Off-highway tyre manufacturer Balkrishna Industries Limited (BKT), which has been in the field for 27 years, is poised to expand its presence overseas, through a slew of product innovation, marketing and brand-building strategies.
BKT is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of “OFF-HIGHWAY tires” with over 92 per cent exported to more than 130 countries across five continents. It is a “one-stop shop” for all off-highway tire solutions.
The company has its plants at Aurangabad (Maharashtra), Bhiwadi and Chopanki (Rajasthan) and Bhuj (Gujarat). The greenfield plant at Bhuj, with an investment of around $450 million and covering 300 acres duly equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, will boost BKT production capacity by 75 per cent.
The in-house mould design and production unit at Dombivali (Maharashtra) has enabled BKT to achieve production flexibility and frequent change-over in the production cycle within a short time, resulting in a faster ‘concept-to-market’ product roll-out.
The company focuses on a three-fold strategy of expanding its reach in the global market through the launch of new products and extension of its existing ranges. The vision is to double its current six per cent market share in speciality segments.
Emphasis on R&D
With its emphasis and regular investment in research & development, BKT complies with all national & international regulatory, statutory and pollution control norms. It designs, develops and releases 150-160 new tyre sizes each year.
BKT is the first off-highway tire manufacturer in India to be REACH compliant for its entire range of products and has the world’s fastest turnaround time of 8-10 weeks for new product development. The company has also achieved the international Standard for Quality Management System (ISO 9001:2008) and the Environmental Management System (ISO 14001:2004) certification.
A new R&D set-up is being planned at the greenfield project in Bhuj, which will also include a test track for development of all speciality products, in addition to the existing dedicated outdoor testing facility at ISMA, Italy.
Product range
BKT provides 2,300 different stock keeping units (SKUs) for different applications. It is the first tire company in India to produce the all-steel radial OTR tyres, thus joining an elite class of all-steel OTR manufacturers in the world.
BKT has products from 5” rim diameter to 54” rim diameter available for traditional vehicles like dumpers, graders, trailers, forklifts, implements, etc., as well as technologically advanced machines like high horsepower tractors, combines, harvestors, GPS controlled vehicles, articulated dump trucks, high-speed cranes, sophisticated port vehicles, container handlers, etc. For high power tractors there are the latest “IF” technology tires which can be used at low pressure on the field as well as the road.
With the future of Off-Highway Tire segment being radial, a new facility at Bhuj will have its emphasis on radials. This facility will also produce Ultra large and Giant OTR tyres upto 51” rim diameter. The tires of upto 35” rim diameter in the radial OTR segment are already available. Also supplied are specialized radial tires for high-speed crane applications.
BKT is consistently maintaining the quality of tires, and each product has to pass through 450 tough testing stages in the manufacturing process. The most reliable product in terms of the lowest claim ratio in the industry is then brought out.
‘Growing Together’ sums up the BKT philosophy, being its mantra for continuous growth. Today BKT is a well-diversified Indian industrial conglomerate emerging globally as the preferred supplier to major OEMs in construction, agricultural and industrial tire segments, establishing its presence in more than 130 countries across the globe.
BKT is participating at EXCON and will be present at Booth No. 1, Hall No. 1 – LL.