VMI wins Tire Manufacturing Innovation of the Year Award at Tire Technology Expo 2020

During the annual Gala dinner at the Tire Technology Expo on February 26^th 2020, VMI was honored with the Tire Manufacturing Innovation of the Year award. The award was received by Mr Harm Voortman, President and CEO of VMI Group.

Each year, the Tire Technology International Awards for Innovation and Excellence are presented to reward the successful companies in the tire design and manufacturing industry. The shortlist of nominees is compiled based on input from the readers of Tire Technology International and the magazine’s editorial team. An independent panel of international tire industry experts then cast their votes to determine the winners.

Some quotes from the judges’ panel:

“The flexibility of VMI’s MAXX tire building machine becomes even more attractive with the addition of light truck production.”
Kuninobu Kadota, Fellow, tire research division, Bridgestone

“VMI keeps bring innovation to their tire building machines, offering more flexibility to their customers.”
Patrick De Keyzer, Managing partner, DeKep

“VMI revolutionized the tire building industry with the introduction of the first single stage tire building machine, bringing unprecedented levels of quality in the early 1970s. VMI has been at the forefront of the developments in the industry ever since. The VMI MAXX radial passenger tire building machine maximizes output, quality, ergonomics and flexibility. I honor the latest addition to the VMI MAXX platform – which enables light truck tire production on the platform for the first time.”
Gert Heinrich, Senior professor, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering/Institute of Textile Machinery and Textile High Performance Materials Technology, Leibniz Institute for Polymer Research, Dresden

Mr Harm Voortman: “We are honored to receive this important award. In 2009, VMI launched the MAXX tire building machine, a revolution in tire building. The MAXX not only changed the concept of tire building, with its hands-off, eyes-off principle, it also introduced the platform approach. With this platform approach, VMI introduced a manufacturing system which can be continuously improved and updated, so that it remains at best practice level throughout its lifespan by means of upgrades, extension or retrofits. Now, with the addition of the Synchro Crown drum, customers can build all types of tires on one platform, delivering a high return and maximized profitability to our customers”.