The Euro 70 million investment, the largest in Nokians history, will reach full production capacity in 2021.
In 2018, Nokian Heavy Tyres announced a massive undertaking: to increase the production of commercial tyres up to 50 percent and more than double the number of new products by investing heavily on production and product development. Now, what started as a vision is quickly becoming a concrete reality. At the moment, the R&D site is busy with installing hollow-core slabs, but plans for the installation of machinery are already well underway.
Another construction project involves expanding the production facilities – and as far as the construction work goes, it’s already finished. The building is erected, and installing the machinery is in full flight. At first, the implementation was lagging behind what was planned, but the construction caught up with the schedule. Nokian will reach the full capacity in 2021 as they planned. The next milestone will be the highly automated visual inspection and tyre buffer storage in August, taking advantage of the scheduled annual maintenance break.
Nokian explains that expanding a working factory can be a bit like fixing a bicycle while riding it. At Nokian Tyres, careful planning with agile change management has proven to be a winning combination. By implementing the Lean model, they have been able to increase their delivery ability by 15% already this year – in the middle of the ongoing renovations.
Originally, the construction of a new tyre curing line was planned to start from one end of the factory. But by starting the construction from another end, they were able to minimise disturbance to production. So, the quick change of plans paid off.
Besides enabling more capacity and future growth, the new facilities serve an important role by supporting smoother flow and safer work. The planning, construction and setup are important steps, but the real innovation lies within the people involved in the process. The goal for the investment is to produce 50% more and more than double the number of new products. Source