Page 48 - RB-93-20-2

INDIA
operational plants in Singrauli. Ferrying those cured tyres from pick-up to delivery takes almost a week, and an upcoming plant would efficiently handle the volumes in Korba itself. “Therefore, we have the initial volumes necessary to operate a
retreading operation in Korba. The future expansion of coal mines in the area would further add volumes to our site,” he added Expansion of Singrauli Site Planned
Waidhan already operates two sites
in Singrauli (Madhya Pradesh) retreading OTR tyres from size 18.00R25 to up to 36.00R51 in addition to TBR tyres.
“Now the plan is to expand the OTR range to up to the bigger size of 40.00R57 that is put on 240 ton dumpers for mining
applications,” said Himmatramka. “A single tyre weighs 4 tons.” Waidhan is also planning to expand the existing OTR site in
Singrauli to retread giant OTR tyres as the current site has no room for further expansion. The present OTR site has been in
operation since 1988.
“We have already acquired another 90,000 sq feet of land just opposite to the existing plant to retread giant OTR sizes in Singrauli,” he added. “It will take another year to expand as the current focus is to make the Korba site operational first.” Once operational the plant is expected to cure 150-200 giant size tyres annually.
“Currently, we are exploring two processes - conventional and cut & groove. We will finalise machinery requirements once the process has been finalised.”
Tread Manufacturing Capacity at Singruali
WEIPL also maintains tread rubber production at Singrauli to support its various existing and impending expansions. It produces about 175 tons of tread rubber each month, and almost half of its production is consumed in the OTR retreading facility.
“We have our own mixing facility and have been manufacturing cushion gum, tread rubber and vulcanising cement since 1992,” explained Himmatramka. Initially production only included conventional rubber although this was later shifted to precure tread.”
The company’s first OTR plant in Singruali started way back in 1988 and started OTR retreading with precure rubber up to size 2700R49 in 2018.
The company started the second site near its first site in Singruali in 2015, where it retreads a mix of TBR and light OTR tyres. The second Singruali site retreads about 700 tyres per month.