Balkrishna Industries (BKT) is a preferred supplier to international OEMs in the industrial/construction and mining segments. The company has products from 5” rim diameter to 54” rim diameter for vehicles ranging from trailers and forklifts to technologically-advanced machines like high hp tractors, combines, harvesters, GPS-controlled vehicles, articulated dump trucks, high-speed cranes, sophisticated port vehicles & container handlers, etc.
BKT is the first tyre company in India to produce all-steel radial OTR tyres for OTR vehicles ranging from rigid dump trucks to snow maneuvering vehicles. The tyres under this segment range from a 20” diameter tipper truck size to a giant 51” rigid dump truck size in bias make and 49” in radial make, thus covering every requirement for Industrial use and mining.
“We invest heavily every year into R&D to upgrade our plant facilities and develop new products. Our competition is with global tyre giants, so we should always have an edge in technology if we have to compete with them. If you look at all-steel OTR radial tyres for mining, we are the pioneers from India”, says Mr. Arvind Poddar, Chairman and Managing Director, BKT.
BKT has been selling tyres to leading OEMs globally and had recently launched an ultra-advanced range of tyres especially for high speed cranes. The 445/95 R25 tyre enables heavy high speed cranes to move at speeds of 80 km/hr.
Says Mr. Rajiv Poddar, Joint Managing Director, BKT: “Each product passes over 450 stages of tests; the result of this rigorous practice being that BKT products are known for their reliability and have the lowest claim ratio in the industry.”
Though radialization is picking up in the OTR segment, bias tyres are still expected to remain the preferred choice for certain applications, according to Mr. Poddar. “Radialization will be very high in certain applications but there will always be scope for bias tyres in certain applications such as port and underground mining.” At Automechanika Dubai 2017, the company had launched Portmax PT 93 engineered tyre for terminal tractors that is perfect for operations at ports and logistics hubs.
Buoyed by the fact that the Indian mining sector is on a revival track, thanks to the efforts being taken by the government, BKT plans to step up its focus on the domestic market. “The Government is looking to take positive steps for the mining sector and we are seeing bigger vehicles being plied in the mining sector which will call for use of bigger tyres in India. We have less than one per cent market share in the mining tyre segment so there is huge potential for us to grow,” says the JMD.
Talking about the challenges for the OTR segment, he feels the biggest one would be to provide good aftersales service. “The OTR is a highly technical segment. The requirement of service, equipment and maintenance of the equipment is critical and involves high costs. In order to be able to tackle this challenge, we have tied up with service providers in key markets,” he shares.
BKT is participating at EXCON 2017 with its usual massive presence at the show as the face of the Indian OTR tyre segment.