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Schwalbe has reported in its newsletter to partners that the Jakarta, Indonesia factory, where it produces 100 per cent of its goods, has doubled its capacity inside the past fie years.
A bit of number crunching: Schwalbe now produces one million tyres and tubes per month in its 80,000 square metre plant and the rubber specialist employs 3,500, who between them handle 2,500 different products.
Holger Jahn, Schwlabe’s technical director says: "Everything comes form one single plant, no additional purchases, no contract manufacturing – it’s exceptional and far from being the standard among tyre manufacturers. We are now bringing all production stages under one roof, have shorter distances to cover (throughout the production process) and have full control over each product."
In the ‘high-end section’, production capacities are now double what they were five years ago. Meanwhile, there’s a new section for the production of tubular tyres.
On the production of tubes, Jahn said: "Production at the limit is always problematic as far as quality and supply capability are concerned."
Capacity on this front has now been largely restructured for efficiency and increased. Jahn adds: "Never before have we had such good results in our quality tests, despite the analysis being very stringent. Each tube is inflated to 150 per cent of its capacity and stored for 36 hours, before being examined. In addition, the Schwalbe logo is printed on the tubes and the size of the tube is visible at a glance."
