‘Highly experienced’ R&D team now supporting Giti Tire in North America
The facility as it appears in Google Street View
When Tyres & Accessories visited Giti Tire’s new European Research and Development Centre last October, it learnt that the facility near Hannover, Germany was one of two new centres the tyre maker was setting up. The other was in the United States. Now, after almost a year in operation, Giti Tire has provided an update on what it calls the Giti Tire R&D Center for North America, an operation located in Uniontown, Ohio, just south of ‘tyre town’ Akron.
The research and development centre contains both offices and workshop space, and Giti Tire states that “a very highly experienced tyre design and development team has been assembled at the centre in the period of less than one year since its inception at its new location.” The Ohio operation is responsible for Giti Tire’s product development needs in North America, the development and application of advanced design technologies, testing support for North American programmes, and technical and logistical support for marketing activities of Giti Tire USA and Giti Tire Canada.
“We are thrilled to be in our new facility and appreciate the warm welcome we’ve received from the local community,” said Hamid Aboutorabi, director of the R&D centre. “We look forward to taking advantage of the wealth of tyre industry knowledge and resources in the Akron area and to helping our company bring best-in-class products to the North American market.”
According to Aboutorabi, the new centre has conducted extensive benchmark testing of Giti Tire products sold in North America against competitors. He said tyre design equipment and procedures are in operation, and the centre has already developed original and modified tyre designs for implementation into the North American product line.
A 25-year tyre industry veteran, Aboutorabi holds a PhD in mechanical engineering and regularly participates in international tyre conferences. He has extensive experience in the development and application of advanced modelling techniques in tyre design across both OE and replacement markets.
The new North American facility is one of five Giti Tire research and development centres around the globe. In addition to the aforementioned site in Germany, the Singapore-headquartered firm also operates R&D facilities in China and Indonesia, and at the MIRA site in the United Kingdom. The company employs more than 600 research and development personnel.
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