GRI breaks ground on new mixing plant in Sri Lanka

Colombo – GRI is building a new mixing plant in the Mirigama Export Processing Zone (MEPZ), 25km to the west of the company’s speciality tires production plant in Badalgama, Sri Lanka.

The mixing factory, billed as “one of the largest” in Sri Lanka, will increase GRI’s production capacity for speciality tires by 100 tonnes a day in the first phase, the company announced 31 July.

Once fully operational, the unit is expected to increase GRI’s speciality tire output by 200 tonnes per day, the Sri Lankan producer of agriculture, construction and material handling tires said.

GRI declined to comment further on the timeline or the investment size of the plant when contacted by ERJ.

The mixing unit will be equipped with modern automatic material weighing equipment, feeding systems and high capacity Banbury mixers.

Using controls for weighing and recipes, all filler materials will be fed to the Banbury mixers using fully enclosed material feeding systems.

This, according to GRI, will help protect the environment, particularly the surrounding neighbourhoods.

GRI officially opened its €32-million off-road tire manufacturing facility at Badalgama, in western Sri Lanka in January last year.

Over the past year, the company has invested in a number of efficiency measures, including a new Comerio Ercole precision calender, particularly used for agricultural tires.

The plant features 1.2MW solar panels, biomass boilers and fully recyclable waste and water management systems.

Among the products manufactured at the plant are Green XLR 65, 70, 80 and 95 radial series along with the Green XLR F77 Floatation tires.

GRI also features the bias-ply range of Green EX RIB 3 implement tires, Green EX FL700 Flotation and RT100 tractor tires. and has on 25 Jan, the company has announced.