Tire manufacturers are constantly looking to evolve production processes, seeking greater efficiency, flexibility, and consistency.
Traditionally, tire plants rely on calendering in tire manufacturing to embed reinforcement materials into rubber sheets. However, extrusion-based tire manufacturing systems are emerging as a powerful complement to these established processes, enabling manufacturers to enhance quality and increase flexibility without replacing existing infrastructure.
Forward-thinking manufacturers are recognizing the value of integrating extrusion-based systems alongside traditional calendering and offline processing equipment to create more agile, cost-efficient, and scalable production environments. Steelastic pioneered extrusion-based tire component production technologies that offer new options for tire manufacturers seeking flexibility and efficiency.
The Role of Calendering in Tire Manufacturing Processes
Traditional Calender Tire Manufacturing
Calendering is a foundational process in tire production. In this method, rubber compound and reinforcement materials are passed through a set of large rollers, which embed cords into a uniform sheet. These sheets are then wound up, stored, and later processed into final components on cutting, splicing, and slitting systems.
Calendering has proven to be a reliable process, particularly for high-volume tire production environments and long, consistent production campaigns. However, calendering equipment is significantly more expensive, requires large foundations, cranes, and temperature-controlled storage of semi-finished materials.
Where Extrusion-Based Tire Manufacturing Systems Add Value
Extrusion-based tire manufacturing systems introduce a more integrated approach to producing reinforced tire components, with all systems featuring a continuous process from creel to wind-up, without the need for handling and storage of semi-finished material.
Key benefits of extrusion-based tire manufacturing include:
- Faster changeovers between cord and compound configurations
- Reduced work-in-process (WIP) and scrap
- Smaller production footprint
- Greater flexibility for short production runs
- Ability to produce multiple SKUs per day
Extrusion-based steel belt, steel/textile body ply, and steel/textile cap strip systems can produce multiple SKUs per day, providing the flexibility needed by the modern tire market.
Extrusion-Based Tire Manufacturing System
This system supports faster changeovers between cord and compound configurations and are used to expand production incrementally, or to add much-needed flexibility alongside traditional calendering systems.
Extrusion-based tire manufacturing systems process a range of tire component reinforcement materials including steel, aramids, nylon, fiberglass, polyester, and more.
The system feeds reinforcement cords from a creel into a die, where it applies the rubber compound through an extrusion process to very tight tolerances. It then cools the extruded strip and processes it through cutting and splicing lines to produce finished tire components with precise width, gauge, and angle control. This simplified and streamlined process reduces WIP and scrap, as well as taking up significantly less space.
Steelastic pioneered extrusion-based tire component manufacturing and continues to advance its technology through innovation and development partnerships with leading tire manufacturers and tire designers.
The Complementary Approach to Calendering and Extrusion
For most tire plants that already have significant investment in calendering equipment, adding extrusion-based equipment can increase capacity and flexibility to keep pace with an ever-changing tire market.
Combining calendering and offline cutting and splicing processes with extrusion-based processes creates a hybrid production model that captures the strengths of both approaches.
Extrusion-based systems can produce components closer to the point of use, reduce intermediate handling steps, and streamline material flow through the plant. This results in a more continuous and efficient production environment.
When pairing calendering with extrusion, manufacturers can use calendering for high-volume products and use extrusion-based systems for shorter runs where fast changeovers and the ability to change gauge, angle and width quickly are critical.
Extrusion-based Tire Component Manufacturing Demonstrations & Production Trials
Steelastic offers a free demonstration or production trial of its Next Generation Extruded Steel Belt Tire Manufacturing System and its Extruded Textile & Steel Body Ply System in its dedicated, state-of-the-art extrusion-based manufacturing cell in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.
Tire manufacturers can supply their own materials to produce belts, body plies, or cap strips using state-of-the-art extrusion-based technology and ship the finished components back to their facilities to build tires for testing and evaluation purposes.
Steelastic developed the compact, single-operator machines used in this cell in response to growing demand for more flexible, highly automated, and lower capital outlay manufacturing systems.
With decades of innovation in extrusion-based equipment and reinforced component manufacturing, Steelastic continues to help tire producers explore these opportunities and build the next generation of tire manufacturing capability using extrusion-based systems.