Michelin advances digital passport initiative for tires in Europe

Hanover, Germany – Michelin has launched a pilot project to create digital product passports (DPPs) for tires ahead of the European eco-design regulation adopted in July 2024.

DPPs are a requirement of the European eco design for sustainable products regulation (ESPR), said Claire Fioretti, Michelin’s director of standards and regulations for connected mobility.

Tires are on a priority list of products with the delegated act potentially to be adopted by 2027, Fioretti explained at the recent Tire Technology Expo conference.

Launched last April, Michelin's DPP pilot is focused on the development of an RFID-based system for the exchange of information between stakeholders across the tire value-chain.

Stakeholders include tire manufacturers, recyclers, ELT collectors, retreaders and fleet managers, Fioretti noted in her 4 March presentation at the Hanover expo.

To be conducted through to 2027, the programme initially aims to ‘define, implement and operate’ DPPs in Europe, according to the presenter.

Additional streams will also explore the benefits of this data exchange for better recycling, market logistics, retreading, and for valorising the sustainable performance of tires.

To advance the project, Michelin is tapping the GTSO global data and standard sharing organisation to serve as a data-exchange platform for the tire industry.

The pilot initiative falls within the CIRPASS 2 European digitalisation programme and take place in three countries: France, Germany and Sweden.

With the potential to “redefine sustainability in manufacturing”, the project’s findings can help deliver improved tire data systems and standards, believes the Michelin speaker.

“This will be very exciting as usually digitisation is full of surprise. You don't really know what you can learn from all the data you are going to gather,” commented Fioretti.

By 2027, she concluded, the project is expected to have a “robust, scalable framework that will help Europe lead the way in circular economy practices.”