Continental Tire announced its tire division and Siemens signed a strategic supplier agreement for Siemens to supply automation and drive technology for Continental’s tire factories worldwide. The aim of the cooperation is to further optimize Continental’s global tire production with innovative control and automation technology, according to the company. As part of the agreement, standards will be established which will help Continental make its production machinery more efficient.
“Tires connect cars and roads,” says Cedrik Neike, member of the managing board at Siemens AG and chief executive officer of Digital Industries. “Without modern and innovative tires, we cannot reach our safety, efficiency, and sustainability targets. That’s why Continental Tires and Siemens have formed a close partnership, one that we are now expanding.”
To drive standardization, Continental said it will purchase its automation systems and large parts of its drive technology for new machines and developments from Siemens. In addition, the use of these digital technologies promotes sustainable production, a key concern in the tire industry, Conti said. In this regard, Siemens said it offers particularly long lifecycles for the hardware products to be used in the future and enables software and hardware innovations to be easily integrated throughout the machines’ lifecycles. Siemens also provides technical support and is working on the long-term availability of spare parts.