Goodyear's Wolverhampton mixer is commissioned early

Wolverhampton, UK - Goodyear Dunlop Tyres UK Ltd said a new mixer at its Wolverhampton plant in the UK, commenced production ahead of schedule. On 8 Dec 2006, Dunlop announced the investment in and just three months later, the new internal mixer was unveiled. Current industry data indicates the lead time on this type of equipment is around eight months. Goodyear declined to say who supplied the mixer, saying it has a corporate policy not to reveal the names of its suppliers.

UK Production Director Ian Taylor praised the workforce at the Wolverhampton plant: “This new Banbury mixer is one of eight such machines at our plant. It was a major challenge to commission such a large, critically important, piece of machinery without disrupting existing production. Our team worked superbly to install the machinery, and the first tests were run on February 14th, just nine weeks after the announcement. This was an amazing achievement considering the enormity of the challenge and the sheer size of the machine”

The Wolverhampton plant produces over 1500 tonnes of tyre production material each week for export, and employs over 350 people, said Goodyear.