MIRS factory officially opens in North America

Rome, Georgia, Aug.17, 2002 -The dedication of Pirelli's new North American headquarters and its first MIRS tire manufacturing plant took place today in Rome, Georgia. The Honorable Roy E. Barnes, Governor of Georgia, was in attendance to assist Pirelli North America President and CEO Gaetano Mannino in the ribbon-cutting ceremonies that signaled the startup of Pirelli's most advanced tire manufacturing plant in the world. Other dignitaries present were Garry Fricks, chairman of the Floyd County Commission; Ronnie Evans, chairman of the Rome City Commission; and Craig McDaniel, chairman of the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce.
" We are pleased that Pirelli North America has recognized Georgia's leadership and dedication to growing the automotive sector in our state," said Governor Barnes. " Pirelli shares our vision to make Georgia a world leader in manufacturing and technology, and our commitment to bring jobs and economic growth to the region."
" Georgia's long history of automotive industry leadership was a key determining factor for locating our headquarters in Rome," said Mannino. " Georgia's infrastructure, highly skilled workforce, and business friendly climate were all factors; plus the citizens and leadership of Rome and the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade & Tourism (GDITT) assisted in every step of the process." According to GDITT officials, the automotive industry currently employs more than 46,000 Georgians, and seven automotive companies operate headquarters in Georgia.
While the plant has been operational since June, the Governor had the honor of pressing the button to start production on Module #1. At the end of the ceremonies, Mannino presented the Governor with a brand new P Zero Nero, the first production tire from the new facility, as a memento of the plant's dedication.

According to Mannino, the 400,000 square-foot Rome plant is expected to employ around 300 people-250 production workers and 50 corporate personnel-after three years. " With its proprietary MIRS Technology, Pirelli has demonstrated that it is on the forefront of tire manufacturing worldwide. Our new plant will make sure that Rome is recognized worldwide for high-performance tires," Mannino said.
MIRS stands for Modular Integrated Robotized System. Pirelli holds several patents on MIRS, a technology that revolutionizes how tires are built. Conventional tire fabrication is a heavily hand-labor-intensive process employing highly skilled workers and 14 different steps.
In marked contrast to traditional hand-fabricated tire production, each MIRS module employs a dedicated team of robots building tires in a continuous operation. Humans are still around, but they are specialists in robotics and programming. Distinct fabrication processes are reduced from 14 to three without the traditional intermediate handling or storage phases and a new tire is turned out in just over three minutes.
In addition, MIRS requires only about one-fifth the space of conventional production and uses one-third the energy. A MIRS line is considerably more flexible as well. In a conventional facility, changeover to a new product can require more than six hours. But a MIRS changeover takes only 20 minutes. And whereas the traditional process has a break-even point of at least a few thousand tires, MIRS lots can be as small as one set of four tires tailored for specific applications.
This innovative process and product technology offers the market a tire of radically new concept in structural composition - the radial is actually produced without building joints. Tire quality is also higher with robotics than its human counterparts. Pirelli engineers recorded a 50-percent reduction in manufacturing variations affecting quality of the final product. The MIRS tire thus possesses totally innovative characteristics insofar as performance, reliability and comfort are concerned, and a quality level far superior to any product obtained by the traditional process.

From the very beginning, the relationship between Pirelli and Rome has been special and very strong. Pirelli entered into a training agreement with the Georgia Quick Start Program and Andrew Kearton, director of manufacturing at the Rome plant said the Quick Start program has provided the company's first employees with a strong background in Pirelli's high-tech manufacturing process.
" We sent our first 13 people to the United Kingdom to train on the MIRS modules, but before they went, they participated in a Quick Start training program," Kearton said.
" My colleagues in England could not believe the knowledge and expertise my guys had without ever seeing a MIRS," he said.
The Rome facility will begin production with three MIRS modules, with plans to substantially increase that number by 2003. The Rome plant is being built on enough land to be able to add as many additional MIRS modules as required to fulfil market needs.
Currently Pirelli has MIRS plants in operation in Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom. The Georgia plant will be Pirelli's largest: production will be essentially focused on SUV and car HP/UHP tires for the Original Equipment and the North American Replacement markets.
Pirelli expects to announce new OE contracts for MIRS tires with more than one North American carmaker very soon.