Michelin to double radial capacity at Chennai plant

Banking on the increasing demand from the aftermarket and OEMs, French tyre maker Michelin is ramping up manufacturing capacity at its Chennai plant. It has announced plans to double capacity from the existing 15,000T to 30,000 by the end of 2018.

The company today inaugurated a new state-of-the-art production line for the Michelin X Guard range of tyres at the  Chennai plant. It also signed a commercial agreement with Ashok Leyland to supply its X Guard range of truck radials for its Captain 3718 Plus long and medium distance commercial vehicles. This tyre range is expected to enable Ashok Leyland to pass on benefits of fuel efficiency and optimised payload to its customers. The Michelin X Guard range of radial truck and bus tyres, claimed to offer up to  10 percent fuel savings, has been exclusively designed, engineered and made for India, according to the company.

During the inauguration ceremony of the new production line, Jean-Dominique Senard, CEO of the Michelin Group, said: “India is a priority market for us and the growing demand for our products in the country reaffirms our commitment to keep innovating for our customers here. In a very short time, our Chennai plant has evolved to become one of our most advanced manufacturing facilities globally. The purpose of this plant was to cater to the needs to the Indian market and I am happy to see that we are on target in this journey. The Michelin X Guard was conceived to address the Indian market’s need for a tyre that is fuel efficient, safe and lasts longer and to this end, we adopted the very best of Michelin technologies to produce a premium tyre at an affordable price.”

Speaking on the occasion, Vinod K Dasari, CEO and MD, Ashok Leyland, said: “We are pleased to partner Michelin for our latest range of 37T trucks. The Michelin X Guard radial tyres provide us tremendous fuel efficiency, helping us offer a differentiated product in this segment.  It is heartening to see the new tyre developed using Michelin’s world class innovations right here in India.” 

Superior tech at work

The X Guard range takes advantage of the latest developments in 3D printing, which is used to produce the tyre moulds: As a result, Regenion technology is integrated which regenerates new grooves as the tyre wears, ensuring it retains excellent grip right until the very last mile. The performance of this tyre also benefits from another technology: InfiniCoil a several hundred-metre-long thin wire wrapped around the tyre structure giving it added robustness without extra weight while delivering up to 10 percent fuel savings.