Global Rubber Industries (GRI) last week broke ground and laid the foundation stone for the second phase of a $ 100 million project with a new manufacturing facility in Badalgama, Sri Lanka to expand its specialty tyre production capabilities to meet growing global demand for its products.
This new factory is the next phase of GRI’s rapid expansion currently underway, including the new mixing facility and will total the overall investment to $ 100 million.
In January 2018, GRI inaugurated a world-class specialty tyre manufacturing facility with an investment of more than $40 million.
The new factory is an expansion of this facility and is expected to be completed by December.
The new manufacturing facility would be equipped with state-of-the-art machinery and is set to quadruple GRI’s current production capacity to 750,000 tyres per annum and a total capacity of 100 tons per day.
As a key feature in the new production plant, it will be equipped with the capability to manufacture larger-sized agricultural tyres.
“GRI’s expansion and increase in our production capacity, in such a short time frame, is a result of the overwhelming demand for our GRI branded products in recent years. It has been rewarding to see how our products have been so well received in an extremely competitive market and lauded for its superlative quality, service and innovation – we are well-positioned to carve a niche for Sri Lankan specialty tyres in the world market,” GRI Managing Director Prabhash Subasinghe said.
GRI’s mandate to embed sustainability as a part of all its operations is also further reiterated through its new production facility.
The new facility will expand GRI’s solar panel initiative spanning the entire roof and generate 2.5 MW of solar power. The factory will also continue to use biomass boilers instead of furnace oil boilers while production at the facility will continue with an environmentally friendly ‘dry’ process, with no emission of gases or liquid disposal and ensuring low material wastage
GRI was founded in 2002 and works towards its vision of taking high-grade Sri Lankan specialty tyres to the world. The company produces radial agriculture tyres, construction tyres and material handling solid tyres through locally produced natural rubber and has a business presence in more than 50 countries.
In 2018, GRI opened an advanced manufacturing plant in Sri Lanka to produce agricultural tyres.
In 2020, GRI also commenced construction of a new mixing facility in the Mirigama Export Processing Zone (MEPZ) in Sri Lanka.