A trip to India: Discover the Bhuj plant – Part 1

Today we are taking you to Bhuj (West India), where BKT’s latest and largest production site is located. Let’s take a closer look at some of its divisions and facilities such as production, R&D, and tire testing.

Dear readers, our today’s journey is taking us straightaway to India. Our final destination is Bhuj, in the State of Gujarat, at about a hundred km from the Pakistani border and 60 km from the Port of Mundra on the Arabian Sea. You may wonder why we’re taking you into the midst of a desert. The answer is simple: It’s right here, where BKT’s latest and largest production site is located.

Thanks to a 500-million-US-dollar investment, a self-contained and state-of-the-art manufacturing plant was inaugurated at the beginning of December 2015. The Bhuj site stretches over an area of 300 acres (121 hectares) in a geographically strategic position near major communication roads and commercial ports with presently 150 MT rolling off the production line every day. But let’s take a closer look at some of its divisions and facilities such as production, R&D, and tire testing.

Manufacturing facilities

Bhuj represents the state of the art in modern industrial plants. It has been designed for a production output of 120,000 ton/year at full capacity.

The production units are provided with modern compound mixers, advanced equipment for the production of steel rings and the latest vulcanizing presses even for large tire sizes, to name but a few.

Like all BKT plants, Bhuj has obtained the ISO 9001:2000 Quality Certification for its Quality Management system and operates in full compliance with the highest level of international standards regarding production parameters, quality control and environmental regulations. 

Within the production division, an entire area for OTR Giant tires stands out. Yet, you can’t overlook the brand new  Earthmax SR 45 Plus for rigid dumpers with its virtually giant dimensions. It made its debut at Bauma 2016, the World’s Leading Trade Fair for Construction, Building Material and Mining Machines and Vehicles.

The R&D Center

As talent for innovation is one of BKT’s core competencies, the new and modern R&D Center in Bhuj hosts all facilities for developing top-of-the-range solutions. Researchers, engineers, and technicians deal with anything related to the technical product development: from designing a new tire, over developing new compounds, to improving product performance as well as production processes. Substantial investments in R&D are the key to success. So, what does this means for you, dear users? In a nutshell, always better performing and high-quality Off-Highway tires for an increasing range of applications.

A cutting-edge tire testing track!

What else can we say? BKT has been the first tire manufacturer to build an outdoor tire testing track in India: with 6 different tracks, the circuit stretches over a total area of about 25 acres (10 hectares) including tracks for tire performance tests in wet and dry conditions, an asphalt track as well as an inclined concrete track. Thanks to a large variety of tests, many relevant features such as traction, handling, comfort, noise, fuel consumption, braking, rolling resistance, soil compaction and many more can be measured by means of high-precision devices and instruments. As a result of this unique source of information, BKT is able to further enhance tire performance and optimize user-specific solutions.

As you can see, BKT is always one step ahead in terms of innovation, thanks to:

• carefully assessing tire quality before launching new products on the market;
• testing new compounds to improve product performance;
• checking prototype development before industrialization. 

Are you tempted? Come and test all innovative BKT products right here in Bhuj! We’re waiting for you!