The last 18 months during COVID has been a difficult time for many companies. For the tire industry, many raw material issues and shipping and logistic constraints have taken a toll, leading to problems with production and distribution.

Many raw material suppliers had to shut down operations during the lock down. This hampered production and availability, creating shortages and price increases. Carbon black and rubber prices have been continuing to increase month over month. Now, there is an energy crisis and coal futures are soaring with an increase of more than 200%.For the logistics industry, there has been a shortage of containers with 12.5% of the global capacity unavailable. Shipping and freight costs are escalating almost daily and there is a shortage of laborers at the ports and truck drivers to transport the goods. Containers of tires that have already arrived at the ports are often held up by several extra weeks before reaching the customers.

BKT has taken positive actions through these peculiar times. They have worked together as a team to grow and expand. Because global tire demand has remained high, BKT is geared to keep the pace.

BKT is always striving to grow and improve as a company every year and at all levels, be it production capacity, product range and quality or market share. Investments in many different areas of the company.

A new greenfield manufacturing plant opened in September 2021 in Waluj, Aurangabad, India for medium and small diameter agricultural and industrial tires. It can produce 30,000 metric tons and employ 500 employees. The $65 million investment has installed the most modern equipment with a finished goods area.

The flagship plant in Bhuj has expanded over 42% to 350 acres. The Super Solid tire plant and the Ultra Large OTR plant for tires between 57” and 63” rim diameter were constructed, and the Carbon Black manufacturing plant will double its capacity in the coming months.

In the second quarter of 2022, a new Agricultural Radial tire plant will open and with one of the largest AG radial capacities in the world. Other improvements at Bhuj include a high-tech auditorium and training center and a new sports arena to showcase the many sponsorships.

The remaining BKT manufacturing plants have all upgraded and replaced older machines with new, state of the art equipment. BKT World headquarters in Mumbai has also expanded by adding the “C5H8 Training Centre” to host meetings, trainings, and customer events and a display center.

BKT is manufacturing and shipping above the previous year’s numbers even with the container shortages and shipping challenges. The constant expansion of the tire range is part of the BKT strategy to be able to respond to customer needs in all Off-Highway segments. Many new sizes have been launched in 2021 with many more in the planning stages for 2022.

With the ever-changing market, BKT is always changing and strategically preparing to develop solutions to best meet the needs of their customers.

This article is sponsored by BKT Tires.

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ByK&M Tire on April 25, 2022

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