Meeting growing demand

Already on a roll, BKT’s business has increased by 49% over the pre-pandemic period and expansion at the company’s prestigious Bhuj production plant in India will play a major role in increasing tyre numbers.

When the first tyres rolled off the production line in 2012, the Bhuj site covered 123ha. With more than US$500m invested over the ensuing years, the site has grown in stages to its current size of 258ha in 2022. Expansion plans mean it will expand even further to hit 323ha by the end of 2023.

The ambitious expansion plans means a major increase in staff numbers from the 4,776 people employed at the end of 2022. Meanwhile, the extra footprint being planned is needed to install the new machines needed to increase the volumes. These have risen from 92 tonnes a day in 2015 to the best-ever, 436 tonnes a day by the end of the 2022 year.

The expansion will also include a dedicated rubber track manufacturing plant, alongside space for six different test tracks. These will include circuits for performance tests on a variety of different surfaces in dry and wet conditions. These will offer the ability to measure parameters such as traction, handling, comfort and soil compaction.

A further strategic choice at the Bhuj site MARK DANIEL This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. was to invest in its own carbon black plant, which came into operation in 2017. This has led to a current total annual production of 165,600 tonnes of the essential tyre component.

“People have asked me if all this was really necessary, so much in such a short time?” explains Rajiv Poddar, joint managing director at BKT.

“Growth has always been in step with demand.

And we see global tyre demand growing, with no signs of it slowing down over the next five years. The journey we started out on at Bhuj in 2012 was never a return journey, but one to prepare ourselves to discover the future.”