BKT displays advanced tyres at ConMac

By OEM Update Editorial March 14, 2017 3:07 pm

We feel that ConMac is the best platform to participate and showcase our products to our customers in the North East.

– Rajiv Poddar,
Joint Managing Director, BKT

Balkrishna Industries (BKT), one of the world’s leading manufacturers of off-highway tyres, to display its state-of-the-art radial range of OTR tyres at ConMac 2017.

ConMac 2017 is the 2nd edition on construction and mining equipment exhibition for the North East region India scheduled to be held between 2nd – 4th March at Maniram Dewan Center, Guwahati, Assam,

“BKT considers North-East as an important market and would like to strategically expand in this market. Participating in ConMac will help us to meet our existing and potential customers,” said Rajiv Poddar, Joint Managing Director, BKT. He adds, “We feel that ConMac is the best platform to participate and showcase our products to our customers in the North East. BKT has a wide profile of construction equipment tyres sold in India and abroad.”

Earthmax SR 46 27.00R49 (E-4), BKT’s latest product in the construction and mining segment, will be showcased at ConMac. Designed to carry heavy loads in severe rocky and abrasive mining operations, the rigid haul truck tyre SR 46 offers superior cut and chip resistance leading to improved tyre life.

In addition, BKT will be displaying its latest developments like the radial range in tipper will be exhibited at ConMac 2017. “We will be exhibiting our advanced tyres for construction backhoe loaders which we recently developed. Their excellent grip range will give customers a great value for money,” said Poddar.

BKT’s journey
BKT’s journey of tyre manufacturing started way back in 1954 when it’s Founder Chairman late Mahabirprasad Poddar set up the production of cycle tyres. In 1987, he took the group towards new horizons by starting the production of two- and three-wheeler tyres. Seeing the potential in mid-segment brand, BKT entered into the off-highway tyre industry in 1994. In the same year, the company went international with intense activities of market penetration, first in Europe (starting from the UK), then in the US.

In 2004, BKT entered the segment of radial agriculture tyres, a segment that even today represents the company’s main product segment. A further breakthrough for BKT came with the launch of Agrimax Force tyres for high-powered tractors in 2007. Today, the company has an extensive range of radial agricultural tyres consisting of over 230 sizes.

In 2008, after establishing footprints in the bias OTR tyre industry, BKT marked entry into the specialised segment of OTR all-steel radial tyres – a strategic move to strengthen position in the off-highway tyre market. Huge investments were made to set up a new and modern production facility in Chopanki, Rajasthan.

Today in this segment at BKT has the production capability for the sizes ranging from 17.5-inch to 49-inch and in early 2017 it would go up to 51-inch for specialised mining application.

Powered by Bhuj plant
Thanks to a 500-million-US-dollar investment, BKT’s Bhuj plant is transpired as a state-of-the-art, world-class tyre making facility. Presently, about 175 tonnes are rolling off the production lines in Bhuj every day even though the plant has a capacity of 350 tonnes per day.

The main plant area of 72 acres is armed with internationally sourced highly efficient, state-of-the-art equipment including 9 Marangoni machines from Italy, 13 mixers, 177 presses, and 65 tyre building machines.

Today Bhuj plant is capable of making tyres of a diverse range – from 5-inch lawn tyres to 49-inch giant OTR tyres. The tyres currently produced in Bhuj plant include various sizes of Maglift solid tyre and Liftmax LM 81 tyre, both for forklifts, in addition to Portmax PM 93 in size 280/75 R 22.5 for straddle carriers, Radial multipurpose truck tyre Multimax MP 540, and the giant OTR Radial tyre 27.00 R49 Earthmax for mining applications.