Founded in 2003, Quechen Silicon Chemical has turned its attention to the development and production of rice-husk-ash silica in recent years, in response to increasing demand from tire makers for sustainable, bio-based materials. Interviewed at Quechen’s booth at Tire Technology Expo, foreign trade department director Tim Shu and key customer manager Jessica Xiao tell Tire Technology International about the company’s renewable products and its plans for expansion worldwide.

“In recent years, we have seen that the global community is greatly concerned about carbon neutrality,” said Shu. “We are trying to make our own effort to contribute more for the planet.”

Watch the video to learn more.

Continue reading VIDEO | Quechen Silicon Chemical’s Jessica Xiao and Tim Shu explain why the company is focused on rice-husk-ash silica at Tire Technology International.

Mithun Nagabhairava is principal director for data science & AI at Rockwell Automation. He shares some really interesting insights with Tire Technology International during this interview at Tire Technology Expo 2026 (March 3-5), including why the industry has been hesitant to adopt AI and how Rockwell Automation is implementing AI in its automation processes.

“The tire industry has had a more cautious approach to AI than many other sectors and it’s actually well justified,” he says. “Modern AI systems are inherently probabilistic in nature. The outcomes they generate are based on statistical likelihood rather than deterministic guarantees.

Continue reading VIDEO | Rockwell Automation’s Mithun Nagabhairava talks about best practice for using AI in the tire industry at Tire Technology International.

Speaking with Tire Technology International at Cheeshine‘s booth at Tire Technology Expo 2026, the company’s senior business director, Yubin Wu, extols the virtues of the many bio-based materials in the company’s portfolio. These include rice husk ash silica, modified natural rubber, modified cashew nut shell oil and modified vegetable oils as plasticizers, modified terpene resin and modified rosin resin.

Watch the video to find out more!

Click here to register for your FREE pass to Tire Technology Expo 2026 or here to register for your Tire Technology Expo Conference pass. The event runs from March 3-5 at Deutsche Messe in Hannover, Germany

Continue reading VIDEO | Cheeshine’s Yubin Wu on the advantages of the company’s bio-based materials at Tire Technology International.

One of the highlights of this year’s Tire Technology Expo Conference has been Andreas Topp’s thought-provoking presentation on the development of tires for AVs. With commercial operation of AVs really kicking off in the US and China, particularly, Continental is developing tires to meet the specific needs of vehicles in each region. What is required, Topp says, is a flexible technical toolbox to create bespoke, tailored solutions that satisfy not only the unique technical requirements of autonomous vehicles but also the classical needs of fleets.

“If you look at AV needs and fleet needs, you find out that a fleet application in a certain region has very specific needs,” he explains.

Continue reading VIDEO | Continental’s Dr Andreas Topp on developing tires for autonomous vehicles at Tire Technology International.

Fresh from their Day 1 presentation at the Tire Technology Expo Conference in Hannover, Germany, Bridgestone’s head of end-of-life tire and circular economy, Marco Musaio, and Bridgestone Americas’ principal applied researcher for sustainability and circular economy, Marcela Castaño, talk Tire Technology International through the company’s path to circularity on a global level and the importance of mass balance.

Musaio explains, “Each market might have its peculiarity, which requires an ecosystem with a different pathway. Of course, there is knowledge sharing among projects, but nevertheless, there is a uniqueness that we need to tackle at regional level.”

Castaño adds, “In our journey to sustainability, we are highlighting the long-term vision and what we are doing to enable that ecosystem development.

Continue reading VIDEO | Bridgestone’s Marco Musaio and Marcela Castaño talk about circularity and mass balance at Tire Technology International.

Talking to Tire Technology International on the show floor at Tire Technology Expo 2026, Comerio Ercole’s Riccardo Comerio and Alessio Ceriani discuss how the 140-year-old calendering and mixing company works with customers to improve their skills and knowledge and build machines that meet their specific requirements. “It’s important that we supply new machines but it’s very important to establish a very long cooperation with our end customers,” explains Ceriani.

The executives go on to report that the company’s constant investment in innovation is what keeps them ahead of the competition. In 2025, Comerio Ercole invested around 2.5% of its sales in R&D.

Continue reading VIDEO | Comerio Ercole’s Riccardo Comerio and Alessio Ceriani discuss how the company stays relevant after 140 years in business at Tire Technology International.

ContiBladders is the primary bladder supplier to Conti tire plants and other manufacturers around the world. In this interview conducted on the show floor at Tire Technology Expo 2026, company director Dipan Shukla discusses the trend toward bigger tires and the consequent requirement for bigger bladders, and explains how ContiBladders is rising to the challenge with new, flexible compounds. “A few years back, 16-18in was considered a big size,” he says. “Now everything above 20in is key for us; so, the UHP and UUHP segment. With the trend toward bigger tires, we obviously need bigger bladders and that’s what we’ve been focusing on.”

He also explains how ContiBladders’ worldwide network of manufacturing facilities enables the company to handle any shortfalls in the supply chain while maintaining the high quality and durability of its products.

Continue reading VIDEO | ContiBladders director Dipan Paresh Shukla on meeting the challenges of trend toward larger tires at Tire Technology International.

Davanti Tyres is using its first track tire, the Protoura Race, to launch its move into motorsports, with the company establishing the Davanti Tyres Race Team for 2025, which is set to compete in the inaugural 2025 Swift Sport Challenge.

In line with the Swift Sport Challenge’s low-cost racing model, the affordable high-performance Protoura Race tire has been selected as the control tire for the championship, having been specifically designed to excel on the track.

Adam Blair of the Davanti team explained what the tire’s first real-world racing experience means for the team, “The tire is well tested, but we’re very interested in incremental progress.

Continue reading Davanti Tyres makes motorsport debut in Swift Sport Challenge at Tire Technology International.

With automation becoming more widespread across the industry, companies such as Rockwell Automation are well positioned to assist customers with the transition. Acquisitions made by the company over the past few years seek to exploit the benefits of automation and digitalization for its customers, and as the company’s principal consultant, Peter Mair, explained to Tire Technology International in this exclusive video filmed at Tire Technology Expo in Hannover, it’s about more than adding parts – it’s about creating synergies between the parts.

“We really look at customers’ challenges and then how we can orchestrate between process methods, tools and product solutions, because only when that all fits together can they get the best value,” he said.

Continue reading VIDEO | Peter Mair from Rockwell Automation reveals how to empower customers in an increasingly automated industry at Tire Technology International.

As well as their main job of sticking to tires, labels must meet durability standards and allow efficient manufacturing. TTI caught up with Gerald Ullrich, CEO of Austria-based UP-Labels, at Tire Technology Expo 2025 in Hannover to find out how the company deals with the engineering challenges of this seemingly simple industry.

“Gluing on rubber surfaces is not easy,” explained Ullrich. “There are always mold release agents on the rubber surface that prevent the label sticking to the tire.”

To overcome this and reduce the number of tires being rejected by customers and returned to manufacturers, UP-Labels developed technology to absorb some of the release agent and ‘clean’ the surface of the tire so the adhesive sticks.

Continue reading VIDEO | UP-Labels CEO Gerald Ullrich on overcoming adhesion challenges at Tire Technology International.