Page 28 - CTB n4 - 2013/4

COMPANY NEWS
Economic Minister for Niedersachsen Olaf Lies and Nikolai Setzer open Continental’s new Technology Center
Continental Brings Retreading into the Space Age with new ContiLifeCycle Plant
from tyre engineering and manufacturing into the ContiLifeCycle Plant and thus reached a new level in terms of product performance and characteristics.”
Based in Hannover-Stöcken, the new retreading factory, built with the help of a grant from the Environment Ministry under the German Government’s Environmental Innovation Programme, will have a projected annual capacity of 180,000 retreaded tyres once it has
Christian Sass, Head of Retread Business Truck Tires EMEA, the plan is to operate a three shift production over five days.
Most of the equipment in the plant is from Marangoni including the very latest computerized buffing equipment using different buffing contours and additional sidewall brushing, as well as an Alpha Twin buffer. The plant also includes a shearography machine from SDS-Systemtechnik and inspection equipment from Akar Makina. The envelopes used in
It has to be said that it’s not very often that you enter a retreading plant and are left with the feeling that you are in a film set for a science fiction movie, but that was the immediate impression when Continental lifted the curtain on their new ContiLifeCycle Plant in Hannover- Stöcken on Tuesday 19 November. Against a backdrop of suitably
recycling unit.
Continental spared no expense. The new plant, which has been recognized as an environmental innovation by the German Federal Ministr y of Environment, was opened in conjunction with a new 15 million Euro Technology Center in the presence of Nikolai Setzer, the head of Continental’s tyre division and Olaf Lies,
dramatic music, smoke and strategically placed lighting, the curtain that had hidden the plant from the eyes of the waiting guests was raised to reveal a line of pristine new Marangoni presses opening in sequence opposite a conveyor belt carrying a row of perfectly cured retreaded tyres. All very dramatic and definitely nothing I’ve ever seen in a retread plant before.
But that is precisely the point. The new facility is a world’s first in that it integrates a state-of-the- art hot and cold retread facility for bus and truck tyres with a proprietary industry-scale rubber
Minister for Economy, Employment and Transport for the State of Niedersachsen.
The new ContiLifeCycle plant is being promoted as a significant strategic step for Continental and is fundamental to the company’s LifeCycle business.
“When we started this project, our aim was to bring our LifeCycle solution closer to new tyre production,” said Setzer. “Within a timeframe of less than 18 months, we planned and built a plant that not only catered to necessities, but pushed the boundaries of what is possible. We have put all of our knowledge
reached full capacity, including 150,000 Contire mould cure retreads and 30,000 pre-cure retreads using Continental’s ContiTread tread strips. The 17,000 sq m open plan facility, which includes storage space for up to 16,000 casings, began production in September and is gradually ramping up production. The plant is currently only running one shift but according to
the pre-cure plant are from Kraiburg.
The ContiLifeCycle Plant is intended to serve as a competence centre for the company’s other LifeCycle businesses on a worldwide basis. These include the company’s factories in Petaling Jaya (Malaysia), Cuenca (Ecuador) and Morelia (Mexico). The company has also developed an on-site training facility, the
28 Commercial Tyre Business