Low-Cost Improvements for Tire Producers

For tire manufacturers trying to achieve defect-free product, identifying and minimizing production deviations throughout the tire-making process is critical. Dover Flexo Electronics has, over the past few years, been successful in helping several large tire producers to correct process problems that affect product quality. Here are examples of tension measurement and control improvements made in three separate sub-processes at tire plants in the Southeast.

Steel-braided cord used in manufacturing steel-belted radial tires is made up of 10-15 wires that have been packaged together by a twister. Upon entering the twister the wires should have matching running tensions in order for a high-quality steel cord to result.

Prior to the twister station, hold-back tension on each wire is created by a tensioning device which can be manually adjusted by the machine operator. At the start of a job run the operator measures the tension on each wire with a hand-held tensiometer and adjusts the individual strand tension accordingly.