Tire industry

Tire production is a complex process with a high level of vertical integration. From the production of the rubber compound to the manufacture of the tire components and semi-finished products to the finished tire, many different materials have to be marked. However, markings and coding are not only required for production, but also for logistics processes and for the end products in accordance with the EU Tire Regulation 2020/740.

Tires are safety-relevant vehicle components. In order to enable clear identification and global traceability across the entire process chain, it is important to clearly mark raw materials, semi-finished products and, of course, finished products when marking tires. It is precisely because of the many process steps and the different rubber compounds for different tire types that marking technology is a central part of quality assurance in tire production. The coding and marking systems and labeling solutions have to be able to be integrated into the tire industry's digital production processes via suitable IT interfaces, thus enabling the step towards Industry 4.0.

Challenges of marking in the tire industry

• Different raw materials, materials and semi-finished products
• Marking under harsh environmental conditions
• Resistance to moisture, heat, cold and mechanical stress
• Fast application in automated rubber production lines
• Generation of machine-readable codes

Which materials and products must be marked in the tire industry?

Raw materials: EVA bags/melt bags with rubber compound ingredients
Tire components and semi-finished products: rubber compounds, raw rubber, raw rubber skins, treads, textile cord, fabric cord, steel cord, tire blanks
End products: Tires, summer tires, winter tires, all-season tires

Where are our solutions used?

• High-resolution coding of bags with ingredients
• Application of production codes for raw hides, semi-finished products, tire components
• 2D Codes for Track & Trace processes
• Application of special liquids such as process water
• Quality assurance (marking of defects, balancing point marking, color line marking)
• Permanent laser marking of the finished tires
• Labeling (EU tire labels, customer-specific labels, 2D Codes, alphanumeric codes)
• Code verification, text verification, plain text verification, layout check