7 February 2018, 15:25
An Interview with Prabhash Subasinghe, Managing Director of Global Rubber Industries (GRI) and LECTURA Press, two days prior to the opening ceremony of the new specialty tire plant in Badalgama.
Please give us a brief introduction of Global Rubber Industries (GRI)?
GRI Tires is an almost 17-year-old solid tire manufacturer and exporter. We are one of the largest manufacturers of industrial tires in Sri Lanka - the world's leading solid rubber tires manufacturer with market share of over 60%. All GRI tires are manufactured in Sri Lanka, with warehouses and sales offices in various countries like the US, France and the Netherlands.
GRI started with its first solid tire plant in 2002 and over the years we have expanded our business to cater to other industrial sectors as well. Our main goal with opening this new plant in Badalgama is to enter the specialty tire market, which includes agricultural, construction and OTR tires.
Why is it beneficial to locate tire plants in Sri Lanka?
So, there are three points which are vital for selecting a location for any production site: local know-how, key raw material like natural rubber and also the geographical location itself. Because of where Sri Lanka is geographically located, it is very easy for companies to ship their products all over the world, once they come out of production.
Sri Lanka produces a billion dollars of rubber products and 60% of that are tires. This country is very well known as one of the best manufacturing countries for industrial tires owing to the fact that some of the largest industrial tire manufacturers have based themselves in Sri Lanka over the past 30 years. Sri Lanka has a strong production of natural rubber and all rubber that GRI uses is produced domestically. Technology is developed locally and we train our students at the Universities to ensure the sustainability of this industry.
In fact, rubber is the third largest export product in the country and therefore one of the most important resources for our local economy - in this sector the most important export goods are rubber tires.
What percentage of the tires that are produced on Sri Lanka are being exported out of the country?
We have to differentiate between two business sides. One is the material handling and industrial tire business, where we export 100% of the products that are being produced here in Sri Lanka. For the new segment, that is opening for us with this plant in agricultural and construction tires, we also plan to export 100% of our products out of the country.
What kind of tires will be produced at the new plant in Badalgama?
With this plant we are adding new products to Sri Lanka's tire export portfolio and we are also opening the doors for specialty tire manufacturing in this country. Approximately 70% of this factories output will be for the agricultural tire sector. The remaining 30% will consist of pneumatic construction tires and forklift tires. This new plant will therefore produce the full spectrum of tires that are being used in off road applications.
As for the range of tires specifically, we have rationalized the size of our production spectrum in this plant, based on the world market demand. In the first year it is our goal to produce approximately 100 sizes of tires, with 70% of these catering to the agricultural sector.
The GRI agricultural tires offer an excellent range of tread patterns, which feature high load carrying capacity at a low inflation pressure, as well as minimal soil compaction, little vibration, remarkable traction and superior self cleaning properties. Due to all these properties, the tires operate outstandingly on roads and on the field.
We as a company are very confident, that in the years to come, agricultural tires will make up for nearly half of our annual production and sales worldwide. The next big sector will be material handling and the third will be construction.
What will be the stand out thing about this new specialty tire plant?
We have equipped this plant with the most advanced technologies available in this industry. There was a tremendous effort put into planning this plant.
It is equipped with machines, that perform an increased degree of precision, lower operator dependency and higher automation. These great investments will result in enhanced consistency, higher quality, greater efficiency, reduced cycle times and also lower waste. It was built to be completely self-sufficient and features solar panels, biomass boilers and fully recyclable waste and water management systems.
Are there different products for certain markets?
Yes, there are of course differences in our products for the various markets worldwide. As a producer, it is our responsibility to identify these differences and cater to them accordingly. This is something that every producer, who wants to offer their products on the markets worldwide, has to keep in mind and adequately react to it.
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Source: LECTURA GmbH Verlag