Driving innovation forward BKT

DRIVING INNOVATION FORWARD

Indian tyre manufacturer BKT continues to achieve positive growth through a focus on new products and expanding its operations. Industry Europe looks at the reasons behind its success.

BKT is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of ‘off-highway’ tyres, and prides itself on being a ‘one-stop shop’ for all off-highway tyre solutions with more than 1900 stock keeping units. At BKT, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of off-road tyres, facilities are continually being upgraded and expanded as new products are brought to the market. Each year the company brings out 150 to 160 new sizes, varieties or ranges.

BKT is the flagship company of the well-known Indian business conglomerate Siyaram-Poddar Group. The group focuses on a range of diverse business areas, including textiles, clothing, yarns, furnishings, paper and tyres. Within tyres, BKT is a global leader in off-road products.

BKT began producing cross-ply offhighway tyres in 1995 and was soon selling into European and American markets. With persistent and intensive market research, coupled with its ever-expanding production capabilities, BKT went on to make its mark in both cross-ply and radial tyres in speciailty segments such as agricultural, construction, industry, earthmoving, ports, all-terrain vehicles and turf care applications. Today, the company’s head office is in Mumbai. Production facilities are located at Chopanki, Bhiwadi and Waluj. There is also a mould plant at Dombivali. However, the company is constantly expanding its pro-

duction base. A recently established fourth factory has increased its tyre-making capacity by more than 70 per cent. Some US$300 million was spent on this project and it has created a significant rise in output.

In-house R&D

BKT’s brands include Agrimax, Agrimax Force, Agrimax Fortis, Agrimax Terris, Earthmax, Multimax and Roadmax. These have evolved over the years and new versions have been launched.

Research and development is also always at the forefront of BKT’s operation, with the company investing heavily. All its tyres and technologies, including radial OTR and agriradial tyre technology have been developed in-house. The key reason BKT tyres are globally competitive is the company’s engineering talent. Over the years, a dedicated team of engineers have taken on the task of designing and manufacturing superior tyres in the shortest possible time.

Indeed, the company is proud of the fact that it has a series of ‘firsts’ to its name. It was the first company in India, for example, to move into the agricultural equipment sector on a global scale. It was also the first company to offer radial agricultural application tyres and the only company from India to offer all-steel radial OTR tyres.

Social and environmental commitment

At BKT, environmental concerns, safety and social responsibility is of the utmost importance. A company spokesperson said: “We certainly understand our responsibility towards creating a greener and safer planet. We take all possible measures to contribute to the cause from energy-efficient manufacturing units, lush green campuses, raw material procuring which are least hazardous to the environment. In fact, we were the first company in India to offer REACH compliant products, recommended by the European Union for environmental protection. Even our new logo is a reflection of our philosophy of creating a greener society. “The safety and welfare of our employees is our primary concern and we have taken all measures to address this by providing world class infrastructure. We also consider it our responsibility to work and contribute towards social causes. Great efforts are being taken in this direction by BKT group in running a school for under-privileged children and funding various hospitals for free medical services.”

Significant growth

BKT has top-quality tyre testing facilities, including endurance testing machines up to 32 MT and tyre X-ray inspection machines. It conducts indoor and outdoor tests, and has a dedicated outdoor testing facility in Italy. All such tests are based on strict international regulations.

More than 90 per cent of its tyre production is exported to more than 120 countries across all five continents. BKT is in all the major markets of Europe, North and South America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. It has been increasing its sales in the CIS countries and Russia over the past two years. And with further product developments in the pipeline, particularly those that aim to make its tyres more environmentally friendly, expansion should continue at a steady pace. n