Double Coin's Thai plant on stream

Double Coin Holdings' parent has completed construction of its $285 million tire plant in Rayong and begun ramping up production of truck, bus, industrial and off-the-road tires.

Shanghai Huayi Group disclosed plans July 2016 to build the plant, which is rated at 2.5 million radial truck/bus and 50,000 OTR tires annually.

The plant is Double Coin's first tire factory outside of China and sixth overall, according to Double Coin and China Manufacturers Association Ltd. (CMA), marketing and manufacturing subsidiaries of Huayi Group.The facility, a joint venture with a subsidiary of Thailand's Thai Hua Rubber Public Co. Ltd., sits on a 3.6-million-sq.-ft. site in the LK-Rubber Industrial City Hub, located in Thailand's Rayong Province.

The firm said the venture is using new technologies and equipment in the project; manufacturing and material transfer are automated.

"This project is also an important cooperation between China and Thailand according to China's One Belt/One Road strategy," said Tim Phillips, vice president of marketing and operations for Monrovia, Calif.-based CMA/Double Coin."This plant needed to be built in order to meet the growing demand for Double Coin tires as well as our continued plans to expand our product line."

The plant is controlled by Manufacturing Execution System (MES) software and is integrated with the SAP management system. The project is designed according to the Industry 4.0 concept.

Double Coin and CMA said the automation reduces the number of employees in the factory to half of what is needed in a traditional tire factory and ensures the quality of the tires.