How will the market for off-the-road (OTR) tires develop in future?
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| Michael Christian Lorenz |
The global market for OTR tires is growing. According to recent studies, it is expected to show an annual growth rate of 4 percent to 2022 in volume terms and more than 5.2 percent in value terms. Digitization, automation and connectivity are the strongest growth drivers: Already today, eight out of 10 companies use specialized, digital solutions to handle and transport goods in the logistics sector for example. In the course of digitization, we are in the process of transforming our business from a tire manufacturer into an integrated solutions provider for off-the-road operations.
How will customer needs change, based on these trends?
Along with specific tires for the different industries and applications, our customers are increasingly asking for solutions which make their tires last longer. These sustainability needs call for new technologies such as intelligent features of tires, and this is where our solutions such as ContiConnect, ContiPressureCheck and C-Logger come into play. With a wide range of products as well as continuous investments in research and development, we contribute to economical, safe and ecologically efficient mobility off the road.
Could you name some specific solutions provided by Continental CST, which underline this approach?
A good example and result of this positive alteration process to a solution provider is our new digital tire-monitoring platform for vehicle fleets, ContiConnect. The platform enables customers to remotely create, monitor and transfer tire-related data likes tire pressure and temperature in real-time for multiple vehicles. With customizable notifications in case of urgent alerts based on data analysis and data history, costly breakdowns can be avoided. It is a crucial addition to our existing tire monitoring system for individual vehicles, ContiPressureCheck, now giving whole fleets high-quality information to help maximize fleet efficiency and generate value due to more uptime. ContiConnect is the starting point for Continental to become an in-depth partner for tire-related data services.