When its new off-highway tire plant in Bhuj, India, is at full capacity in 2017, Balkrishna Industries Ltd. (BKT) will be able to produce an additional 150,000 metric tons of tires per annum. Its other three plants in India produce 150,000 metric tons combined.
That is a 100% increase in capacity. It is not unrealistic to think BKT will also double its sales revenue from $700 million to well over $1 billion in two or three years.
Here is a breakdown of the new plant, by the numbers.
Plant cost: $500 million
Total acres: 312
Central area of plant: more than 72 acres
Township area: more than 15 acres
Plant build-up area: 3.5 million meters
Raw material storage area: 20,000 square meters
R&D Center (when completed): 25,000 square feet.
Daily present capacity: 120-150 metric tons
Daily full capacity (2017): 325 metric tons
Tire warehousing capacity: 25,000 metric tons
BKT also has off-highway tire plants in Aurangabad, Bhiwadi and Chopanki, India. Some 2,400 SKUs are produced at the four plants.
As part of the recent "Game Changer Conference" hosted by BKT, close to 600 dealers, suppliers and journalists were recently invited to visit the plant, which is located in the state of Gujarat and the city of Bhuj. Modern Tire Dealer Editor Bob Ulrich was one of them. This is the third of his four news reports (a blog will appear on Thursday, Dec. 10). To read the other two reports, check out these links:
"Chairman Arvind Poddar: Ag and OTR Tires Lead the Way at BKT."
"BKT’s Rajiv Poddar: “Plant was needed to ‘seize sales opportunities.”
