Opportunity in crisis

“In our experience,” Norman said, “Companies respond to a crisis in one of two ways. They either stop everything and just try to survive. Or they continue to invest and hope to come out of the crisis in a relatively better position than their competitors. We have taken the second approach.”

VMI did the same thing over a decade ago, after the 2008 – 2009 financial crash. During this period, VMI invested heavily in additional R&D and that led to the fast-track development of the MAXX tyre building machine. The recession, in other words, prepared the way for VMI’s greatest commercial success. During the past few months, the R&D team at VMI has again been working hard on new concepts, improvements to existing products and capability enhancements, moving into such comparatively new areas as software and data analytics.

All manufacturing companies depend on their Intellectual Property (IP) to differentiate themselves in the market, and VMI is no exception. VMI’s patented technologies are at work across the Asia Pacific region: in China, Japan, Korea, India, Thailand, Taiwan and Malaysia. VMI works hard to safeguard its IP in all the countries where it operates. India is a key market for VMI because the independent judiciary there has an excellent track record in protecting the innovations of overseas companies entering the Indian market.
 

“Returning to ‘normal’,” comments Mike Norman, “may not be a realistic option, because our market in the next few years is likely to be very different from the recent past. You will not move from survival to growth by doing the same old things. The companies that stay successful will need to think and act differently.”

Recovery roadmap

So, what exactly will the future look like? And how can businesses in the tyre industry build a roadmap out of the crisis and towards a more confident, successful future? The Covid-19 crisis, after all, has just accelerated trends in the market that were already evident will not go away when the virus is contained.

The industry was in a state of rapid change long before the virus struck. Demand was dropping, globalisation had stalled, the industry was facing much stricter environmental regulations, while electric vehicle growth was rising fast, with a need for more tyre variants in smaller production runs… It is not possible to be certain of what other long-term changes might happen as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, but it’s pretty clear there will be many of them. This means that being more agile is not a “nice to have”: it’s a basic necessity.
 

“No-one is likely to recover entirely on their own,” as Mike Norman puts it. “We need to look for ways we can work together, support each other and rebuild as partners.” How to do that? Norman suggests three ways to accelerate recovery and build a stronger, more successful future, no matter how uncertain the market seems. First, work smarter and be more agile. Second, optimise everything. Third, focus on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

Work Smarter, be More Agile

No-one accurately predicted the economic impact of the Covid-19 crisis (even though potential pandemics were seen as a priority risk by most governments). The moral of this? We need to be ready for anything and everything. There will probably be a major crisis of some kind every decade and the industry must respond better to the next one. The best advice is to make your whole business more agile and resilient: easy to say but a lot harder to do!

Dealing with Change

“You don’t make a business agile overnight,” says Mike Norman, “but you can start to gain the benefits from carefully planned change pretty soon. And the benefits grow as you make more progress in the right direction.” Becoming more flexible and ready for the unexpected depends on the strategic choices you make. In particular, two factors will define how ready for the future your business becomes: Platforms and Data.

From Machines to Platforms

When VMI launched the MAXX tyre building machine over ten years ago, it was the first step towards building production platforms, rather than standalone machines. Platforms are the key to future-proofing a business, because they can stay up to date, no matter how fast and unpredictable market and technology changes may be. Every major production platform is built from components that are constantly being worked on, improved, upgraded, replaced and added to with new capabilities. By investing in a platform, your equipment can always stay at best practice level, so your investment need never become obsolete.

Updating the MAXX

With VMI’s MAXX machine, for example, in the past 10 years 7 major upgrades have been taken to market and many customers have simply replaced (for example) the original vision technology with the hugely improved PIXXEL system.

PIXXEL includes a greatly improved camera, now built in-house to meet a very precise specification and higher protection against dust and even water. As an integrated system designed from the ground up, PIXXEL also removes the need for a separate PC and transforms performance in such key areas as component guidance, breaker and tread splice monitoring and carcass drum monitoring. It enables more proactive intervention, can enhance process efficiency, and contributes to better use of machine data and management insights through analytics.
 

This is one example of how the platform approach, enabled by intelligent retrofitting, helps make investments go further, while improving agility. No company can afford to rip out and replace its existing investments, just because a hot new technology is being introduced. It’s about evolution: always being competitive with, or preferably, ahead of the market.

Making Better Use of Data

Production machines of every kind generate vast amounts of data, but our industry has not traditionally been very inventive about using this for competitive advantage. If you are going to build a more agile business, then data is going to make a very important difference. Data in the future will enable:

• Predictive and proactive maintenance, reducing unplanned downtime and leading to more efficient management of production equipment.
• Analytics to spot emerging trends, from faults to potential process optimisation opportunities.
• Managing groups of machines from a central control area, reducing human touch points and speeding production.

Data is not a magic ingredient, of course, and neither is it new. The big change here is the ability to apply analytical tools and create insights for action in real, or near real time. This means the tools to enable greater flexibility are available now. We just need to use them more effectively than before.

Optimise everything

Change on a large scale can cause anxiety and, let’s face it, by now everyone has suffered enough disruption to last them for a long time. As Mike Norman puts it: “We don’t want to suggest anything that makes life harder at a difficult time, so the key to moving forward, we think, is step by step, keeping risk as low as possible.”

Process optimisation should be carried out on an incremental basis. As you work to analyse and improve all aspects of your production processes, you begin to find that complete stages can be cut out, time will be saved, resources used (energy, materials, people…) will be reduced and every saving goes straight to the bottom line. These are the tactical changes that drive immediate improvements, while buying time for longer-term, strategic changes.
 

Optimise Core Processes

Nobody tolerates inefficiency or poor-quality processes willingly, but sometimes it is easier just to let things stay as they are to avoid difficult decisions and potential disruption. Now is the perfect time to rethink processes and optimise them.

Places to look include materials storage and handling, transportation through the plant, improved testing to identify faults early in the process… This is all about organising the people and assets you already have, to make them more efficient. VMI’s experience is that you can remove over 10% of costs from production processes before you need to do anything disruptive. That’s additional profit every company needs to bank.

Optimise Service Options

Service within the tyre industry has traditionally been about break fix, supply of spares and providing engineers on site fast. These remain important and necessary, but service can and should mean a whole lot more, especially now we are using data to identify emerging trends and manage production equipment more effectively.

Rich data flows and new analytical tools enable you (and your service provider) to identify issues before they become faults and redefine policies to make routine maintenance more agile, responsive and proactive. This helps ensure that assets run as efficiently as possible, with minimal downtime.

“We at VMI,” Mike Norman said, “are becoming more ambitious about how we define Service. We think it is about helping customers be more successful in a strategic sense, often by fine-tuning their assets and processes to be more efficient.”

This goes beyond maintenance. Data analysis, backed by responsive service, helps tyre building companies respond to market needs more flexibly, constantly making their production environment more flexible. It’s not just about the machines, therefore, but about how you optimise technology across their entire life cycle for better response to changing patterns of demand.

Optimise People Management

In the end, all businesses depend on the quality of their people, and we believe this difficult period gives manufacturers a much-needed opportunity to look at who they employ, the skills they possess, the training they receive and how they interact with production equipment. Here, as well, expert service support can prove valuable.

“We possess a huge resource in the form of expertise, domain knowledge and insight,” Mike Norman comments. “This is at the disposal of our customers and we encourage them to make more use of what we can deliver in human terms.” The aim is to transfer skills and knowledge in order to help customers improve the quality of their own human expertise.

The future is likely to be more about extremely flexible, extremely smart systems, delivering precisely to the ever-changing needs of the market. Maximising the potential of these systems is going to need smarter people, with improved training and access to specialised expertise.

“We respect people too much to treat them without due care and attention. We assume our customers feel the same way.”

Employees have many of the right answers to tomorrow’s problems in their own heads. We need to maximise this human capital.

Solving the cost equation

Every company in our industry has taken a financial hit. Sales have been stopped in their tracks in many cases, so cashflow projections are no longer relevant and income streams have dried up. At times like this, nobody makes friends by suggesting that the right option for investment could be the one with the highest capital cost.

Why is TCO so important? It’s about getting into production and turning investment into profit as fast as possible. VMI’s engineering approach is designed to ensure that each machine works out of the box. It does not require long months of fine tuning and commissioning work on customer sites to reach peak efficiency. Installation leads to delivery right away- that’s the idea, ensuring that your investment leads to profit as fast as possible.
 

Yet, for businesses that believe in their own long-term future, all the investment decisions you make in this, the worst of times, will be critical in defining how well you compete once the crisis is over. Mike Norman’s view: “The three points we think you should always bear in mind are Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), Quality and Value.” Here is why.

Total Cost of Ownership

Production assets, such as VMI’s MAXX machines, are designed to stay fully operational for around 20 years. By the time owners get to year 5, the key to profit will be productivity and efficiency day by day, month by month, year by year.

The machine is designed to work efficiently, with planned maintenance and regular upgrades as new options appear. “Our customers can make promises to their own customers with confidence,” said Mike Norman. “They know they will be able to deliver as planned, on time, meeting contracts every time.” You cannot operate successfully with demanding end users unless you have this assurance.

If you buy a machine that does not work at once, you need to consider the major hidden costs due to being slow into production once it is delivered. These should be added to the true investment cost. So should downtime, scrappage, extra power usage, extra employee time through the entire product lifecycle… It mounts up. If you believe your company has a long-term future, then TCO is the only financial measurement that counts.

Quality as the Key

Tomorrow’s market will almost certainly require shorter production runs of high-quality products, with many more variations. We won’t be able to afford the scrappage levels that have been normal in the past. High product standards must go hand in hand with higher levels of environmental efficiency, lower energy usage, near elimination of waste and new levels of production flexibility. Assured quality will be the key to staying competitive in this new reality.

Moving up the Value Chain

In an uncertain market, ambitious companies need to aim for higher value products and prove they deserve to charge premium prices to meet their profit targets.

VMI machines can create auditable data that will show, not only what the product is, when it was produced and where, but also full operational conditions at the time. This can go into such fine detail as the materials used, cuts and splices made, length of storage, when and how the compounds were mixed: the entire life cycle from design to delivery.

Tyres have their own pedigrees, that is already taken for granted, but now it is possible to review all relevant data in much greater depth than before. Those companies able to prove their own quality standards will move up the value chain and maximise their profits. Those that can’t, will not.

Facing the Future

Where does all of this leave us as we face the task of rebuilding economies, our industry and our businesses? Especially in countries that are strongly dependent on a globalised marketplace and are facing real concerns about the future of free trade?

South Asian companies will continue to find opportunities in the global market, but they may need to rethink their strategies to maximise these. There is a model in other industries for the changes that need to happen in our own. For example, India has developed from being an offshoring centre for low cost IT processing to becoming home to global leaders in quality and innovation. VMI expects to see tyre producers in Asian countries follow a similar path, from cost competition to quality leadership. We are ready to help in this process.
 

Mike Norman’s view is that companies need to build their own road to recovery, and keep their nerve as they move forward. “The market will come back,” he says, “but it will take time and there will be some rough patches ahead.” But there are plenty of actions that can be taken here and now to bring recovery closer and help secure the long-term future of dedicated and ambitious companies.

“Being more agile, more flexible in everything we do is a non-negotiable requirement,” he emphasises. “It’s not enough to talk about unpredictability, or expect the unexpected: you have to build the capabilities that lead to true agility.” The good news is that it is possible to take short-term action, without high cost and improve performance relatively fast.

“Flexible production platforms, more and more creative use of data and analytics, straight through production with minimal stops for materials handling, building to precise market needs; these are the big prizes that ambitious companies need to aim for.”

There is no “either-or” about this. By making small-scale, rapid improvements, companies make space for the larger changes that will transform their long-term prospects. Will it be easy? Probably not, but, as Mike Norman says: “We have to face up to the challenges of our own times, whether we like them or not. If we believe in the future of our companies, we will accept the challenge and be successful.”

 

A population of over 1.4 billion people catapulting into the world’s third largest automobile market with four million trucks plying across a road network of 6.3 million kilometres supported by a USD 13.4 billion tyre market and a mining sector contributing around 2–2.5 percent of the country’s GDP demonstrate the strength of India’s automobile, freight and tyre sectors.

The story doesn’t end there as the Central Government adopts a strategic approach on reducing carbon emissions across these verticals, especially automobile and tyres, with targets such as the Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2070, battery electric vehicles target by 2030, zero-emission truck corridors, Extended Producer Responsibility for the tyre sector; the list just goes on.

Amidst all such statistics and targets, a silent spectator remains the old and varied sector of tyre retreading. In a recent news story reported by Tyre Trends, the Indian Tyre Technical Advisory Committee (ITTAC) had made a proposal to Tyre Retreading Education Association (TREA) for mandating certain standards that will improve the quality of retreads.  ITTAC has made recommendations to the BIS committee. TREA is part of the same committee. ITTAC and TREA are recommending different standards.

These standards included BIS retread standards, namely IS 15725, IS 15753, IS 15524 and IS 9168. The ITTAC had partially aligned Indian requirements with ECE R109, the European regulatory benchmark.

In a reply to the proposal, which was accessed by Tyre Trends, TREA urged the Indian Tyre Technical Advisory Committee to seek a deferment or non-applicability of BIS standard IS 15704:2018 for retreaded commercial vehicle tyres, warning that mandatory enforcement could cripple the sector.

In the letter, TREA argued that IS 15704:2018 is largely modelled on new tyre manufacturing norms and is technically unsuitable for retreading, which is a restoration and recycling process.

The standard mandates advanced laboratory tests such as spectrometer-based rubber analysis, endurance testing and compound uniformity checks, requirements that most retreading units, particularly small and medium enterprises, are not equipped to meet

The association highlighted that even large retreaders lack the infrastructure and skilled manpower needed for BIS-grade testing, while the sheer number of retreading units would make inspections and certifications operationally unmanageable for regulators.

TREA warned that compliance costs linked to machinery upgrades, audits and quality control could force 70–80 percent of units to shut down, leading to job losses, higher fleet operating costs and adverse environmental outcomes due to reduced recycling

Instead, TREA proposed that BIS prioritise retreading-specific standards such as IS 13531 and IS 15524, which focus on materials, process control, safety and quality consistency.

The body has also called for a phased transition roadmap, MSME support and industry training before any stricter norms are enforced, stressing that abrupt implementation would undermine the sector’s role in India’s circular economy.

The conundrum

India has a total of 36 administrative divisions comprising 28 states and 8 union territories. The tyre retreading sector has been continuously supporting circularity goals since the early 1970s across the world’s largest economy without getting mainstream recognition.

Even after five decades in service, the industry battles different bottlenecks including fragmentation, manpower shortage, tax pressures brought about by the recent GST revisions and now the implementation of such standards, just to name a few.

The sole practice that can simultaneously reduce carbon emissions from tyres and extend tyre life is assumed the nemesis of an ‘infamous and dangerous practice’ in some states of the country.

However, the industry has been drawing its techniques and quality parameters from the world’s oldest retreading economy, Europe.

“Big retreaders in India already have the necessary processes in place that conform to IS 15524 standards. However, as the standard is not yet mandated, we have voiced support for it because it is process-oriented and outlines how retreading should be carried out, including buffing and building procedures,” said TREA Chairman Karun Sanghi.

He added, “This standard focuses on how the work is done rather than imposing product-level testing that cannot be practically implemented. The current debate on IS 15704 stems from it being fundamentally incompatible. The standard includes requirements such as sidewall marking and destructive testing of retreaded tyres, which are impractical in a retreading environment where each tyre differs in brand, size, application and usage history,” he added.

Destructive testing, he argued, assumes uniform batch sizes. In retreading, where every casing is unique, testing even a single tyre would mean destroying finished products without yielding representative results. Applying such a framework would effectively require the destruction of every tyre in a batch, making compliance unviable.

“We have submitted our response to ITTAC and are awaiting feedback from the committee. We remain open to continued dialogue and will engage further once the committee responds to our submission,” said Sanghi.

According to him, a typical retreader processes about 300 tyres a month across multiple brands including MRF, JK Tyre, Apollo and Michelin and applications ranging from buses and trucks to mining vehicles. These casings vary widely in load cycles, operating conditions and duty patterns, often across several models from the same manufacturer.

The committee has cited European standard ECE R109, but Sanghi points to structural differences: “Europe is a global retreading hub where tyre manufacturers such as Michelin and Bridgestone dominate operations, collect their own tyres, retread them and return them to fleets, making batch-based destructive testing relevant. A similar model exists in US, where large tyre companies lead retreading and largely self-regulate without a single overarching standard. The Indian scenario is different, especially with a fragmented market.”

He stressed that the industry is not opposed to standards but to those that cannot be practically applied, warning that adopting European manufacturing-oriented norms without accounting for India’s market structure and operating realities would be counter-productive.

The debate is no longer about whether standards are needed but whether they are fit for purpose. Without accounting for India’s fragmented retreading ecosystem, enforcing impractical norms could dismantle a circular industry in the name of compliance.

The second season of TGL Presented by SoFi, where Hankook Tire serves as the Founding and Official Tire Partner, commenced on 28 December 2025. This innovative league, a venture of TMRW Sports with backing from icons like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, represents a strategic alignment for Hankook, uniting two entities driven by technological advancement. The partnership provides a global platform to reinforce Hankook's premium brand positioning across North America and worldwide through extensive visibility during broadcasts and at the state-of-the-art SoFi Center in Florida.

This unique venue embodies the league's fusion of sport and technology, featuring a massive simulator with a dedicated ScreenZone and a dynamic GreenZone. This area, equipped with a turntable and over 600 actuators, meticulously replicates real-world golf conditions indoors, creating an immersive arena experience. The competition itself is fast-paced and engaging, with teams of PGA TOUR players competing in Triples and Singles sessions over 15 holes. Innovative elements like the point-doubling ‘Hammer’, real-time strategy via ‘Hot Mic’ and a Shot Clock ensure a dynamic spectacle for fans.

The season opener presented a compelling narrative as a rematch of the inaugural finals, pitting the undefeated Atlanta Drive GC, featuring Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay, against a determined New York Golf Club squad led by Matt Fitzpatrick and Xander Schauffele. This match set the tone for an intensive season running through March, where six teams and 24 top golfers will compete. For Hankook, this partnership is more than signage; it is an active engagement with a global community, delivering a distinctive brand experience that bridges cutting-edge mobility and sport for enthusiasts everywhere.

Dunlop (company name: Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.) has made its way to the annual A-List of CDP for climate change and water security. This premier designation, awarded for the first time to the company in the 2025 evaluation, recognises world-leading performance in transparency, risk management and environmental action. CDP’s annual assessment is a key benchmark for corporate sustainability across climate, water and forests.

This achievement stems from the Group’s integrated approach to material issues outlined in its corporate philosophy. It treats the interconnected challenges of climate change, biodiversity and the circular economy holistically, advancing concrete initiatives under its long-term ‘Driving Our Future’ sustainability policy.

On climate, the Group’s science-based emission reduction targets for 2030 are validated by the Science Based Targets initiative. Operational efforts include pioneering green hydrogen production at its Shirakawa Factory and developing tyres made entirely from sustainable materials by 2050. The company also works to reduce emissions across its supply chain, lowers tyre rolling resistance to improve vehicle fuel economy and extends product life through retreading.

For water security, the strategy is driven by localised risk assessments at global production sites. In seven facilities identified as high-risk, the goal is to achieve 100 percent wastewater recycling by 2050. Progress is already evident, with the company’s Thailand factory reaching full wastewater recycling in 2024.

These coordinated actions on multiple environmental fronts formed the basis for the Group’s simultaneous top-tier recognition in both critical categories from CDP.

Bridgestone Corporation has initiated a novel co-creation programme in partnership with Ethiopian Airlines and Ethiopian Airports, focused on enhancing aviation safety at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport. This marks Bridgestone’s first sustained three-way collaboration with both an airline and an airport authority, targeting the reduction of Foreign Object Debris on runways and taxiways to support safer and more reliable aircraft operations.

The project was prompted by tyre-related incidents linked to debris at the airport, which previously risked disrupting flight schedules. Leveraging its specialised system for inspecting used airline tyres and analysing debris data, Bridgestone assessed conditions at the hub and proposed a tailored action plan. The company provided continuous support by analysing debris distribution patterns, developing visual hazard maps, advising on efficient collection methods and conducting training to raise awareness among airport personnel.

These sustained efforts have yielded significant results, substantially lowering the rate of tyre damage caused by runway debris compared to levels before the collaboration began. This reduction has supported improved on-time performance for Ethiopian Airlines while advancing overall operational safety. Additionally, the initiative has encouraged greater use of retreaded tyres, promoting economic efficiency and environmental sustainability within the airline’s operations.

Looking ahead, Bridgestone and Ethiopian Airlines Group plan to deepen their co-creation efforts, aiming to generate further value for the aviation sector and broader society through continued innovation and partnership.

Retta Melaku, Chief Operating Officer, Ethiopian Airlines, said, "At Ethiopian Airlines, the safety of our passengers, employees and aircraft is a priority. We are pleased to collaborate with Bridgestone to further strengthen our efforts in reducing FOD at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport and ensure safe operations at the hub airport."

Getaneh Adera, Managing Director, Ethiopian Airports, said, "We remain fully committed to upholding the highest safety standards at Bole International Airport at all times. This significant achievement in reducing FOD is the result of our strong commitment for safe operations and close collaboration with Bridgestone. Through our co-creation activities, we are pleased to have realised safer operations with enhanced productivity and economic value."

Jean-Philippe Minet, Managing Director, Bridgestone Aircraft Tire (Europe) S.A., said, "By combining the learnings and insights from Ethiopian Airlines' operational issues with our analysis technology and know-how, we have deepened our co-creation to propose customised solutions. We are delighted to contribute to safe aircraft operations with peace of mind and to improved operational productivity through the co-creation of efficient FOD reduction on airport surfaces. Through further expansion and evolution of this solution, we will amplify the value of our ‘Dan-Totsu Products’, trust with our customers and value of the data for creating new value."