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5 Benefits of Steelastic’s Calenderless Body Ply System

Steelastic’s Body Ply System provides advantages compared to traditional calendered equipment.

Compared to traditional calendering and off-line processing equipment, the calenderless Steelastic Body Ply System provides a variety of benefits. Read on to find out about the 5 top benefits of Steelastic’s extruded steel and textile body ply systems.

Benefit 1: Flexible changeovers to produce a variety of product SKUs

When using calenders for tire component preparation, changeovers can take hours and hours. This inflexibility, especially in a market with growing demand for many different SKUs, is becoming more and more of a problem. With Steelastic’s Body Ply System, changeovers can take as little as 20 minutes, meaning operators can produce multiple SKUs in a single shift with less downtime in production.

Benefit 2: It’s a one-stop process from extrusion to windup

Steelastic body ply system extrusion process

Because extrusion, cutting, splicing, gum edging and windup happen in a single process, Steelastic’s calenderless body ply machine eliminates the need to move and store calendered material between the calender and the offline processing equipment. These efficiency gains, and elimination of work in progress, result in significant cost savings over time.

Benefit 3: Significantly smaller footprint and capital investment

It’s important to consider your total cost of ownership when deciding between calendered and calenderless machinery. Steelastic’s calenderless production process has a modular design and overall smaller footprint than traditional calendering and offline processing systems. With Steelastic’s Body Ply System, you can make better use of your warehousing space and reduce the overall investment in your tire manufacturing equipment.

Benefit 4: Performs as well or better than calendered materials

Since the Steelastic Body Ply System was first introduced in 2017, we have worked with leading tire manufactures to do exhaustive testing of extruded textile and steel body ply in tires. In these tests, extruded body ply material was evaluated against calendered body ply material. Hundreds of tires were built for direct comparisons, testing for uniformity, tensile and elongation, heat shrinkage, peel adhesion, lateral stiffness, torsional stiffness, cornering power, rolling resistance, high speed camber and endurance. Testing validated that Steelastic’s equipment performed the same or better than the calendered alternative.

Benefit 5: It’s the only extrusion-based body ply machine on the market.

Extrusion-based body ply

The first of its kind, the calenderless Steelastic Body Ply System solves challenges the tire manufacturing industry has faced for years. Ours is currently the only extrusion-based system for manufacturing both steel and textile body ply.

Contact Steelastic

Ready to get started with calenderless tire production? Explore Steelastic’s Body Ply System and reach out to learn more.

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4 Common Problems with Calendered Body Ply Production

Calendered body ply production presents challenges for tire manufacturers.

Over the years, we’ve heard tire manufacturers report problems and frustrations with their calendering equipment. That’s why, at Steelastic, we’ve worked to make it possible to manufacture passenger and specialty tires without the need for expensive, inflexible calendering equipment.

Today, lower volume, highly flexible, ‘calenderless’ tire manufacturing is a reality, thanks to the Steelastic Body Ply System. Read on to see how this innovative machine is taking on longstanding tire manufacturing challenges.

Problem 1: Material Quality

With calendered production, materials are layered rather than extruded. Steelastic’s Body Ply System processes single ended textile cord with no possibility for crossed cords. Cords are placed precisely with uniform tension across the extruded strip. The resulting products are superior quality with exact widths, gauges and edge straightness.

Problem 2: Limited Flexibility

Because changeovers are time consuming and cumbersome, it can be difficult for calendered production lines to accommodate the demands of modern tire consumers. This lack of flexibility can prevent manufacturers from effectively responding to an evolving market that is demanding an ever increasing number of SKUs.

Calenderless manufacturing provides the flexibility to produce multiple SKUs with quick changeovers, allowing for enhanced customization and responsiveness. Steelastic’s Body Ply System opens the door to more versatility in tire design and production.

Problem 3: Too Much Waste

The traditional process of calendered production generates significant material waste and inefficiencies. Calendered manufacturing relies on large, complex machinery with limited adaptability. This requires more labor, more storage and more heavy lifting equipment, wasting time and materials.

With a single process from creel to wind-up, calenderless manufacturing promotes greater efficiency, reduced material waste and a more sustainable approach to tire production.

Problem 4: Difficult Maintenance

Calendered body ply production requires a textile calender and separate offline processing equipment.  These larger machines not only involve significant initial capital investment, but they are also more difficult and expensive to maintain and upgrade.

With Steelastic’s calenderless tire component manufacturing systems, maintenance is easier, less expensive and can be scheduled to ensure production is always maintained. Upgrades are also less time-consuming, reducing downtime and disruptions to the production process.

See the Advantages with Steelastic

Are you interested in seeing the advantages of calenderless manufacturing? We have a full-scale demo facility where you can try out the Steelastic Body Ply System in person. Contact us today to set up a visit.

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Steelastic Offers Advanced Flexibility for Multi-SKU Production

Image shows calenderless tire production equipment, that allows companies to produce more tire SKUs and readily adapt to ever changing market needs.

With the rapidly growing demand for an ever increasing variety of tire options, there is pressure on tire manufacturers to keep up. Large calendering and offline processing machines are known for their ability to mass produce tire components, but their cumbersome changeover process limits the quantity of SKUs they can produce.

At Steelastic, we have worked tirelessly to address this barrier to multi-SKU production. With our calenderless tire component production systems, changeovers are much quicker and easier, so manufacturers are able to adapt to changing market needs with pace.

Read on to learn more about how Steelastic has helped improve flexibility in SKU production for tire manufacturers.

The background: In recent years, we’ve seen the demand for a variety of tire types and models increase dramatically. According to a 2019 report, 625 SKUs cover 80% of the tire market, nearly triple the number (267) reported 20 years ago. Rich Kramer, chairman, CEO and president of Goodyear, reportedly said that if a dealer has two full sets of tires under each SKU, and if they have 10 stores, then they need to keep 50,000 tires in their stores every day.

The problem: In the traditional tire production model, once you set up a calender, it can take hours to change the cords for a different type of textile or steel. The calendering process also results in large volumes of material, which is wound into very large rolls of reinforced rubber. These calendered rolls need to be stored, often in a temperature and humidity-controlled environment before being moved onto off-line processing equipment to manufacture the finished steel belt, or textile body ply. This requires more storage space, additional operators, and equipment, for handling the calendered rolls.

The solution: At Steelastic, our state-of-the-art calenderless technology offers a level of flexibility that traditional large calendering and offline processing machines simply cannot match. With the tire industry experiencing a dramatic increase in SKUs, extrusion-based, calenderless production lines enable tire manufacturers to efficiently produce a wide range of tire variations to address the varied preferences of today’s tire consumers.

Calenderless technology eliminates the need for large, inflexible calendering machines. By embracing a more flexible approach, our tire component manufacturing process allows for quick transitions – 30 minutes or less – between different tire specifications.

The future: The demand for a wide variety of tire SKUs doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. Steelastic’s continued commitment to innovation will help ensure tire manufacturers can stay ahead and respond to evolving customer needs.

Contact Steelastic

Want to learn more about the advantages of calenderless manufacturing for flexibility in SKU production? Explore our calenderless technology or reach out to Steelastic today to discuss your project.

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Single End Textile Cord Case Study

Steelastic’s manufacturing partners, create cost efficiencies for the tire industry and beyond with increased single end textile cord production.

Supporting the Tire Industry and Beyond with Cost-Effective Single End Cord Production

For many years, the use of single end textile cords in production of body ply and cap strip components for tires had been cost-prohibitive. Now, with significantly increased production from leading textile cord manufacturers, tire companies can cost-effectively use calenderless equipment like Steelastic’s cap strip and body ply systems in their extrusion-based tire production lines. Find out how.

The problem: Previously, the cost of single end textile cord was higher than the loomed textile fabric used in calendered component manufacturing for tires. This meant that tire companies struggled to justify using manufacturing processes that use single end textile cord, like Steelastic’s body ply and cap strip machines.

The need: In the last decade, the tire industry has seen the demand for premium tires increase, along with a huge increase in tire SKUs. Both trends have seen an increased need for single-end textile cords. Premium tire manufacturing requires the standard of quality produced by the Steelastic extruded textile cap strip, and extruded textile body ply systems. And it’s not just tire manufacturers that benefit from the use of single end textile cord. This type of cord is being used increasingly in other industries as well.

The solution: Over the last decade, Steelastic has formed strategic relationships with leading single end textile cord manufacturers around the world. These strategic relationships have resulted in significantly increased production of all types of single end textile cord used in tire manufacturing, which has in turn reduced costs. Now, single end textile cord cost is comparable with the textile feedstock for calendering processes, making the justification of calenderless tire manufacturing processes much easier.

The results: Production volume of single end cord has increased fivefold in 10 years. This has brought down costs for tire manufacturers significantly. Many leading tire manufacturers are now turning to the Steelastic calenderless process for manufacturing cap strip and body ply, with the trend expected to gather pace in the years to come.

Why go calenderless? Extrusion based, calenderless systems are extremely flexible and cost effective. They process single end textile cords with no possibility of crossed cords and deliver extremely precise cord placement. Textile cords are fully encapsulated, and the resulting cap strips and body ply components are of superior quality, with uniform tension and precise tolerances.

Through our strategic relationships with single end textile cord manufacturers, Steelastic has helped to shape the future of tire manufacturing by making calenderless tire component manufacturing a viable reality.

Get in touch

Want to learn more about the advantages of calenderless manufacturing? Explore our extrusion-based cap strip machine or contact Steelastic today to discuss your project.

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Calenderless Tire Component Manufacturing

Extrusion based rubberization of steel cords

Steelastic is the global leader in extrusion-based equipment for tire component production. Our calenderless tire component manufacturing systems improve manufacturing efficiency, increase flexibility, and reduce environmental impact for a wide range of tire applications. All our systems are single operator controlled, taking cord and rubber compound as inputs, and producing the finished product in one process. This guide provides a step-by-step into the calenderless tire component manufacturing process.

What You Need to Know About Extrusion-based Tire Component Manufacturing Processes

1. It Starts with a Creel

The extrusion-based, calenderless process starts with a steel or textile creel. Creels are comprised of many steel or textile cords, individually wound on spools. The steel or textile cords are pulled from the creel by the downstream process under carefully controlled tension. Steelastic’s heavy-duty creels can be equipped with numerous options such as cord breakage detection systems, individual and zonal spool tension control, and creel loading systems, to help maximize your production time and minimize ROI.

2. Extruder & E-Die Head

Next, the steel or textile cords enter the E-Die Head, which is supplied with rubber compound by a smooth or pin barrel extruder. The extruder and E-die combination is used to coat the cords in rubber compound to the desired extruded strip gauge. All Steelastic E-Die’s are designed for quick tooling change. The thickness of the extruded steel belt typically ranges from 0.5mm (0.02”) to 3.0mm (0.12”), but heavier gauge material strip can be extruded for more specialist applications. The temperature of the extruder zones, and the E-Die Head are controlled by a four-zone TCU (Temperature Control Unit), to ensure that the rubber flows consistently through the extruder and that the extruded strip is of the highest quality. The E-Die tooling is made up of the insert, the insert holder and the throat. The tooling combination precisely positions every cord relative to the next cord, ensures the position of all cords in the extruded strip is to specification, and sets the gauge of the extruded strip. The throat element of the tooling also forms a small lip which is critical to splice integrity further down the process.

3. The Cooling Drum Accumulator

The cooling drum accumulator has two important purposes in the process. It both cools the extruded strip to the desired temperature for cutting and splicing operations, and provides the ability to accumulate material. The ability to accumulate material helps the system to continue to extrude material when short downstream stoppages are needed to change wind-up spools, make minor adjustments, etc.

The cooling drum accumulator includes three 406mm diameter, and eight 238mm diameter, jacketed stainless steel cooling drums and utilizes two driven rolls. One roll controls the master line speed, and the other roll continues to pull material out of the extruder when the system is accumulating material. The maximum accumulation time is approximately 5.3 minutes while the maximum accumulation length is 15.9m.

4. Cutting & Splicing Systems

There are two types of cutting systems in Steelastic’s calenderless tire component equipment portfolio: The Classic Cutter and the Next Generation Steel Belt System:

The Classic Cutter has been widely used by leading tire manufactuers with 700+ steel belt, textile body ply and steel body ply systems supplied over 50 years for PCR, TBR, OTR, track, aircraft, and motorcycle tires. The classic cutter provides precise belt width, gauge and edge straightness, highly accurate splice and belt angle and precise cord placement with no possibility of crossed wires.

The Next Generation Steel Belt System was launched to market in 2018 and provides premium quality steel belts / breakers for PCR and TBR Tires, while reducing space on the manufacturing floor. The system maintains precision cord end count positioning, gauge control and overall dimensional stability of the strip. Cutting edge closed-loop control ensures finite adjustments are made to finished belt width, angle and the splice to ensure the finished product remains in specification. The result is high-quality, versatility and efficiency through reduced processing, labor and maintenance costs as well as reducing scrap.

Next Generation Steel Belt System for PCR & TBR tires

5. Gum Edging Systems

At Steelastic, we offer machinery for hot and cold gum edging of steel belts, textile body ply and steel body ply. Both types of gum edging system are designed for flat or wrapped gum application. Both systems can apply gum material on to belt or body ply ranging from 100mm (about 3.94 in) to more than 2,300mm (about 7.55 ft) wide, and with thicknesses of 0.8mm (about 0.03 in) to 3.0mm (about 0.12 in).

Steelastic’s gum edging machines are designed to provide highly precise gum edge positioning and prevent stretching in the belt or body ply material. Applying gum to belt and body ply helps to reduce friction and heat buildup in the finished tire. This leads to a higher quality tire that lasts longer. Learn more about the gum edging process and how it helps optimize tire performance.

6. Finished Material Wind-up Systems

Steelastic has multiple wind-up designs available to accommodate any cassette configuration, reels or spools, to suit the customer’s tire building configuration. Windups can be provided as single, dual tandem, or dual side-by-side configuration.

Reach Out for a Trial Demonstration

Steelastic Calenderless Demo & Trial Lab, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio

At Steelastic, we want to help our customers improve manufacturing efficiency with our calenderless tire component manufacturing systems. Contact us to schedule a free trial or demonstration.

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Is it Time to Replace Your Tire Calendering Equipment?

Image shows tires that can be manufactured using Steelastic’s calenderless, extrusion-based system for a high-quality, low-cost solution.

Around the globe tire manufacturers are facing difficult decisions as their aging tire component calendering equipment becomes uneconomical to maintain and operate in the modern multi-SKU environment. Do they attempt to justify very expensive replacement calenders, or do they turn to the most advanced, highly flexible technology available to manufacture tire components? Before they decide, they should ask themselves these questions:

1. Is tire calendering technology still relevant and competitive?

There’s no better time to ask the hard, honest questions than now. Is calendering technology still relevant? Is it still competitive?

For the answer, look to the key industry trends impacting the tire manufacturing industry:

  • Ever increasing tire SKUs demanded by the market.
  • Tires are being manufactured closer to the market in which they are consumed
  • Tire plants are becoming smaller in size and highly flexible
  • Tire manufacturing equipment is becoming more and more automated

Does calendering and offline processing equipment allow tire manufacturers to keep up with these changing industry trends? The answer is increasingly becoming no. Tire manufacturers are turning to lower cost, highly flexible, extrusion-based tire component manufacturing systems.

2. What is the total cost of ownership of calendering equipment versus the calenderless alternative?

Your investment in capital equipment is one thing. The installation, operational and maintenance expenses are another. Before you make a commitment, take some extra time to explore the total cost of ownership.

Read this blog for a quick overview of how the TCO of your calendering equipment, and compare how it stacks up against the calenderless alternative. We’ll dive into how the investment compares in terms of installation, operation and maintenance expenses, so that you can make an informed decision.

3. How does calendering equipment support your future business goals and direction?

Whether your business strategy is to be a tire industry leader or to dominate a niche market, it’s essential to evaluate whether you have the right equipment to compete. Flexibility and the ability to adapt fast to changing market needs is becoming more and more critical. The inflexibility of legacy calendering equipment is proving to be a major bottleneck for many tire manufacturers, who are increasingly turning to the calenderless alternative.

Discover a Calenderless Alternative

At Steelastic we provide tire component manufacturing equipment that is extrusion-based. This gives you three significant advantages:

It’s flexible.

Looking to increase your competitive edge? Find an equipment solution that offers flexibility, so that you can always cater to your customers’ needs. At Steelastic, our extrusion-based equipment can produce smaller runs, enabling you to produce the multiple SKUs the market is demanding.

It’s lower cost.

Going calenderless is a perfect solution for when you’re looking to increase your profit margin. Not only is the initial capital investment lower than traditional calendering and offline processing equipment, but its installation, operation and maintenance expenses are also lower. This saves you time, labor and materials without impacting the quality, performance and safety of a tire.

It’s built for modular growth.

We believe smaller is better. Our extrusion-based system has a smaller operational footprint and provides much greater flexibility. It is ideally suited to modular growth, allowing tire manufacturers to gradually build capacity, without huge capital outlay on calendering equipment that can remain significantly underutilized for years.

Schedule a Free Trial

Are you ready to explore calenderless tire manufacturing for yourself? Schedule a test run at our facility in Cuyahoga Falls and see how an extrusion-based tire manufacturing system works. Our team of experts will guide you through the process and demonstrate the advantages that calenderless tire manufacturing can bring to your business. Contact us today to take the first step toward revolutionizing your tire manufacturing process.

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5 Problems that Steelastic Can Solve for Tire Manufacturers

A tire manufacturing plant that could use calenderless, extrusion-based tire manufacturing equipment from Steelastic.

Are you facing challenges as the tire market continues to evolve? At Steelastic we have supported the tire manufacturing industry for more than 50 years and understand the unique pain points that tire manufacturers encounter. That’s why we’ve developed innovative tire manufacturing solutions to address these problems and help your business thrive.  

Let’s explore five common manufacturing issues that Steelastic can help to solve: 

1. Managing Inventory

Managing inventory of ever-increasing tire SKUs can be a challenge for tire manufacturers. With Steelastic’s calenderless, extrusion-based system, you gain the flexibility to respond quickly and efficiently to changing customer requirements.  

Our extrusion-based tire manufacturing equipment gives you the ability to produce smaller runs, quicker. With Steelastic, you can quickly adapt and adjust your production to meet market requirements, reducing the risk of excess and obsolete inventory. By choosing Steelastic, you can streamline your operations and ensure that your tire inventory remains optimized and aligned with customers needs.  

2. Aging Calendering Equipment 

If your calendering equipment is aging, you may be faced with expensive and time-consuming upgrades. At Steelastic, we provide a calendering machine alternative, which are extrusion-based systems that provide a quick return on investment (ROI). With our advanced technology, you can replace outdated calendering, and offline processing equipment, with state-of-the-art solutions that offer enhanced flexibility, efficiency, and ease of operation.  

Say goodbye to costly repairs or replacements and embrace the benefits of calenderless tire manufacturing equipment, which have significantly lower total cost of ownership (TCO), and increased flexibility, when compared to traditional calendering methods. 

3. Insourcing of Tire Components 

If your tire manufacturing plant is struggling with limited warehouse space while insourcing tire calendered material, it’s time for a change. 

Steelastic’s extrusion-based tire manufacturing equipment has a smaller footprint, increased flexibility, and more tailored production output when compared to traditional tire calendering methods, making it perfect for transitioning to manufacturing tire components in-house. By choosing Steelastic, you can optimize your space utilization and say goodbye to the inventory challenges that come with insourcing calender rolls. Our calenderless, extrusion-based equipment helps turn inventory more quickly, allowing you to align production with customer demand effectively. 

4. New Tire Plant Start-Up 

Are you considering building a new tire manufacturing plant? Starting a tire plant requires careful consideration of capital investment and the need for a justifiable ROI. Leading tire manufacturers are increasingly choosing Steelastic’s equipment to manufacture their tire components in new plants. And for good reason.  

Our technology offers a cost-effective solution that delivers fast returns on investment (ROI). With Steelastic, you can kickstart your new tire manufacturing plant and build capacity in a modular fashion, adding capacity incrementally as production demand increases.  Tire manufacturers see this as a significant differentiator versus the calendered alternative, where initial capital outlay, and production capacity can far outweigh requirements. 

5. Your Tire Manufacturing Plant Can’t Keep Up 

Is your tire manufacturing plant struggling to meet increasing production demand and ever-increasing SKU requirements? At Steelastic, our calenderless, extrusion-based systems are the solution you’ve been searching for. Our equipment provides the ability to grow modularly, allowing you to quickly expand your production capacity and keep pace with market demands.  

Our extrusion-based tire component equipment is known for its streamlined efficiency and flexibility. At Steelastic, we’re proud to provide tire manufacturing equipment that outperforms the limitations of traditional calendering processes, ensuring that your plant can keep up with the ever-growing demand for tires. 

Reach out to Steelastic  

At Steelastic, we understand the challenges that tire manufacturers face. With our industry-leading equipment, you can overcome these pain points and experience increased efficiency, profitability, and customer satisfaction. Contact us today to schedule your free trial run in our facility in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Discover how Steelastic’s solutions can transform your tire manufacturing business. Together, let’s drive towards success. 

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6 Ways Steelastic’s Calenderless Equipment is Used by Leading Tire Manufacturers

Steelastic Next Gen Belt tooling making pick and place of extruded steel belt material

It true to say that calendering has been a tried-and-true process for the tire manufacturing industry for decades. But like most things, when the customers’ needs change, the approach needs to change as well.  

That’s where Steelastic comes in. 

For more than 50 years, Steelastic has provided cutting-edge tire component preparation technology for reinfoced tire components such as steel belt, body ply and cap strip. Steelastic’s equipment portfolio has been utilized by almost all leading tire manufacturers as a genuine alternative to calendering and offline processing.   

But is it the right choice for your tire manufacturing plant? In this article, we will explore several ways that leading tire manufacturers are utilizing Steelastic’s calenderless tire component preparation equipment portfolio to meet their needs. 

But first, what is calenderless, extrusion-based, tire component preparation? 

Unlike the tire calendering process, calenderless tire manufacturing uses an extrusion-based system to manufacture tire components, such as the belt, body ply, and cap strip, from creel to wind-up in one production process. By utilizing advanced technology and engineering expertise, Steelastic has developed an automated extrusion system that significantly increases flexibility, while reducing downtime and waste. 

Let’s dive in and explore the many ways in which leading tire manufacturers are utilizing Steelastic’s extrusion-based equipment portfolio?  

Starting a New Tire Plant? 

When starting a new tire plant, minimizing capital investment while maximizing returns is crucial. Steelastic’s calenderless, extrusion-based systems offer a cost-effective solution that provides a quicker return on investment (ROI) than traditional calendering and offline processing equipment. With reduced capital requirements and enhanced flexibility, you can jumpstart your new plant with confidence knowing that your capital outlay is aligned closely with production capacity. 

Need to expand capacity?  

As your tire manufacturing business expands, so does the need for increased capacity. One key benefit of Steelastic’s extrusion-based systems is their ability to add production capacity and flexibility in a modular fashion as capacity requirements increase.  In contrast, adding additional calendering and offline processing capacity can involve significant capital outlay that often cannot be justified, and can leave tire manufacturers with unused production capacity and flexibility constraints. 

Looking for increased flexibility? 

In today’s fast-paced market, customer demands for tire types are constantly evolving. To stay ahead of the competition, you need a production system that offers the flexibility to quickly adapt and respond. Thats why so many leading tire manufacturers trust Steelastic’s extrusion-based technology to efficiently produce a wide range of tire types. At Steelastic, we’ll ensure you can meet changing customer demands without compromising on quality. 

Dealing with aging calender assets? 

Over time, calender assets in your tire manufacturing plant naturally age, impacting their efficiency and overall performance. Instead of investing in costly repairs or replacements, it may be time to consider a change to a more flexible and cost-effective solution. By adopting Steelastic’s extrusion-based system, you can replace outdated calendering equipment with state-of-the-art technology that offers enhanced flexibility, efficiency, and quality. 

Eliminate Insourcing of Calendered Material? 

If your tire manufacturing plant is still insourcing calendered material, it may be time to take full control of your tire component needs and eliminate the logistics of insourcing, storing and processing calendered rolls.  Steelastic’s innovative extrusion-based technology is used to produce all belt, body ply and cap strip tire components in-house, enabling tire manufacturers to respond more quickly to customer demand.  

Improving Quality?  

If tires utilizing calendered material are struggling to meet the quality required by your customers, it’s time to consider an alternative approach. Many tire manufacturers have adopted Steelastic’s extrusion-based machines to produce original equipment (OE) tires, as they offer superior quality compared to calendering and off-line processing of reinforced tire components. By leveraging Steelastic’s technology across your production line, you can ensure consistent high quality throughout your tire manufacturing process. 

Explore Steelastic’s Extrusion-Based Tire Manufacturing Equipment  

Steelastic’s innovative solutions have revolutionized tire manufacturing by driving efficiency, reducing waste and providing unrivaled flexibility. Contact us to learn more about Steelastic’s extrusion-based tire component manufacturing systems. 

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Calenderless Tire Manufacturing

A Calendering Machine Alternative

This image shows a Steelastic rubber extrusion system that provides the basis for calenderless tire manufacturing.

For years, calenders and offline processing equipment have been the most popular method in the tire industry for manufacturing reinforced tire components such as steel belt/breaker, body ply and cap strip. In traditional manufacturing applications there was good reason for this choice: manufacturers can produce a large quantity of tires quickly.  

However, today’s tire manufacturers face new challenges. As tire varieties increase, tire manufacturers need more flexibility to meet their customers’ demand. They need efficient solutions that enable them to respond quickly to their customers’ needs. This is where the calenderless tire manufacturing revolution comes into play.

What is Calenderless Tire Manufacturing?

Calenderless tire manufacturing is a new approach to tire manufacturing, utilizing high quality rubber extruder systems to create key tire components such as belt and breaker, body ply, cap strip and more.

At Steelastic, we are proud to be at the forefront of this calenderless tire manufacturing revolution. In fact, we’ve been delivering state-of-the-art calenderless tire component preparation technology for more than 50 years.

Discover the Calenderless Advantage

Unlike the traditional calenderbased tire manufacturing equipment, this innovative process offers several significant advantages that can revolutionize tire manufacturing.

Increased Flexibility

One of the primary benefits of calenderless tire manufacturing is the hugely increased flexibility it provides. When manufacturers use calenderless tire technology, they have shorter production runs, making it easier to adapt to changing market demands. This also allows tire manufacturers to produce different tire variations without the need for extensive re-tooling or calibration adjustments. This level of flexibility allows tire companies to quickly introduce new SKUs and meet specific customer requirements without sacrificing production speed or quality.

Increased Quality

Calenderless tire manufacturing is truly revolutionizing the tire industry, not only for its enhanced flexibility, but also for its exceptional quality. The calenderless approach utilizes a rubber extrusion system, which provides superior precision and accuracy in tire component placement, ultimately resulting in superior performance on the roads. 

Additionally, calenderless tire manufacturing minimizes the risk of human error and increases overall accuracy in tire production. By implementing automated systems and advanced technologies, manufacturers can achieve higher precision and consistency in every tire component, leading to improved product quality and reduced waste. 

Decreased Cost

Calenderless tire manufacturing offers cost savings for tire manufacturers in multiple ways. Apart from reduced capital expense, calenderless tire manufacturing also contributes to operational cost savings. Shorter production cycles and faster changeovers result in higher efficiency, allowing tire manufacturers to meet market demands without the need for excessive inventory stocking. Additionally, the reduction in wastage due to improved accuracy and consistency further optimizes cost-effectiveness. 

Read this blog to explore a total cost comparison between calendering and calenderless tire manufacturing equipment.

Try Before You Buy

Schedule a Calenderless Test Run

Are you ready to experience the benefits of calenderless tire manufacturing firsthand? Schedule a test run at our state-of-the-art facility in Cuyahoga Falls. Our team of experts will guide you through the process and demonstrate the advantages that calenderless tire manufacturing can bring to your business. Contact us today to take the first step toward revolutionizing your tire manufacturing process.

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TCO: The Cost of Calender vs. Calenderless Tire Manufacturing

Total Cost of Ownership: Calendering vs Calenderless

A capital investment in tire manufacturing equipment is no small purchase. Whether you’re just starting a tire production business or upgrading your equipment, it’s always worth comparing a traditional calender vs. calenderless tire production process. In this blog, we’ll explore the TCO, or total cost of ownership, of calender equipment vs calenderless equipment. 

How Do You Determine Total Cost of Ownership?

To calculate the true total cost of ownership for calender and calenderless equipment, it’s essential to know the life span of the machine. Both calender and calenderless equipment generally lasts 30 years. This assumes that both machines are receiving. This assumes that both machines are receiving adequate preventative maintenance 

Capital Expenses

Without question, capital expenses are some of the biggest investments you’ll make for your tire manufacturing business. Whether it’s an equipment or building expense, we’ll help you know what is required for both a traditional calender and a calenderless tire manufacturing process.  

Equipment Expenses: Calender vs. Calenderless

The calender and calenderless tire manufacturing process is very different, requiring a different set of equipment. (You can read more about the differences in this blog.) The chart below compares the capital equipment required for both processes.  

Calender Solution
Calenderless Solution
Textile Fabric Letoff (60" Wide)YesNot Required
Textile Body Ply Creels (qty 2 minimum)Not Required264 Spools
Steel Belt Creels (qty 2 minimum)1449 Spools240 Spools
Cap Strip Textile Creels (qty 2 minimum)Not Required
152 Spools
Pre Calender AccumulatorYesNot Required
Extruder, TCU & Die HeadNot RequiredRequired for Steel Belt, Body Ply, & Cap Strip
4 Roll Calender Line for Both Textile and Steel CordsYesNot Required
Cooling DrumsYesYes
Windup (60" Wide)YesNot Required
Steel Belt Cutter w/ Belt Edge Application, Double WindupsYesYes
Slitter with 2 x Double Windups for AboveOption AvailableOption Available
Ply Cutter w/ Cold Strip Application, 2 x WindupYesYes
Cap Strip System w/ Cooling Drums, Accumulator, up to 20 WindupsYesYes
Wide SlitterYesNot Required
Mini SlitterYesNot Required
Rubberized Calender Material Pallets/CassettesYesNot Required
Steel Belt CassettesYesYes
Textile Ply CassettesYesYes
Slitter Pre-Cut CartsYesNot Required
Cap Strip RacksYesYes

See for yourself … which requires less equipment? The answer: calenderless.  

Building Expenses

If you’re building a factory for your tire manufacturing process, you’ll want to consider warehousing and foundation needs, as well as the cost of integrating utilities such as electricity, cooling water, steam and compressed air. Because a calenderless system does not use steam, it’s one less utility system to integrate into the building requirements.  

When all is said and done, it is cheaper for small tire manufacturers to invest in a building that houses a calenderless system.  

Operational Expenses

Now, let’s explore the on-going operational expenses required of calender and calenderless tire manufacturing. In this section, we’ll look at the energy requirements, human resources and training and maintenance and repairs.  

Utilities & Energy Required

While the cost of installing utilities was documented above, it’s important to factor in the annual cost of the electricity, cooling water, steam and compressed air. Which process uses less energy? It depends. The calenderless tire manufacturing process uses less electricity and steam than the traditional calender process. However, businesses that choose the traditional calender process often consume less cooling water and very little compressed air.   

Considering the aggregate cost of energy and utilities expanded over the millions of tires produced, the calenderless tire manufacturing process costs less.  

Human Resources & Training

Tire manufacturers know the frustration of losing good employees and the challenge of training new ones. The traditional calender process requires multiple workers, but the calenderless process requires only one – allowing manufacturers to utilize workers more efficiently in other parts of the plant.  

Additionally, the training time for the calender tire manufacturing process requires 24 months, while the training process for the calenderless process is only six months.  

When it comes to human resource expenses, including the number of workers and their training, the answer is clear: calenderless tire manufacturing is most cost-efficient.  

Maintenance & Repairs

ROI

Here’s the bottom line: After considering all of these factors, calenderless tire manufacturers will meet their ROI goals faster than tire manufacturers using the traditional calender method. When using the calenderless method, tire manufacturers who produce two million tires per year will recover their ROI in just seven years, as opposed to eight years for a traditional calender process. Contact Steelastic to provide a ROI comparison using their Calenderless Tire Plant Model calculator that uses industry standard values or your specific production and cost data. 

Request a Quote

Are you ready to revolutionize your tire production process? Request a quote for Steelastic’s calenderless tire equipment. Boost efficiency, reduce downtime and unlock design possibilities. See it in action at our manufacturing facilities. Let’s shape the future of tire manufacturing together. Contact us now. 

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