Introduction

Business Boundaries and Relationship

The company was established in 1963. The paid up capital at that time was
Rs. 7.125 million. The original sponsor of the company is General Tire
International of Akron, USA. The company is the largest manufacturer of
tyres in Pakistan it is a broad based public limited company engaged in the
manufacture and marketing of a complete range of tyres and tubes for cars,
vans, jeeps, pickups, buses, trucks and farm tyres.

The paid up capital of General Tyre Pakistan is presently Rs 200.775

million. The major shareholders of the company are Bibojee Services
Limited, Pak Kuwait Investment Company, National Investment Trust and
Continental General Tire Inc.

General Tire International USA has links with General Tyre via equity
participation and provision of technical cooperation.

In l987 Continental AG of Germany acquired General Tire international

U.S.A. The company in U.S.A is now known as Continental General Tire
Incorporated.

Continental A.G (which includes all subsidiaries) is ranked 4th largest tyre
manufacturer in the world.

General Tyre Pakistan has also been included as one of the top 25 companies
on the Karachi Stock Exchange on three different occasions.
The General Tyre factory and head office are located in Karachi whereas
Regional offices are located in Lahore and Islamabad. It is the only
manufacturer of radial passenger car tyres in the country. These tyres are
supplied to Toyota, Honda, Suzuki, Nissan, Kia, Hyundai and Daewoo. All
the other major vehicle assembly plants, transport fleets, autonomous
organizations, the armed forces and the tyre replacement market are
customers of the company.

For operational purposes in the replacement market there is an established

dealership network of over 140 dealers which caters to customer needs and
covers the whole country geographically.

General Tyre has also ventured into the export market in the last few years.
Racing car tyres were exported to England, passenger car radials to Kuwait
and Dubai and truck bus tyres to Bangladesh / Nepal.

The company competes in the country with tyres from the world over as well
as with other locally made tyres. Smuggled tyres (trucks) mainly come from
India. While some car and truck tyres come from Japan and China
respectively.

At General Tyre the emphasis is on quality products, quick / efficient after

sales service and competitive pricing. The company's product line up
consists of passenger car tyres, both bias (rim sizes 12”, 13”) and radial (rim
sizes 12”, 13” & 14”) and is produced in 6 different patterns. Light truck
tyres bias type are produced in rim sizes 12" 14" 15" and 16" in 8 different
patterns. Truck bus tyres in bias type are produced in 20" rim size in 9
different patterns. Farm tyres are produced in 16", 20", 28" and 30" sizes in
5 patterns. General tyre also produces tubes and flaps.

The tyres are sold under a comprehensive warranty. To provide after sales
service the company maintains 3 service centres at Karachi, Multan and
Lahore as well as handling claims directly at dealer premises and at OEM's.

Manufacturing System Interface:

There are mainly three areas in GTR.
Area 1 (Mixing)
Area 2 (Tyre Building)
Area 3 (Tyre Curing)
Here we discuss Tyre Building dept how this operation works internal flow
to end product of this dept.

Area 2 Tyre building

We assemble/build three types of tyres here, passenger, truck and tractor

There are nine machines for passenger tyre building, PB1 to PB7 are manual
machines (ASM-72), and PB8 and PB9 are automatic (NRM-88) and can be
used as first stage machines for radial tyre building.
7 machines are here for truck tyre building TK1 to Tk7 with TK7 a manual
(ASM260) machine and rest are automatic (NRM-75) machines.
Tractor tyre building has 5 machines TR1 to TR5; TR1, TR4 & TR5 are
manual (ASM 260) and TR2& TR3 are automatic (NRM61B) machines.
Major parts of tyre building machine
1. Drum
2. Servicer – supplies plies and chaffer
3. Bead setter
4. Tread tray
5. Power sticher – to remove air
6. Back/turn down tool
7. back stichers
8. Electric Panel
9. Bladder
10.Control switches

Lubrication section
In this section two operations are performed, lubrication and awling.
Lubrication of Green Tyre for curing:
Lubrication is applied to Green Tyres to ensure:
1. Adequate lube coverage to minimize curing room anomalies.
2. Sufficient lube coverage to maximize tyre uniformity yields for force,
run-out and balance.
3. Prevention of excessive lube to minimize foreign matter, maintain
minimal lubrication costs.

Awling of green tyre:

Awling eliminates the following defects which develop in the tyre during
curing.
1. Light
2. Blister
 3. Bead Blow
4. Fabric Blow
5. Top Blow
If the proper awling procedures are maintained and carried out without fall,
you will see tremendous improvements in cured tyres defects and also in
field adjustments.

Radial Tyre Building

Introduction

The Model PTB-12-Columbia-1890S is manufactured by the Steelastic

Company, Akron, Ohio. It is designed to receive a continuous and
reinforced extruded strip of material, cut it at a prescribed angle, and
construct a continuous belt of various widths.

Following are the general specifications of this machine:

Electrical Service 30Amp 380V 3PH 50HZ

Air pressure 80-100 Psi
Belt Angle 18-90 Degrees
Belt width (5.1-30.5cm) 2” to 12”
Maximum strip width 6.0”
Max Knife Cut Length 21.65”
Max. Vacuum tube (RAM) Stroke 38”
Conveyor Belt Width 12”

Description

There are three separate rooms for this whole system,

- Creel room
- Processing Area
- Storage Room

Creel room is an area meant for storage of spools of wires from where
they are used in a continuous process. There are two racks from where
they are used, one at a time and the second as a standby. The special
characteristic of this room is that it is kept “hot and dry” so that when
the wires comes out of the room from ceramic eye holes – made
specially to pass wire while keeping the airs separate – it never gets
moisture and remain dry. This ensures that wires in the belt have no
moisture contents.

Storage room is that area where the belts are stored before they can be
used in other department. But the special point of this room is that it
has a predefined temperature, around 22C so as to keep the quality of
belt throughout the year same. Another important function is of FIFO
racks by which the early made belts used early.

But the main area is the Processing Area where the real work is going
on; following are the important parts of this area/machine:

Extruder:
A Cold Feed Extruder is used to breakdown the rubber compound and
coating the wires with rubber. This extruder is used with a 75hp motor
and a TCU. It has “E” shaped die to flow the compound in a better and
desired way. The screw’s dia is 3.5” which rotates in a barrel force the
compound in forward direction.

4-Zone TCU:
This special TCU is designed to keep the temperature of CFE on a
predefined temperature. It has 4 temperature zones for 4 different areas
of extruder and die. This unit is consists of 4 sets of pump, cooler,
heater and etc.. It uses cooling tower water for cooling and electrical
heaters for heating.

Cooling Drums:
There are five cooling drums after the extruder die in order to cool
down the rubber strip to room temperature. Water from cooling tower
enters drum no. 5 and then passes through each drum in series. One on
of the drum there is a constant gauge calibration unit which constantly
checks the gauge of strip.

Vacuum tube (RAM)

The vacuum tube is driven by a servomotor to extend a preset
distance (determined by angle and belt width) and pick up the
material strip .It then retracts and clamps for the cut while sealing
the splice to the preceding section.

Carriage
The upper carriage is a rack and pinion type powered up and
down by an air cylinder and guided by linear bearings.
The lower carriage is a support and guide for the vacuum tube
using three stationary and three adjustable rollers on the
operator side.

Conveyor
The conveyor consists of a 12inch wide belt that inderes the cut
material strip the proper distance required for splicing each
consecutive section to obtain a continuous belt with uniform cord
spacing. This action repeats as the constructed belt continuous
into a wind-up or through the next production sequence.
The conveyor is driven by a servomotor of the same model as
that of driving the vacuum tube.
One important point tube noted is that the conveyor and knife
assembly rotate on a common axis to set the desired belt
angle .The angle and strip width determines conveyor
thumbwheel setting.

Knife Assembly
The knife is a high speed double action toggle mechanism with a
safety bar and stationary lower blade .The upper blade is
operated by an air cylinder .The relative positions of the blades
are pre-adjusted for a heel-to-toe interference of 0.002” to
0.011”. This provides a scissor action as the blades engage and
results in a clean cut with minimum knife wear.

Vacuum System
There is one vacuum pump used in the system. It is used to pick
up the material from the lead-in and transport it to the conveyor
table .It is also used on the vacuum foothold down.

PROGRAMMABLE CONTROLLER INDICATORS AND

PUSHBUTTONS DEFINITIONS:

A) Reset Pushbutton:
A pushbutton switch to reset all function to the "home" position
and place the bias cutter in a read-to-start condition.
B) Ready Lamp:
An indicator light, which illuminates when all function are in a
ready-to-start condition. (There is a slight delay after depressing
the RESET button before this light operates.)
If an error in operation of the machine is detected by the PLC,
during operation, an internal error flag is set, and the
READYLAMP will turn off.
The problem must be corrected and the machine reset to
continue operation.
C) Run Lamp:
A light indicating the machine is running .The RUN LAMP will
remain on even if the machine id stopped during the normal
cycling because the vacuum pump is not turned off until the
machine is reset.
D) Start Pushbutton:
A pushbutton switch used for starting the machine once the
READY LAMP operates.

E) Stop Pushbutton:
A pushbutton switch stop to all functions pumps in mid-cycle.
The vacuum ram of direction. This button should always be used
to stop the machine unless an emergency condition exists.
F)Stop Lamp:
An indicator light which illuminates when the stop pushbutton is
actuated.

SAFETY CONTROL INDICATORS AND PUSHBUTTON

DEFINATIONS

A. Emergency Stop Push-Pull Button

A mushroom head maintained switch not to be used for routine
stop function. When actuated, the main power safety relay will
disengage illuminating the safety tripped light and will have to be
reset to regain power.
B. Safety Reset Pushbutton
Pushbutton switches to engage the safety relay to power the
system.
C. Safety Tripped Lamp
An indicator light which illuminates when the safety relay is
disengaged. This lamp notifies the user that power has been
applied to the system and the system is ready to power up.
D. Low Air Lamp
An indicator light which illuminates when there is insufficient air
pressure to the machine. DO NOT OPERATE the COLUMBIA
cutter when the low air lamp is illuminated.

Standard Operating Procedure:

- First of All switch on TCU

 - Adjust temperatures of Zone1, Zone2, Zone 3 to 70C
- Adjust temperature of Zone 4 to 100C
- Fix die head
- Press Safety trip on control panel to make system out of
safety trip
- Press reset button
- In the mean time all zone temperatures will acquire their
temperatures
- Feed extruder with 3” strip of compound (Code:207)
- Set pressure of extruder
- Set drum speed
- When the pressure and drum speed synchronies, switch
the system on Auto.

A Typical Ram Stroke:

- Vacuum pump will start and vacuum tube (RAM) will

extend. At the same time ram begins motion.
- Ram clamps down on top of material, then unclamps, lifting
material.
- Ram retracts to home position carrying material to
conveyor table.
- Upper knife blade comes down, makes cut then returns to
up position.
 - Knife retracts, ram unclamps.
- Conveyor indexes the preset distance and ram extends to
repeat cycle.
- Cycle will continue to repeat as long as enough stock is
available to block photo eye. When stock loop raises above
photo eye, cycle will stop (with ram extended) until enough
stock is available—then—restart automatically. Thus, the
extruder cooling drum line speed determines the bias cutter
speed.

1st stage Tyre Building

Introduction

This machine is designed to provide automatic operation in tyre building to

the greatest degree consistent with high standards of quality and production.
Programming the automatic sequence is relatively simple yet versatile
enough to accommodate a wide range of variations in tyre size and style and
individual preference in methods of tyre building.

Specification:
Maximum Green Tyre Clearance (O.D) 26”
Bead Diameters 12”-16.5”
Maximum Drum Shoulder Set 38”
Minimum Drum Shoulder Set(Radial Expanding) 13”
Maximum Ply Width 51”
Maximum Ply Overhang 6.5”
Electrical Service 3PH, 50HZ
Air Supply 80Psi

Basic Components:
The unit as a whole may be divided into three major assemblies:

Main Housing:
The main housing assembly consists of the housing for the main power unit
and associated element. It also supports the drum drive shaft and the inboard
bead setter. The control panel, on which is mounted the operator’s push
button station, is separately mounted at the front of the main housing within
easy reach of the operator.

Centre Base:
The center base assembly supports the bead stitcher and tread stitcher
components and at the outboard end, the tailstock. The drum is mounted
above this center base and to the front are the operator’s foot switches. This
assembly joins and holds alignment the main housing and tailstock.

TailStock:
The tail stock assembly, in operating position guides and supports the drum
shaft and the outboard bead setter. The tailstock is retractable to permit bead
placement (as applicable) and green tyre removal.
Drum speed and applications:

The drum drive is by a D.C. variable speed motor. Three speed ranges (low,
intermediate, and high) can be selected by potentiometers located in the
main control panel. Additionally, two torque settings (low and high) can be
selected also by potentiometer in the main control panel.
Typical speed settings used on the Model 88 Tyre Builder are as follows but
these can be adjusted to specific requirements:
1. Low Speed – approximately 30rpm for high torque for tread
application.
2. Intermediate speed – approximately 50rpm low torque for ply,
breaker and chaffer application.
3. High speed – approximately 200rpm for cement, gas, ply stitch, turn
down.

One revolution and indexing service:

The main purpose of this device is to stop the drum at selected positions
during the application of components thus staggering the splice locations
about the tyre circumference.

The device is chain connected to the drum shaft with a 1:1 ratio. This means
that the relationship of the sensor positions on the shaft indicate the
relationship on the drum of splices.
Proximity sensors actuate the switches on the shaft, which is the new
method we are using here. Previously there were cam settings, which are
now removed.

Finger Plydown, bead setter and bladder turnup:

Active components in this assembly are:

i) The finger plydown and bead setter assembly.
ii) The bladder turnup assembly.

The following operations occur automatically in sequence:

i) Ply down
ii) Bead set
iii) Turn up

The operation ‘Plydown’ and ‘beadset’ must be described together since

they are performed by the same assembly with the operations so rapidly
accomplished by close co-ordination of the moving parts that they
practically blend into one operation.

At each side of the drum, is mounted an assembly consisting of two heads,

one inside the other, the inner head carries the plydown finger assembly and
the outer head carries the bead rings.
The inner head, actuated by air cylinders, is movable within the outerhead,
also actuated by separate air cylinders, and both advance and retract to and
from the drum when in operation.

The finger assembly comprises a series of spring steel finger anchored at one
end to a central ring and move out radially when not restrained within the
outer end the fingers are held in collapsed position by the bead ring.

One important point is that on the orignal machine there were two bladders,
but a new improved method is now in practice with only one bladder and
bead setter works for what the second bladder was working. This
improvement has saved valuable cycle time and also bladder change time.
The series of sketches attached illustrate the operation of the plydown and
bead setter assembly.
Set up procedure for size change:

In setting up the machine for size change for production,

several adjustable features must be set to suit the size and
style of the tyre to be built. Following are the regular
adjustment to be made,

Drum: Install the selected tyre drum with due regard to alignment and
centre distance.
Bead Setters: Select and install the correct bead rings and adjust for:
 Drum shoulder set
 Bead set timing
Side wall stitchers: Adjustment to be made side wall stitcher tool are:
 Limit of vertical travel to drum surface
 Outer limits of traverse travel
One revolution Device: The one revolution device must be adjusted to
control drum rotation for application of plies, chaffer, side wall etc.
Bead stitcher tools:
 Select and install the proper size tool.
 Adjust tools to suit drum diameter.
 Adjust for control of tool travel

Air piping:
Operations on the tyre machine which are powered by pressure include:
2. Shaft and quill brakes.
3. Drum expand and collapse.
4. Tailstock travel and lock.
5. Ply down and bead set.
6. Traverse travel of the turn up bladder assemblies.
7. Inflation of the turn up bladder.
8. Tread stitch.
9. Bead stitcher tools – in and out.
10.Bead stitcher – pressure on drum.
Solenoid valves programmed, through the electrical circuitry to open and
close automatically as called for by the tyre building sequence control the air
supply to each component.

Air springs are utilized for the stitching by tread stitchers and bead stitchers
and the turnup bladder inflate and deflate under controlled pressure. Shaft
and quill brakes are expanded by air pressure. The remaining of the air-
operated mechanical operations are powered by air cylinders.

Valves and manifolds are so designed and installed that they may be
serviced for either piping or wiring with a minimum of dis-assembly.

Standard Operating Procedure for First stage Radial Tyre

Building

1- Set the machine as per Tyre Engineering machine set up specification.

2- Set the machine as per spotting arrangement released by quality
assurance department.
3- Get beads from donuts and place on bead placing rings (inside and
outside).
4- Expand drum.
5- Apply drum core cement (C-41) on drum center.
6- Engage Barrie bar with drum.
7- Pull out inner liner, apply traceability number on bottom inboard side
of liner edge, run on drum, cut to length by hot knife, splice and stitch
the inner liner splice as per specification.
8- A) Pull out the ply, run ply on drum, cut ply by hot knife, splice and
hand stitch the ply as per specification.
B) Hand stitch the ply over the inner liner splice.
9- Disengage the Barrie bar.
10- Apply the beads.
11- Turn up the mono ply by using the turn up bladders.
12- Start power stitcher to stitch the plies up to the turnup endings by
traverse-in stitching.
13- Run chaffers on carcass, cut radially and splice as per sp no. R-701.
14- Apply rim strip side wall (of same port hole) simultaneously on
carcass. Splice and hand stitch the side wall as per specification.
Apply builder no. at splice on in-board side.
15- Start power stitcher to stitch rimstrip side wall by traverse-out
stitching. Make sure to have dwell stitching at side wall peak.
16- After stitching the side wall up to the endings, turn down tool will
automatically stitch/ turn down the rimstrip side wall and chaffer.
17- Collapes the drum and remove the carcass, check for defects if any
(such as open chaffer, blister, open side wall, splice, open splice etc.,)
Remove air pocketsif any through awl punch without puncturing the
inner liner.
18- Put the carcass on flat storage rack, keeping the builder number side
on bottom.
Check list

1. Drum set
2. Bead ring code
3. Drum segments settings
4. Guide light for sidewall
5. Guide light for chaffer
6. Plies servicer guides
7. Power stitcher limit (in and out)
8. Power stitcher dwell position
9. power stitcher pressure
10.Turn down low pressure
 11.Turn down High pressure
12.Berrie bar pressure
13.Turnup Bladder Pressure
14.Spotting Arrangement
15. Inner liner width
16.Ply width
17.Pad width
18.Pad length
19.Chaffer width
20.Check any building defect such as open splice, wrinkles

Safety check list

1. Trained Operators with proper dresses

2. Any naked wiring
3. Fire extinguishers are available
4. Benzene Cans are properly covered
5. Hot knife at safe place
 2nd Stage Tyre Building

Introduction

The B72 MSRP tire building machine and servicer are designed for the
production of passenger radial ply belted tires. The entire operation of
building the breaker and tread, forming the prefabricated carcass, assembling
the formed carcass with breaker and tread and stitching several parts, is
accomplished at the multistage machine.

Specification:

Voltage 400V/50HZ/3PH
Control Voltage 220V
Air 6 bar
Air consumption (incl. servicer) 4 Nm3 /hr
Electrical comsumption (incl. servicer) 1.5kW/hr
Elecrical Power (incl. servicer) 12kW
RPM of carcass drum 5.7--114 rpm
RPM of belt tread drum shaft 5.1--51

Basic Components:

The machine consists of six sections.

carcass forming unit

It consists of a DC speed power unit, drum and stitchers. The prefabricated
carcass is formed for the application of the belt tread assembly and the final
stitching of that assembly to the carcass. The drum is of expandable bladder
type. The beads are centred and fixed with clamping segments.
Belt tread building unit, drum and stitcher. the drum is of metallic segmental
expandable type.
Transfer unit:
It consists of a transfer ring, transfer carriage, track and power unit to
transfer the belt and tread to the carcass. The transfer unit is precision
mounted to both the carcass forming unit to assure an accurate transfer and
placement of the belt tread on the carcass.
Belt tread servicer
Consists of a four position rolltype servicer with free loop festoons,
reversing motors (for stock drive out and rewind) and belt pans and tread
tray. The serviceras positioned for belt application by an air cylinder and
retracted for tread application. The tread applier is positioned with servicer
in retractable positioned.
Electrical System:
Consists of main control panel, operator's control stations, limit switches all
completely wired.
Pneumatic System:
it consists of cylinders, valves, regulators, filters, lubricators and bladders all
complete with piping.

Basic operations:
Following are the three basic operations which are performed on this
machine:
Belt & Tread building:
The belts are assembled at the left end of the machine on a segmented metal
drum, expandable by bladders. The belts are applied individually to the drum
and the tread applied on the top of the last belt. Diameter is controlled by
exchangeable rings. A belt & Tread servicer provides the necessary stock.
The belts and tread are stitched together by air cylinder operated stitchers.
The transfer ring moves from its centre "REST" position to the belt-tread
station and grips the OD of the belt-tread assembly by the expansion of air
bladders. The air in bladder expanded B&T drum is exhausted, thus
releasing the belt &tread to the transfer ring, moving the belt &Tread to the
centre "Rest" position.
Assembling carcass with Belt & Tread.
Assembling is done on the expandable drum at the right end of the machine.
The segmented clamping rings expandable by air bags hold the
prefabracated carcass. The carcass is performed by expanding the centre
bladder while moving the beads (by rotating the screw) towards the centre.
Joining the belt & tread carcass:
The transfer ring (now holding the belt & tread assembly) moves over the
bead ply carcass and stops exactly at the centerline of the carcass. The
carcass is formed by bladder expansion into the belt tread assembly. The
transfer ring bladders are exhausted (releasing the belt-tread assembly) and
the ring moves to centre rest position. The carcass building stitchers then
stitch the tread belt to the carcass. The carcass drum is then deflated and the
tire is removed.
setup procedure for size change

In setting up the machine for size change for production, several adjustable
features must be set to suit the size and style of the tyre to be built.
Following are the regular adjustment to be made,

Conversion to other bead diameters

1. Breaker & Tread building drum:
Every B & T drum has a certain range. Every diameter requires the
fabrication of 2 stop rings. If the required diameter does not fall within the
range of certain building drum, another drum is to be mounted.
2. Transfer ring:
Every transfer ring has certain range. If the required diameter does not fall
within the range of a certain transfer ring another transfer ring should be
mounted.
3. Carcass building drums:
Every carcass building drum is suitable for only one bead diameter. In
consequence thereof a new building drum is to be mounted for every bead
diameter.
4. Tread stitcher:
In case of different tread diameters the stitcher is to be adjusted by means of
the hand wheel to these diameters.
5. Tread applier:
In case of tread diameter changes the tread pan has to be raised or lowered.

Standard Operating Procedure for Second stage Radial Tyre Building

1- Set the machine as per tyre Engg. Machine setup specification.
2- Set the machine as per spotting arrangement released by quality
assurance department.
3- Apply the bladder lubrication (C-238) on expander flanges as needed.
4- Mount the carcass on expander drum by keeping the builder no. side
on in-board.
5- Fresh the carcass (only inside edges of side wall area) with
naptha/benzebe.
6- Expand the B&T drum whose outer diameter is controlled by
specified control rings or stop rings.
7- Apply drum core cement (C-41) on B&T drum centre.
8- Pull 1st belt, run on B&T drum, cut belt (left to right ) by hot knife
and butt splice.
9- Pull 2nd belt, run on B&T drum, cut belt (Right to left) by hot knife
and butt splice.
10- Position the drum as per spotting, pull cap ply, run on B&T drum cut
by scissor (Right to left) at an angle of 60 degree and splice . make
sure to maintain the splice width as per specification.
11- Position the drum as per spotting, pull tread (whose cut ends are
recement, in tyre building) run on B&T drum and butt splice.
12- Start B&T stitcher to stitch the B&T package up to the tread
shoulder as per specification.
13- After completion of B&T stitching the transfer ring will travel
towards the B&T drum and pick the B&T assembly.
14- The transfer ring segments (whose inner diameter is controlled by
specified control rings) will inflate and holds the B&T assembly.
 15- As soon as the transfer ring holds the B&T assembly the B&T drum
will deflate or collapse and travels towards the expander drum and at
the same time the carcass on expander will start inflating.
16- As the transfer ring stops on expander drum the informing limit
starts which in turn expand the carcass to hold the B&T assembly. As
soon as the carcass holds the B&T assembly the transfer ring will
deflate and return to its position.
17- The power stitchers (on back side of expander) comes automatically
and stitch the tread from center to tread edges. Make sure to have
dwell stitching at center, shoulder and tread edges.
18- Before removing the expanded tyre apply the builder no. and
traceability no. on side wall at tread splice(on out-board side).
19- Remove the tyre, check for defects if any ( such as open splice, open
tread &sidewall junction, spread cords, wrinkles etc.,) remove air
pockets with awl punch without puncturing the inner liner.
20- Store the green tyre on storage rack (special designed for radial
tyres) with traceability number applied on tread splice should be on
bottom side.

Check List

1. B & T drum centre from bulk head

2. B & T stop ring code
On B &T Tread stitcher pressure
Tread stitcher out limit
Guide light setting
Belt and cap ply centring
Tread centring
Control ring code (Transfer ring)
T & R centre on expander from housing
Expander out limit
Expander informing limit
Forming pressure Low/Medium/High
Back stitcher pressure Low/High
Back stitcher dwell position
Check any building defects such as open tread splice, spread cords, wrikles
etc.
Belt I width
Belt II width
Cap ply width
Tread length

Saftey Check List

Trained Operatiors with proper dresses
Any naked wiring
Fire extinguishers are available
Benzene Cans are properly covered
Hot knife at safe place

Area-III

Like every other area of the plant this area is also divided into three sections
for our ease.
 1. New Plant
2. Old Plant
3. Final Finish

New Plant

In this section of the plant only one operation is carried out, that is curing of
green tyre to form a complete tyre ready for final finishing. As per the
requirement of operation all machines in this area are Presses with some
functional differences with each other. Radial passenger, bias passenger,
light truck, rear farm are the main output of these presses, although they can
be easily converted to produce almost every tyre by changing the mold.

Major components of a typical BOM press:

Panel:
It includes all the electronic systems like PLC, Relays, Circuit Breaker and
contractors and operational buttons, and in new presses electronic timmers.
Loading Pan:
On radial tyre curing presses this is a pan where operator places green tyre
for chuck loader to pick from here.
Chuck Loader:
It works like a robotic arm and put green tyre into a press. There are two
types of chuck loaders, operating on hydraulic system and on chain and
sprocket system.
Crank Mechanism:
All presses are opened and closed with the help of crank mechanism.
Mold:
It is that part of machine where actually tyre cures. It is in two parts, top half
and bottom half. It can be changed for different tyre sizes and designs.
Bladder Assembly:
Internal side of the tyre is cured with the help of this assembly, it has two
different type of parts, bladder which cures internal part of tyre and items
which are responsible for proper working of bladder and for bead curing.
Piping and valves:
Piping is used to supply all presses with steam, hot water and vacuum.
Valves are basically controls the process and are pneumatic as well as
manual.
Unloading Arms:
To unload a tyre from mold there are unloading arms with different types of
mechanisms.
PCI Unit:
Latest machines have this facility to cure a tyre after removing it from mold
and hence named as Post Cure Inflation Unit. Tyres after removing from
mold requires to cool on a predefined shape and pressure, this unit provides
proper mounting of tyres like it is on a vehicle and a pressure is applied in
tyre. Each tyre requires double cycle time for this unit. No front farm
producing press has PCI.

Operating Procedure:
1. Chuck loader loads green tyre either from loading pan or by manual
supply.
2. Chuck loader lays green tyre in mold.
3. Bladder takes shape.
4. Mold closed.
 5. Timmer starts.
6. Mold opens after cycle completes.
7. Unloading arm takes tyre.
8. Either removed it manually if PCI system is not available or leave for
next steps.
9. Through guide rollers goes to PCI unit and mounts.
10.Waits for double cycle time.
11.Unloaded to conveyor.

Typical time cycle breakdown:

Following is a typical time cycle, although each tyre size has different
cycles.
1. 200 steam in bladder orifice open.
2. 200 steam in bladder orifice closed.
3. Delay cure for cool mold (>10 min)
4. Non circulating hot water in bladder.
5. circular cold water through bladder
6. Full blow down.
7. Apply 200 steam flush in bladder
8. Apply vacuum in bladder.
9. Open mold and remove tyre.

Old Plant

Unlike the new plant this plant has presses as well as some other machines.
The main difference of presses of this area is that here there is no bladder in
them and hence require bagging and debagging machines. The main output
of this area is front farm, some passenger biased tyres and air bag .

Major Parts of a typical Conventional Dome Press:

Panel:
It includes all the electronic systems like PLC, Relays, Circuit Breaker and
contractors and operational buttons.
Crank Mechanism:
All presses are opened and closed with the help of crank mechanism.
Mold:
It is that part of machine where actually tyre cures. It is in two parts, top half
and bottom half. It can be changed for different tyre sizes and designs.
Air Bag:
Its function is similar to bladder in new machines, it cures tyre internally.
Piping and valves:
Piping is used to supply all presses with steam, hot water and vacuum.
Valves are basically controls the process and are pneumatic as well as
manual.

Operating Procedure:
1. Bags are inserted in green tyres with the help of bagging machine.
2. Place tyres in mold manually.
3. Valve block is inserted in Air Bag.
4. Press closed.
5. Timmer on/cycle starts.
6. Press open with the help of crank mechanism.
7. Tyres removed from cavity
8. Air Bag removed from tyre by debagging machine.
 9. Fixed tyres manually on PCI units (separate from press)
10.Removed from PCI and send to final finish section.

Final Finish

In the final finish section cured tyres are finished and production and quality
inspectors check tyres for defects. Following functions happen there.
1. Trimming of Vents:
Vents are cut here from tyre with the help of a small machine on which
tyre rotates and a special knife.
2. Static Balance:
On static balancing machine tyres are marked for low value.
3. Dynamic Balance:
There are 4 machines for dynamic balance. Here tyres are marked for
high values.
4. Wrapping machines
Tyres are wrapped here with polyethene. 2 macihnes are for passenger
and 1 machine is for truck tyre.
5. Holding Room:
It is that part of area where tyres are kept before sending to finished ware
house. It is a type of holding room.

Area IV
This area is also named as old plant. The main reason for that is that it was
once the only area of the plant and were producing tyres before a mega
expansion of GTR which increased its production several times. That is why
this department has almost all the main machinery of a tyre building plant.
Now this department is mainly supplying some components of tyre as well
as bladder and flaps.

3-Roll Calendar
It is like 4-Roll calendar, but its main output is squeegee and inner liner. It
uses 3 mills for its raw compound breakdown and blending. Once it was
used for calendaring of fabric. Compound is break downed and blended on
three different mills (2mills of CM3 and one of CM2), through a conveyor it
is send to the 3-calendar where it is calendared among them and then
according to a given size send to a conveyor belt on which it is wind up in
two different places.

Single Extruder
Input: Compounds
Output:Green tubes, side walls, air bag, bladder slug, Flap slug.
It is 8” extruder used in the production side walls, tubes and some other
products. The main difference of this extruder and that of double extruder is
that it can only take one compound at a time and hence can not be used in
the production of tread and any other part which requires two different
compounds as their raw products.
Compound coming from blending mill is fed into hopper where screw grips
it and force it to extrude it from a die. After passing from the die product is
send on to a cooling conveyor where it is dipped in water (circulating from
cooling tower), after cooling conveyor it is dried on conveyor and sliced
according to required sizes, side wall is not sliced but booked in the form of
rolls. All other products are booked in trucks.

Tube Presses
Tube presses are used for curing tubes. Green tubes are inflated and kept in
press at a certain temperature and time for tube to cure. These presses are
little bit different than the tyre curing process, like there is no need for inside
curing and hence there is no bladder or air bag. Other mechanisms are same
as that of tyre presses.

Flap Presses
There are two presses of flap curing FL-01 and FL-02. Like its name
suggests it is used in curing of flaps. Rubber compound strips are kept in the
press and after a certain time it is converted in flap in the mold, it is them
removed and its edges are trimmed. It is produced in different sizes.
Miscellaneous Machinery
Some other machines are also in this department. A valve application
machine is used to insert valves in tubes. Tube cutting machine is used to cut
tubes according to required sizes. Splicing machine is also there to splice
tube edges to a form a complete round tube. A chilling unit having an
evaporator pipe is cooling the spliced part of the tyre.

Utilities