Haifeng Automation Empowers OTR Tire Manufacturing: Production Line Upgrade Case of a Shandong Factory
Customer Background
With 12 years of focus on OTR tire manufacturing, the enterprise covers an area of 12,000 square meters and operates 3 semi-automated production lines. Its core products are 16-25 inch mining and engineering polyurethane OTR tires, with an annual output of approximately 30,000 tires. It mainly provides supporting services for domestic engineering equipment manufacturers, achieving an annual sales volume of 80 million yuan. In recent years, the infrastructure sector’s requirements for tire wear resistance and impact strength have continued to upgrade. Coupled with external pressures such as fluctuations in raw material prices and tightening environmental policies, the original production model can no longer meet the needs of market development, requiring professional automated solutions for technological upgrading.
Project Overview
A professional OTR tire manufacturer in Shandong has long been plagued by three core issues: “fluctuating product performance, low production efficiency, and high raw material waste.” Based on the enterprise’s actual production scenarios, Haifeng Automation has tailored a full-chain transformation solution integrating “equipment upgrade + process optimization + intelligent control + environmental compliance.” By introducing specialized fully automatic casting equipment, iterating production processes, and customizing formulas, the systematic upgrade of 3 production lines was completed in just 6 months. This helped the enterprise achieve a transformation from “semi-automated extensive production” to “intelligent precision manufacturing,” successfully breaking through capacity and quality bottlenecks and smoothly entering the high-end engineering equipment supporting market.
Core Customer Pain Points
01
Unstable product performance
Manual batching errors exceed 3%, leading to uneven tire density distribution. The average service life of mining tires is only 3 months, significantly lower than the industry’s conventional standard of 6 months. The finished product rework rate is as high as 12%, resulting in direct annual economic losses of over 800,000 RMB.
02
Low production efficiency
A single production line adopts an 8-station turntable design, with insufficient uniformity of raw material mixing and reliance on manual auxiliary operations. The production cycle of a single tire is as long as 45 minutes, with a daily output of only 30 tires. The total annual output of 3 lines is 30,000 tires, making it difficult to undertake bulk orders.
03
High comprehensive costs
The raw material waste rate reaches 18%, resulting in annual wasted raw material costs of over 2.16 million RMB. Each production line requires 6 operators, with a total annual labor cost of 1.296 million RMB for 3 lines. Old equipment suffers from serious energy waste, with a daily power consumption of 200 kWh.
04
Insufficient environmental compliance and production flexibility
Lack of cleaning agent recycling equipment and direct exhaust emission pose environmental compliance risks. Switching between different tire specifications requires manual mold and formula adjustments, taking up to 2 hours, which prevents rapid response to multi-specification order demands.
Haifeng's Solutions
01
Core equipment upgrade
Replace outdated production equipment with 3 sets of Haifeng JJF-G100 polyurethane tire-specific fully automatic casting machines. Equipped with a high-speed mixing head of 8600±200 rpm and a metering pump with an accuracy of 0.5%, the equipment can achieve precise control of the A/B material ratio at 100:30-70. A 60-station automatic conveyor line is matched to complete precise mold positioning and unmanned mold handling, greatly reducing manual intervention.
02
Implementation of intelligent control
Equipped with a PLC intelligent control system, pre-storing formula databases for more than 20 mainstream specification products, enabling automatic operation of the entire process from batching, casting, temperature control to demolding. Add a production data collection module to real-time monitor capacity, raw material consumption, and equipment operation status, achieving visualized production process management.
03
Process and environmental optimization
Configure a raw material pretreatment system to ensure raw material viscosity stability through constant temperature preheating (60-70℃) and dehydration. Optimize the high-wear-resistant formula system to stabilize the foaming ratio at 2-8 times, improving tire durability. Add a closed-loop cleaning agent recycling system and exhaust gas adsorption device, combined with an energy-saving motor with a 40% power saving rate, balancing environmental compliance and energy consumption control.
04
Full-cycle support services
Arrange 3 professional engineers to be stationed at the factory for 7 days to complete equipment installation, commissioning, and old equipment removal. Conduct a 3-day practical training covering core skills such as equipment operation, daily maintenance, and troubleshooting. Provide a 1-year whole-machine warranty service, establish a 24-hour technical docking mechanism, and conduct comprehensive on-site equipment maintenance every quarter to ensure stable operation of the production line.
Project Achievements
Dual improvement in performance and quality
Batching deviation is controlled within 0.5%, significantly improving tire density uniformity. The service life of mining tires has been extended from 3 months to 7 months, far exceeding the industry average. The finished product rework rate has dropped to 1.5%, reducing annual economic losses by 760,000 RMB and successfully passing the supplier qualification review for large-scale infrastructure projects.
Significant leap in production efficiency
The production cycle of a single tire has been shortened from 45 minutes to 18 minutes, with daily output increasing from 30 tires to 80 tires. The annual output of 3 lines has exceeded 86,400 tires, a 188% increase compared with before the transformation, successfully undertaking 2 bulk orders totaling 50,000 tires.
Remarkable reduction in comprehensive costs
The raw material waste rate has decreased from 18% to 6%, saving 1.44 million yuan in raw material costs annually. The number of operators per production line has been reduced from 6 to 2, saving 864,000 RMB in labor costs annually. Daily power consumption has dropped from 200 kWh to 120 kWh, saving 172,800 RMB in electricity fees annually. The total comprehensive cost has decreased by 2.4768 million yuan per year, with an investment payback period of only 2.8 years.
Compliance and flexibility meet standards
Environmental treatment equipment has been fully implemented, with exhaust emissions and waste recycling complying with relevant national standards, completely eliminating compliance risks. The one-click formula retrieval function has shortened the switching cycle between different tire specifications from 2 hours to 15 minutes, enabling adaptation to the full range of 16-25 inch production and greatly improving the response capacity for multi-specification orders.
Enhanced market competitiveness
Successfully signed long-term supporting agreements with 2 domestic leading engineering equipment manufacturers, with annual sales volume increasing from 80 million yuan to 180 million RMB and market share expanding steadily.
