China tire mould maker to launch lubricant-free technology

Guangdong, China - Shandong Wantong Mould, a maker of radial tire segmented moulds based in Dongying, Shandong, has developed new technology after a year’s research to make its moulds lubricant-free.

“The test results are great and we’ll unveil the technology after the patent is granted,” said the company’s head of technical department Zhang Canwei to ERJ at China Ruber Expo 2015 held in Guangzhou, Guangdong.

Last year the group, including another rubber additive maker, achieved 300 million yuan (€45 million) sales.

The company has also developed a typesetting and CNC programming software for printing brand names, specification and the likes on tires. “It would take a week of manual labour to do this work, but with our software it’s a one-day job,” said Zhang.

“We are the only Chinese firm that has developed such software, and as far as I know only a handful companies in Germany, Korea and Japan has similar products,” Zhang added.

The software, perfected over a decade with the latest version launched in 2014, is currently only used by domestic customers, but the company is looking to expand into overseas markets.