Continental investing €13m in Sri Lanka solid tire expansion

Hanover, Germany – Continental AG is expanding its speciality tires production in Sri Lanka with a €13-million invesetment project.

As part of the move, the German tire maker will enhance the “local pre-production capacities” at its manufacturing site in Kalatura.

The project will enable the plant to manufacture material handling products 'self-sufficiently' in the future, Continental announced 1 Feb.

This, according to the German group, ensures an “optimised manufacturing process and limits cross-country dependencies in logistic supply chain”.

To be completed over the next three years, the expansion project is expected to create 200 additional jobs.

Customers, meanwhile, will benefit from better product availability due to the optimised supply chain, Continental added.

“Our Kalutara plant is an integral part of our global production network,” said head of material handling business Klaus Framenau.

At Kalutara, he added, Continental manufactures “tailor-made speciality tire products” for customers worldwide.

The expansion is aligned with Continental’s strategy to “further expand its share of the growth markets worldwide” in the material handling field.

“We continue to systematically grow our speciality tires business, as laid out in our Vision 2030 strategy programme,” he added.

Operational since 2009, the Kalutara plant produces industrial solid tires for forklifts and other material handling vehicles.

The plant manufactures press-on-band tires and super elastic tires with a strong focus on serving American, Asian and selected European markets.

The tires go to market under two brands of Continental, General Tire and Barum, and cover “a wide range of applications”.