At CEAT Specialty’s Ambernath plant, the measure of manufacturing flexibility is unusually precise: the facility can efficiently produce even a single tyre. Behind that capability is a combination of automation, digital systems, artificial intelligence and lean manufacturing designed to manage more than 1,200 tyre sizes while serving demanding international markets.
The plant, established in 2018 with an initial focus on agricultural radial tyres, has since expanded into steel, forestry and very high flexion tyres. Its manufacturing model has evolved alongside this broader product mix, with digitalisation enabling smaller production lots without compromising efficiency or creating excessive wastage.
“Without digitisation, automation and AI, it would be very difficult for us to manufacture small batches efficiently,” says Amit Tolani, Chief Executive, CEAT Specialty Tyres India. The Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ)-one capability allows the plant to address niche requirements where customers may need only a single tyre of a particular specification.
That flexibility is supported by increasingly connected factory operations. The facility uses an indigenous Manufacturing Execution System, SCADA infrastructure and digital traceability extending from incoming raw materials to finished tyres. Production data can link batches with materials, processes and operators, improving visibility across the manufacturing chain.
AI is also moving beyond dashboards into plant-level intervention. Steam lines running beneath the factory feed the curing presses and previously required manual investigation when leaks occurred. “With automation, digitisation and AI, we can now identify almost immediately whether there is a leakage and precisely where it is,” Tolani says.
The same approach is extending to inspection and process optimisation. CEAT is working with high-resolution cameras and AI-based analytics to reduce parts of manual visual inspection, while data is also being used to optimise mixing recipes and mixing times. Predictive tools are helping shift maintenance from periodic intervention towards condition-based action, reducing time, energy loss and rework.
The technology layer sits alongside CEAT’s lean manufacturing and quality systems. Shopfloor associates are given responsibility for their workstations, supported by quality circles and a focus on repeatable quality. Automation has also reduced the physical intensity of several operations, enabling greater participation of women across manufacturing roles.
With the Ambernath facility operating at around 90-95 per cent utilisation, CEAT is expanding capacity from about 105 tonnes per day to 160 tonnes per day. Rather than simply adding output, the new module is being developed around newer manufacturing technologies, with the stated objective of making production leaner, more efficient, less resource-intensive and more sustainable.
For Ambernath, the more significant manufacturing story is therefore not automation for automation’s sake, but its use to make a high-variety factory behave with the precision of a highly flexible one.