India Rubber Expo (IRE) is Asia’s largest Rubber Exhibition and one of the most eagerly awaited events in the region. A valuable platform for growth, ideas exchange and collaboration, the event provides a unique opportunity for manufacturers, suppliers and contributors to meet under one roof, showcase new technologies, share information, plan growth strategies and network.
Over a very busy and informative 3 days, FineLine representatives Jos Uijlenbroek and Jan Svoboda met with almost every Indian tire manufacturer, as well as a number of major international tire companies which have manufacturing locations in India.
What was the #1 topic of discussions?
How FineLine helps tire companies interested in Industry 4.0 technologies that enable digital factories. Interest in Industry 4.0 is creating a shift in the industry driven from the highest management and ownership positions of the tire companies.
Several leading Indian tire companies not only had their top management at the conference, but also large cross functional teams engaging in very detailed technology, uses case, and business case discussions about the latest solutions. FineLine had the opportunity to discuss our patent pending solutions for mold and tooling management, and vulcanized RFID solution with many of the major passenger, truck or off road tire companies.
Tire manufacturers are seeking ways to start reliably identifying and tracing tires starting with the building of “green tires”. There is also an increasing interest in identification and management solutions for fleet tires, using FineLine’s RFID tag.
Another emerging trend seems to be coming from the motorcycle and bicycle segments of the tire manufacturing market. A lot of the manufacturers in this segment have yet to even implement barcode identification solutions at the individual tire level. They are now presented with an interesting proposition of leapfrogging the rest of the tire industry. Potentially saving time and effort on deploying barcode systems, by going straight to RFID technology based solution implementation, or at least hybrid systems. Which would be much more scalable and protect their investment over time as the industry advances.
Meet Jan and Jos at the upcoming Tire Tech Expo 2019 – March 5-7, in Hannover, Germany – stand 8064 – where they will be discussing similar topics and more. To register for a FREE exhibition pass, click here.