Page 49 - TBN-2014-3

h new ContiLifeCycle Plant
Based in Hannover-Stöcken, the new retreading factory, built with the help of a grant from the Environment Ministry under the German Government’s Environmental Innovation Programme, will have a projected annual ca- pacity of 180,000 retreaded tyres once it has reached full capacity, includ- ing 150,000 Contire mould cure retreads and 30,000 pre-cure retreads using Continental’s ContiTread tread strips. The 17,000 sq m open plan facility, which includes storage space for up to 16,000 casings, began pro- duction in September and is gradually ramping up production. The plant is currently only running one shift but according to Christian Sass, Head of Retread Business Truck Tires EMEA, the plan is to operate a three shift production over five days.
Most of the equipment in the plant is from Marangoni including the very latest computerized buffing equipment using different buffing contours and additional sidewall brushing, as well as an Alpha Twin buffer. The plant also includes a shearography machine from SDS-Systemtechnik and inspection equipment from Akar Makina. The envelopes used in the pre-cure plant are from Kraiburg.
The ContiLifeCycle Plant is intended to serve as a competence centre for the company’s other LifeCycle businesses on a worldwide basis. These include the company’s factories in Petaling Jaya (Malaysia), Cuenca (Ec- uador) and Morelia (Mexico).
The company has also developed an on-site training facility, the ContiL- ifeCycle Academy, in the plant for training both internal and external staff on different topics of retreading.
As part of the ContiLifeCycle Plant, Continental has developed a recy- cling process for the buffing dust that arises during retreading. The tread powder is put through a series of different processing steps to reverse the curing process. The recycled material is claimed to be of such high and controlled quality that it can be used for tyre compounding without hesita- tion,” remarks Dr. Boris Mergell, Vice President Product Development & Industrialization Commercial Vehicle Tires at Continental. Tread buffings from Continental’s new ContiLifeCyle retreading factory will be completely used in the recycling facility. This results in the reduction of waste by more than 80 percent and significant CO2-savings.
Continental has actually used conventional recycled rubber in serial pro- duction since 2009 at a level of 3%. However, according to Mergell, the new facility has the potential to increase the rubber recycling share to 6% due to the fact that the ContiReclaim can be used in areas where conven- tional reclaim can’t be applied. The capacity of the recycling plant is 4,000 tonnes of material per annum.
The main purpose of the LifeCycle concept though is savings for the fleet manager. “With our ContiRe tyres made in Stöcken, we offer our custom- ers a product portfolio that is economically and ecologically sustainable. Environmentally-friendly production techniques and raw material usage in the ContiLifeCyle Plant are complemented by low rolling resistance of our final products and a wide range of service solutions,” remarked Christian Sass. “All this leads finally to the major objective of the ContiLifeCycle- concept: Lowest overall driving cost for the fleets.”
47 truck & bus news › 2014/3
将翻新业带入太空时代
式设施，包括库存16，000个胎体的库存空间，已 经在去年9月开始投产，并逐步提高产量。该厂目 前实行一班制，但是据翻胎业务EMEA卡车轮胎主 管萨斯(Christian Sass)表示，他们计划每周 工作5天，并实行3班轮班制。
该工厂里的大部分设备都来自马拉贡尼，包括采 用不同磨锉轮廓和额外胎壁扫刷的最先进电脑化 磨锉机，以及Alpha 双磨锉机。该工厂还备有一 台SDS-Sysemtehnik的剪切散斑机和Akar Makina 检测设备。预硫化工厂里所采用的是凯柏(Krai- burg)包封套。
ContiLifeCycle工厂将成为马牌全球LifeCycle业 务的能力中心。这些包括了该公司位于八打灵再 也(马来西亚)、盆地(厄瓜多尔)及莫雷利亚 (墨西哥)的工厂。
该公司也在厂内为内部和外部的员工设立ContiL- ifeCycle学院现场培训设施，为他们提供有关 翻胎的各种培训。“马牌还研发了一个再生的程 序，能够将翻新过程中留下的胎面胶屑回收，作 为ContiLifeCycle工厂的一部分。胎面胶屑将通 过一系列不同的处理步骤，以便逆转整个硫化过 程。该再生原料具有高和受控制的品质，使它能 够在毫无疑问下用于轮胎复合物。”马牌产品研 发及工业化商用车轮胎副总裁墨格尔博士(Dr. Boris Mergell) 表示。来自马牌新ContiLife- Cycle翻胎厂的胎面胶屑将完全被用于再生设施。 这可将浪费降低到超过80%和大大降低二氧化氮。 其实，马牌自2009年以来就在其批量生产中采用 3%使用过的传统再生橡胶。然而，据墨格尔博士 说，新工厂拥有将再生橡胶的份量增加到6%的潜 能，因为ContiReclaim能够被用于传统回收不能 被采用的范围。该再生工厂的原材料年产能为4 ，000吨。
LifeCyclePlant概念的主要目的是为车队经理带 来节省。“我们通过在Stöcken制造的ContiRe轮 胎，为客户提供一个经济且环保的可持续性产品 组合。ContiLifeCycle工厂中所使用的环保产品 技术和原材料，补足了我们最后产品的低滚动阻 力和系列广泛的服务。”萨斯说。“这一切最后 会把我们领到ContiLifeCycle概念的主要目的: 车队的最低总驾驶成本。”
据EMEA卡车轮胎营销主管孟兴(Herbert Mensch- ing)说，以优化的方式来使用ContiLifeCycle系 统，将大大降低车队营运者的成本。他指出，虽
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