Yokohama Rubber to expand conveyor belt output

Tokyo – The Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd (YRC) is expanding the conveyor belt production capacity of its Hiratsuka Factory in Hiratsuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture.

The investment is part of the Japanese group’s effort to strengthen its industrial products business, said YRC in a statement 14 March.

The project, to be carried out “in stages”, will have an initial capital investment of ¥1.6 billion (€12.4 million).

The expansion will focus on establishing new production lines for a diverse range of fabric belts, said YRC.

The belts will be suitable for use in applications that require abrasion resistance, heat resistance, oil resistance, flame resistance, and reduced power consumption.

The investment will increase production capacity at the Hiratsuka Factory’s by “1.3 times”, according to YRC.

Construction on the project began this month and production operations are planned to start in October 2023.

Yokohama Rubber said the added capacity will enable it to respond to changes in the conveyor belt market environment.

The recent announcement is part of a series of measures by Yokohama Rubber to restructure its Multiple Business (MB) segment, as defined by the Yokohama Transformation 2023 (YX2023) strategy which was launched last year.

The strategy aims to shift the MB segment’s portfolio to products “with highly stable earnings and strong growth potential.”

Accordingly, the segment is concentrating resources in its two strongest business domains — hose & couplings and industrial products.