Eurotire ramping up Romanian radial OTR plant

ERJ staff report (TB)

New York -- Eurotire Inc., a joint US-Ukrainian private venture, will start turning out radial OTR tyres in the coming months at a plant in Drobeta, Romania, after completing a $300 million renovation of the former Rotras SA factory.

In business only since 2002, Eurotire bought the 27-year-old plant in 2007 for about $50 million and has spent the past two years gutting the 1.2 million-sq.-ft. (27.5 ha) factory of its outdated cross-ply manufacturing equipment.

In its place the company is installing radial building machinery, according to Richard Schuelke, vice president of global sales for New York-based Eurotire.

Eurotire's Ukrainian backers also are involved in oil and gas in that Eastern European nation, formerly part of the Confederation of Independent States. They even have invested in rubber plantations in the Far East to ensure a reliable supply of natural rubber.

The venture took wing when the investors took over the former Soviet Institute of Heavy Tire Research in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. They spent $50 million acquiring and upgrading that facility, which has capacity for cross-ply OTR tyres, Schuelke said.

The radial plant in Drobeta is engineered for 25,000 radial OTR tyres a year, with sizes ranging from 24- to 57-inch rim diameters initially. Capacity for 63-inch radials should be on stream next year, Mr. Schuelke said at the recent Tire Industry Association OTR Conference in San Antonio.

Eurotire sells globally, distributing in North America through its warehouses in Houston, Norfolk, Virginia., and Fort McMurray, Alberta. It has secured OE contracts with construction equipment makers Caterpillar Corp. of the U.S. and Japan's Komatsu Ltd., according to information in company videos.

From Tire Business (A Crain publication)