is changing, notably by the rapid rise in demand for electric vehicles, while the number of tyre variants is also growing fast. We are moving to a market reality in which volume may stay more or less the same, but the number of different tyre designs is rising and the volumes per SKU are going down.

Globalisation has gone into reverse, with a rise in protectionism and tariffs, leading to ‘reshoring’ and a trend to more local production, based closer to the markets being served, enabling more agile response to demand.

A technology revolution is taking place, with automation altering the cost base and leading to a levelling up in quality – a process that has been going on for a long time. Price premiums across a wide range of market segments are starting to disappear because quality standards are now so good across the market that it is becoming harder to justify higher prices for ‘premium brands’.

We can all agree therefore that the industry is changing – but it is not so easy to define where it is heading.

THE SHAPE OF THE FUTURE?

There is overwhelming evidence that the tyre industry of the future will look very different from the industry of today. It is tempting to present a single model of the future and invite all the different industry players to plan their own roadmap to that single future. That would be a mistake – the industry is diverse and we think it will remain so. There is a clear direction of travel (towards more comprehensive automation, greater agility, lower energy use, ability to manage a greater number of variants, use of new materials, reduced environmental impact…), but the options remain broad and the future is still unpredictable.

VMI not only has a vision of the future but works continuously to develop innovative solutions that support the industry and its development. In fact, we have even successfully built a true single cell production platform. This is UNIXX, which is designed to make tyres within a single process, from initial compound mixing to the finished product. You can manage as many variants as you wish, because each individual product can be made profitably – a true ‘market of one’ approach. The footprint is very small, compared with current plants, and environmentally it is far more responsible, using less energy and with much lower levels of pollution.

Surely, this is where we should be heading? Well, perhaps it is, but life is not that simple. Every business has to start from where it is right now, which is why we celebrate:

THE IMPORTANCE OF EVOLUTION

In evolutionary theory, there is an ecosystem, which is a common space inhabited by many different species. They sometimes compete for resources, sometimes complement and help each other, while they all have to deal with bigger forces from the outside. In the distant past, these might have been volcanoes and meteorites, but in our case, the external forces are probably wars and tariffs.

The key is not to focus on a single image of the ‘perfect’ future design but to have the ability to evolve as the environment changes – and keep evolving. You must start from where you are today and then follow the logic of the market, emerging technology and your own strategic priorities. The result will be – as with natural evolution – a lot of diversity but with every player moving in a common direction: towards a future that is more automated, more efficient, more flexible.

So what does the market look like right now?

There is still that familiar divide between Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3, but the old definitions and distinctions are no longer as solid as they once were.

Most Tier 1s are losing their price advantage, at least in certain markets, because the Tier 2s have now reached a comparable quality level. Tier 3 businesses are exploiting their generally lower cost base, combined with advanced, highly automated factories to build advantage in the market through a highly competitive price point. Each type of business has its own operational realities and long-term goals. They are all moving through their own evolutionary journey. The big question we at VMI ask ourselves is this: How can we help them all to develop as successfully as possible?

KEY LESSONS OF EVOLUTION

When you start a journey of change, there are some basic priorities that apply to us all.

Simplify and take out costs. To make sure that business change projects deliver real benefits, the first task is to take out cost and reduce risk by simplifying and accelerating your existing processes. Simplification will lead to reduced energy and materials use (saving money at once), fewer human touch points (also saving money) and potentially could enable you to reduce the footprint of your plant (freeing capital for productive investment).

Every year, VMI brings out new refinements to existing systems, solutions and investments, designed to improve performance and take out cost. Here are some of the most recent of these:

• Smart Splice Ply fits to existing VMI TBMs already on site to reduce variations in play and splices. It raises quality, saves material and speeds the process.
• Then there is OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) Reporter, a purely software solution that identifies areas for process improvement for reasons that range from downtime to operator issues, with the aim of moving towards 100 percent effective operation.
• Perhaps the most exciting of these new developments is the Autonomous Materials Delivery (AMD) solution, which combines automated handling of compound rolls, Smart Run Empty (designed to cut out compound wastage) and interface with Automated Guided Vehicles.

AMD summarises the ways in which the operation of existing machines, investments and solutions can be continuously improved to reduce the need for human intervention, reduce machine downtime, cut down wastage and drive higher operational efficiency – all without disruption to business as usual while maximising the potential of existing investments.

This is the very definition of stage one in the evolutionary change journey: improve what you have and bank the savings for reinvestment in the future.

Implement new technologies, one by one. We understand there can be no ‘big bang’ changes in the tyre industry, but we can start to profit from the most advanced new technologies today without the disruption that wholesale change would cause, adding new concepts alongside existing investments in the second stage of evolutionary change.

In some cases, this makes it possible to close down existing processes completely, making machines redundant and delivering significant savings. In others, we can eliminate specific stages in a process, again leading to simplification, higher quality and cost reductions. Here are two examples:

• UNIXX Beltmaker (now with hot gum strip feature) carries out most of the activities of a traditional calendering line but faster and more efficiently. Given the size and high energy use of calendering in tyre plants, the potential for reducing plant footprint and energy costs is enormous.
• VMI’s new Strip Winder, again developed for UNIXX, is now available for evaluation and review, with the potential for simplifying some aspects of production while offering a number of quality and design advantages.

This is a technique that many companies have struggled to master but which is fully operational right now. You can see it for yourselves, as well, because VMI’s mobile Strip Winding roadshow will make it possible to watch, test, examine, ask difficult questions and prove for yourselves that it works.

Extend the scope of automation. Industrial automation is what VMI stands for, so moving to the next stage is not a break from the past but an evolutionary move. As part of the TKH Group, VMI is now not just benefitting from its own in-house (but globally located) R&D activity but is also building on the AI capability inside the Group.

There are some aspects of AI that attract some scepticism (rightly), but industrial automation is the most natural development of AI – and VMI is driving it forward at speed. During the rest of this year, we will complete development work on a decision support GenAI-enabled system that will make it easy for operators to optimise machine performance while giving assurance to employers that the operators themselves will be able to work more efficiently.

This will be just the first step in a process of continual evolution, in which machine intelligence will be exploited in more intuitive ways to enable faster skills development, deeper insights and eventually lower requirements for human intervention at all. Current VMI solutions already include advanced sensor arrays, pattern recognition (for anomaly detection) and machine learning. Many of the key elements of true AI are in place, therefore, and development has started to accelerate!

Move towards the Dark Factory. The end point of industrial AI, as defined by industry leaders in other sectors, is the idea of Autonomous Production, sometimes known as the Dark Factory – not just hands off, eyes off, to use VMI’s familiar mantra, but lights off, too!

We think use of AI in this context is the most important of all evolutionary steps, as it enables tyre manufacturers to start gaining cost and agility benefits fast while closing down redundant processes and hardware in their own time. To be clear, there will remain major differences in scope, size and potential between different industry players in the age of AI, but implementing a governing intelligence, end to end, will be common to all.

STARTING THE JOURNEY

All of us have our own individual, evolutionary journey. The key objective for every business leader in this complex, global industry is how to build their own roadmap to the future. There is no longer any question about whether we need to change or not – we certainly do – but we have no choice about where we start from. Our starting position also defines our short-term objectives.

Our conclusions are simple but – we think – unavoidable.

• Change is coming for us all. We have the option of choosing our own path and our own priorities. But not of standing still.
• Change is not just about technology: it also covers the organisation, people, partners and customers. Technology might be powerful, but if you can’t find the skills and budget to implement it, then it remains theoretical.
• AI is not a magic bullet: this simple term covers a complex suite of capabilities and techniques that need to be understood in depth and implemented with care.
• All change processes follow the same basic rules and stages. Simplify and save money now; mitigate risk and be able to stop and go back if needed; test new concepts one by one and don’t go onto the next until you have mastered the first.

The journey is what matters, and you will need a map, guidance, partners and friends to make the journey both safe and productive. It’s not revolution but evolution: that is the word that defines both the challenge and the way to make change work for you. 

The author is the Chief Commercial Officer at VMI. 

As a surviving member of the ‘baby boomer’ generation that commenced with the rapid economic growth following the World War II, I think we are, in a broad sense, privileged to have witnessed and experienced the happenings and consequences of about 50 years in the 20th Century and about 30 years in the 21st Century. When contemplating on the term literacy and its traditional meaning of being able to read and write from an educational perspective, I feel it fitting to cite a few real-life cases, from way back, which make me to wonder whether the above interpretation of literacy is all encompassing.

a) My maternal grandmother, who was born in 1900, did not know reading or writing, a typical feature about the female folk in that era, especially in the remote villages. Despite this apparent handicap, she successfully managed the day-to-day administration of the paddy fields and the rubber plantation, including finances, and raised three children to become worthy human beings.

b) Then there were these three young people who had migrated to Colombo with minimal formal education and started their business in humble ways to become well recognised icons of international fame in the healthcare, confectionary and rubber footwear and tyres, respectively, the latter being related to my own core field, the rubber industry.

c) Last but not the least, the late Martin Wickremasinghe, born in the late 19th century, who attended school only up to the 7th standard, wrote hundreds of books on diverse subjects such as history, anthropology, sociology, religion and literature and several novels (some of which were translated to several languages), which rightfully recognised him as a well-respected scholar and the greatest writer in Sri Lanka.

While it may be futile to compare apples with oranges, I feel that literacy has a utilitarian perspective, which can change with the social context and the circumstances. With my manufacturing background, I see a close parallel of literacy and quality. Out of the hundreds of definitions available of the latter, ‘fitness for use and the level to which requirements are fulfilled’ is applicable to literacy as well.

When going through the available information on the subject, it is noted that ‘literate’ can be traced back to the early 15th century from the Latin word literatus, meaning learned, educated and lettered. Initially, literate meant someone who was well educated, learned and acquainted with literature, and over time, as basic schooling became more widespread, the word was adapted to describe the foundational skill of reading and writing. The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines literacy primarily as ‘the ability to read and write’. Two core definitions for the term are identified as Basic Literacy, the fundamental ability to read and write, and Specialised Literacy, the competence, knowledge or skill in a specific subject area in which common modern applications include:

a) Computer literacy: The ability to use computers effectively.

b) Financial literacy: Understanding and effectively managing personal finances.

c) Health literacy: The capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services.

It could be inferred that we, the ‘baby boomers’, currently at an advanced stage in life, cannot do without the above basic literacies, and as a minimum, the routine health check such as blood sugar, blood pressure, LDL and HDL etc. to survive and lead active lives.

It is said that writing originated primarily out of economic necessity as the early agricultural societies grew and needed to track goods, taxes and trade. The evolution of writing from rudimentary clay tokens in to the world’s first independent writing systems in Mesopotamia, Egypt, China and Mesoamerica around 3200 BC to 3000 BC is a story that requires a deeper elucidation at a different forum.

Literacy is considered as one of the most important foundations of civilisation and has played a crucial role in human survival and existence both evolutionary and historically. However, instead of going into a deliberation of these foundational perspectives, I intend to offer some of my personal insights and recollections on this important subject over the past 60-plus years. I can recollect how at preschool stage, we were initiated into the basics of reading and writing using slates and slate pencils (made out of a silicious material) and the ‘black boards’ in the class room where chalk was used for writing. Literacy mainly meant the ability to read and write and, in later classes, in performing basic arithmetic. In schools and workplace, literacy was closely connected to formal education and subject knowledge. A literate person was one who could understand written communications, reads books and newspapers, write letters and maintain records and perform effectively in society. It was directly connected to social respectability and economic progress.

Literacy in English was considered as a rare virtue in countries which were under the British colonial rule. It was confined only to a few ‘high level’ schools in Colombo and in some major towns. Hailing from a rural background and having attended a small primary school in a remote town, I have first-hand experience of the panic and inferiority when I started secondary education in Colombo. This was especially true when we started studying for the Government (Ordinary Level Exams) in the science stream which was all in English. It was a struggle to get adapted and face the challenge, which I would say, I managed fairly well.

In those days, literacy was essentially confined to formal education and subject knowledge. Students were expected to memorise facts, understand texts and reproduce the information during the examinations. Books and libraries were the main sources of knowledge. Teachers were well recognised and respected as the primary sources of knowledge. And learning was generally a disciplined and structured process. And information, though limited, was relatively organised. I do not consider this as a deficiency or a weakness at all, because it fitted well with the societal and business expectations of those days.

I can well remember the day of my first interview seeking a job, which happened to be in the rubber industry. Instead of asking about isoprene or how the RSS (Ribbed Smoked Sheet) is made, although I managed to cram some information about the latter, I was asked about Ohm’s Law and how steel is made from iron ore. I was lucky because in our Advanced Level class, we had studied the above, and this paved way for a lifelong career in the rubber industry.

Literacy seems to be directly proportional to the rate of percolation or trickling down of the technologies to countries in our part of the world, and this was a rather slow process until the early eighties. However, mankind is evolutionary geared for ‘adaptive radiation’, which in modern jargon can be interpreted as how quickly we learn and get used to the new situations and contingencies as we meet new frontiers. According to the modern theories of cognitive learning, we acquire new knowledge through assimilation of new concepts (schemas) or by accommodation of incoming concepts into our existing knowledge. As an example, I can relate with my personal experience how my literacy in rubber technology evolved, starting as young trainee with very little knowledge on rubber. With the rapid development of science, technology and globalisation and artificial intelligence, the meaning of literacy has expanded beyond the traditional horizons.

In contrast to the scenario of over 50 years ago, today’s literacy has grown to include cultural awareness, ethical understanding, workplace competence, computer literacy, digital communication and the ability to manage continually increasing volumes of information; some of them are very often recurring and sometimes redundant. Some key diversions are shown as follows:

a) Educational and subject literacy: While mathematical and scientific literacy, language proficiency and analytical thinking is essential, they go beyond memorising facts to effective application of the knowledge.

b) Cultural literacy: This has become increasingly important in this era of extending globalisation for respectful understanding and effective communications. This also includes awareness of history, religion, social values and traditions, which lamentably is declining amongst the younger generations.

c) Ethical literacy: This simply means the ability to distinguish the right and the wrong, social responsibility and taking morally sound decisions. Ethical failures can cause serious and disastrous consequences at the work place or the society.

d) Workplace literacy: Today’s workplace literacy includes communication skills, teamwork, time management, leadership, and most importantly, emotional intelligence and empathy.

Cognitive overload is another major challenge in this era of information wilderness where virtually every perceivable member of the community is inundated with vast volumes of information every moment, which often creates confusion. The human mind has limited capacity for attention and memory. Continuous digital distractions can weaken concertation, reduce reflective thinking and may affect mental wellbeing.

While the meaning of literacy has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past 60 years or so, the digital age has created opportunities as well as unpresented challenges. Modern literacy requires not only access to information but also the wisdom to evaluate, analyse and apply it effectively. Books, reading habits, reflective thinking and reliable sources of knowledge remain essential even in the era of artificial intelligence.

For many years, literacy and competency have been considered as different subjects. However, in the modern world, the demarcation between the two have been gradually getting blurred. Literacy does not simply mean how much one knows but more on how the knowledge is applied for value creation. This convergence is evident in all walks of life. Employers are increasingly seeking persons who can demonstrate competence rather than merely possessing qualifications. Competency-based education has entered the curricula of many private and governmental institutions in Sri Lanka. Conventionally, Sri Lanka is said to possess one of the highest literacy rates in the region. However, the progress achieved in many aspects of socio-economic, ethical and cultural fronts do not seem to have a matching congruence with competency.

As the American writer, futurist and businessman Alvin Tofler (1928-2016) once quoted,

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

The meaning centres on the shift from static knowledge to the critical need for constant adaptability in a rapidly evolving world.

The author is a Management Counsellor from Sri Lanka.