DRAFT Rubber machinery on recovery track

Article published in ERJ’s July/August 2018 issue

Chinese equipment manufacturing sector returns to growth despite domestic market challenges. Patrick Raleigh reports

Overall, Chinese equipment makers are contributing to a general upswing in the global tire & rubber machinery sector, the findings of the ERJ Machinery Survey 2018 indicate.

Sales for the 14 companies – for which the Chinese Rubber Machinery Association (CRMA) provided figures both this year and last – rose by just over 20% year-on-year to around $1140 million for 2017, as a whole. This contrasts with a prior-year, sales decline of 9% across the same group of manufacturers.

The rebound, so, marks a significant return to growth among these Chinese machinery producers after three lean years with the imposition of tariffs on exports of Chinese tires, particularly to the US.

Of particular note is the performance of Mesnac, which is clearly recovering from a decline in sales since it took over top slot in our 2015 survey table.

Based on figures supplies by the CRMA, Mesnac sales lifted by a massive 58% in 2017 in sharp contrast to the previous year when revenues dropped by around 35% year-on-year.

The data supplied by the CRMA covers Mesnac’s tire & rubber machinery business only. Figures from Mesnac for the group as a whole – including products other than rubber machinery – put the Qingdao-based group’s sales for 2017 at $399 million, 40% higher than the total in the previous year.

Safe-Run, which managed to buck the downward trend in 2016, continued to advance last year. An 11% gain in revenues, to $138.2 million secured the Kunshan-based manufacturer’s position as China’s second largest tire & rubber machinery manufacturer.

There were also healthy sales increases for other major players including Dalian R&P Machinery, Doublestar Mechanical and Sino-Rubber Machinery, while the biggest gains were recorded by Beijing Wanxiang and Sinoarp Tires Equipment Technology.

Overall, the positive sales trends among Chinese tire and rubber machinery makers are also reflected in the improved business-confidence ratings in this year’s ERJ Machinery Survey.

Asked to identify the fastest growing world region for their machinery business, survey respondents – largely based in Europe and North America – 46% companies ticked China, compared to 33% a year earlier.

The optimism is likely linked in part to the expansion activities of Chinese tire manufacturers overseas, which is an increasing contributor to growth in the sector.

Technical advances

Among recent technology advances by Chinese machinery manufacturers, Mesnac has recently introduced a new range of hydraulic curing presses, which are designed for curing PCR or LTR tires of sizes 14-24 inches.

The CPS series, said the company, can be operated individually on dual cavities and features enhancements in terms of safety, short dry-cycle time, energy-efficiency and accuracy.

Features offered by the modular design include: advanced automation, integrating valves systems, silicon spray, mould-blow, oil-leakage detection and bladder-leakage detection.

The press has been certificated by CE EN16474, PED and is designed to eliminate a wide range of injury-hazards for operators, according to Mesnac.

Specifications include a dry-cycle time of less than 70 seconds and an OEE level of over 97% by application of “1 million cycle test, FEA and DFMEA,” the company continued.

The design is also said to “reduce surface temperature by unique design of insulation [and] saves 15% steam energy by application of the integrating valves and new design of platens.”

For saving electrical power energy, users can use a single HPU to serve one press or multiple presses – among other energy-efficiency options.

For improved accuracy, Mesnac said it has applied “a 26,000-cycle test of loading to improve the concentricity between loader and ‘centre’ mechanism.”

A proportional control, meanwhile, helps to improve parallelism between upper and lower platen: improving the repeatability of green-tire loading and top-ring adjustment.

For Kunshan-based Safe-Run, current areas of focus include advancing its technologies for building light-truck tires as well as intelligent logistics.

At this year’s Tire Technology Expo in Germany, the company unveiled its SR-TPU light-trucks tires building machine, which it said employs an innovative two-stage process as well as uni-stage building.

For intelligent logistics, Safe-Run has developed a “one-stop solution” for tire companies. The introduction, it said, is based on “continuous technical research and development experience accumulated in the tire industry project.”

Both technologies have attracted “a large number of potential customers, and laid a solid foundation for market development,” the company further stated.

According to Safe-Run its strategy for 2018 is to accelerate efforts to advance the quality and efficiency of its products and services and increase its presence in the global market.