Michelin has deployed TreadEye, a technology designed to enhance the retread process and deliver measurable value to fleets. After a period of phased implementation, TreadEye has launched across the Michelin Retread Technologies franchise network in the USA.

TreadEye is a tread depth assessment tool that helps fleets maximize tire investment. The system collects 1,200 measurement points, providing precise insights into tread wear and casing condition.

“TreadEye is a game-changer for our retread operations and for the fleets we serve,” said Nate Kirian, vice president of sales and distribution, commercial business lines for Michelin North America.

Continue reading Michelin rolls out TreadEye across US retread network at Tire Technology International.

Beontag has launched a partnership with tire manufacturer Michelin to incorporate its RFID technology into millions of new commercial and passenger tires over the next two years and beyond.

Beontag’s UHF embedded tag consists of a jointly design pod and antenna using state-of-the-art chips and materials, which enables complete traceability of all new tires, including manufacture date and storage location, distribution, installation and replacement, refurbishment and more, for the entire lifecycle of the tire.

The partnership between Beontag and Michelin was established in 2019, when the two companies began collaborating on the brand-new, UHF RFID embedded tag from scratch.

Continue reading Michelin partners with Beontag on RFID-enabled smart tires at Tire Technology International.

Nexen Tire has announced the development and implementation of an AI-based automated tire inspection system.

Nexen‘s system, which it states is an industry first, has been developed in a platform format, enabling easy application to new factories or equipment. The tire maker has been applying AI across the tire development process and now, with this AI implementation, has extended the scope of AI use to manufacturing processes.

Nexen’s AI-based automated product inspection system is applied to non-destructive inspection equipment using machine vision technology. This includes ‘x-ray inspection equipment’ for detecting structural defects, and ‘laser interferometry inspection equipment (shearography)’ for detecting air bubbles.

Continue reading Nexen Tire uses AI for tire inspection at Tire Technology International.

Toyo Tires has chosen technology company Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to provide its seventh-generation high-performance computing (HPC) system for tire development, delivered through the HPE GreenLake cloud platform. The new system is expected to accelerate the time-to-market for Toyo Tires’ next-generation solutions by improving the speed and precision of processing structural tire data.

The computational power of the upgraded HPC system aims to reduce the time required for complex, large-scale design simulations that Toyo Tires uses to train its AI models. The platform uses HPE Cray XD systems and is designed to deliver the flexibility to scale HPC resources and provide greater access for designers.

Continue reading Toyo Tires selects HPE’s HPC system to improve tire design and development at Tire Technology International.

The Virtual Tire Lab has been launched by Smithers, a provider of testing, consulting, information and compliance services, and Stackpole Engineering Services, which specializes in tire and vehicle development technology.

Virtual Tire Lab is toolset for analyzing raw data and comparing, contrasting and adjusting virtual tire models for use in design analysis, simulation and model certification.

It uses an annual subscription model to provide clients with access to a library of passenger and light truck tire models, which includes a variety of popular brands, sizes and categories such as all-weather, all-season and EV-specific tires. Further models will be added to the Lab library during the subscription period. 

Continue reading Smithers and Stackpole launch tire modeling toolset at Tire Technology International.

On March 26, the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company officially opened its simulation center in Luxembourg purposed for tire design and development. This follows the launch of the inaugural center in Akron, Ohio, in 2021.

Outfitted with a DiM250 dynamic driving simulator developed by VI-grade, the center is designed to enhance Goodyear’s collaboration with OEMs and support tire performance through personalized product development.

Back in 2020, Goodyear purchased two driving simulators from VI-grade.

Using a virtual tire development process, the new center will test and validate tire models for vehicle prototypes to enable a speedier production process for tire modifications.

Continue reading Goodyear opens simulation center in Luxembourg to enhance tire development process at Tire Technology International.

Sumitomo Rubber Industries has developed a new simulation technique, Tire Aerodynamic Simulation, which is used to minimize rolling resistance.

The company is designing a tire shape that optimizes aerodynamic performance to reduce the fuel (electricity) consumption of electric vehicles. It has developed an AI simulation to visualize the airflow around the tire of a running vehicle. Sumitomo expects the next-generation EV tire resulting from this work to be launched in 2027.

According to data from a paper titled Improvement of Practical Electric Consumption by Drag Reducing under Cross Wind, electric vehicles experience less energy loss from heat compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles; therefore, air resistance represents a larger share of energy loss electric vehicles.

Continue reading Sumitomo develops aerodynamic simulation for tire development at Tire Technology International.

A new technical paper written by two experts at Smithers Rapra presents the findings of a study, funded by the Center for Tire Research (CenTiRe), that aims to improve modeling of tire performance in winter conditions.

Written by doctoral candidate Mohit Nitin Shenvi and Eric Pierce, principal engineer, and co-authored by Dr Corina Sandu and Dr Costin Untaroiu, the paper, Correlating tire traction performance on snow with measured parameters of ASTM F1805 using regression analysis, has been published in Cold Regions Science and Technology, an international journal focusing on the science and technical problems of cold environments.

Continue reading Smithers Rapra investigates tire traction performance on snow using regression analysis at Tire Technology International.

A new Solution Center has been officially opened by Continental in Lousado, Portugal, next to the manufacturer’s tire plant. The new facility will house cross-functional teams working on the development of targeted digitalization topics.

The company has employed IT, artificial intelligence (AI) and applied analytics, e-commerce and industrial engineering specialists at the site to provide global support for the digitalization of tire solutions, production processes and business workflows at Continental Tires.

Continental states that the Solution Center will bring added value. A recent tire quality control project saw staff from Lousado and from the Applied Analytics & AI team at the Tires global research and development hub in Hanover work together to investigate ways to use AI in final inspections on tires.

Continue reading Continental opens Solution Center in Portugal to accelerate digitalization of tire solutions and business models at Tire Technology International.

A virtual prototyping and simulation platform has been used by Apollo to develop the new Vredestein Quatrac Pro EV all-season tire, with the simulation platform enabling the tire maker to significantly reduce time-to-market, the tire’s impact on the environment and development costs.

By using virtual prototyping, Apollo ensured the Quatrac Pro EV benefitted from the fastest development cycle of any Vredestein tire to date. Over the years, Apollo’s in-house simulation and prototyping platform has undergone a multitude of revisions to ensure it can improve efficiency within the company’s design and testing stages, helping the tire maker achieve its performance targets.

Continue reading Apollo Tyres uses enhanced virtual prototyping to reduce development time and environmental impact at Tire Technology International.