Hankook to invest €540 million in its Rácalmás plant in Hungary, a project designed to lift annual truck and bus tire capacity to 800,000 units and sharpen the company’s response time for European customers. The upgrade is also meant to reduce dependence on overseas logistics by bringing production closer to the market.
The new production unit will lean heavily on Industry 4.0 technologies, including artificial intelligence-driven design, 3D metal printing and multi-layer tread solutions. Thus, AI is being used not only to optimize tread patterns but also to create new ways of balancing performance and wear.
New tire technology
A key innovation is the use of 3D metal printing to produce vulcanization molds, which allows the company to build multi-layer tread structures. As the top layer wears down, a new pattern emerges that helps preserve wet grip and braking performance for longer.
The company is also tailoring the new line to the needs of electric commercial vehicles, which need to handle greater weight and torque while keeping noise and rolling resistance low. Hankook already sells EV-focused passenger tires under its iON line and recently launched the e-Smart City AU56 for electric buses, a model made with 37% sustainable materials.
Supply chain near-immediate availability
The Hungarian plant has been in operation since 2007 and is already a strategic pillar in Hankook’s European network. With the expansion, the company will be able to respond far faster to demand from European partners, cutting delivery times from two to three months to near-immediate availability.
