R&D: Tecnologia a sostegno della crescita
Pirelli today has one research centre in Italy and 8 application centres in the world. The R&D sector counts more than one thousand engineers, with more than 60% coming from countries other than Italy. The weight of the company’s investments will be maintained at around 3% of annual for the next three years, one of the highest levels in the sector. This will result in a total portfolio of over 4,500 patents, and a capacity to renew the portfolio of premium original equipment products in under four years and to have the full range of tyres produced without highly aromatic oils by 2013. The exchange of information and technology between the different tyre business sectors and the ongoing collaboration with important University research centres and leading car makers ensure the group has the technology to develop advanced products, tested with success in the main motorsports and transferred onto the road to serve specific client needs.
Through research, Pirelli has been able to develop over time products with low rolling resistence and with ever greater use of biomaterials. From the engineering standpoint, development times have been reduced significantly and thus product costs. In production processes, the application of avantgarde systems like Mirs (a robotic tyre production process exclusive to Pirelli) and the innovative compounds system Ccm (Continuous Compound Mixing System) allow the development of products through high quality systems that are also highly flexible. Pirelli is also at the cutting edge in the production of the Cyber Tyre, the intelligent tyre able to transfer information to the vehicle that is fundamental for driving stabilization and safety.
Continuous research and the continual development of these activities will allow the company to introduce technical innovations by 2015 that will be of key importance in the production and design of the tyres of the future. In this sense, Pirelli is working on the development of new materials derived from the application of nanotechnology, biomaterials and modified polymers and on innovative processes like new generation Mirs (next Mirs) and Ptsm which represents the evolution of the Ccm compounds system.
In particular, the car sector, in the period 2011-2015, will see:
• the development of technological solutions focused on ‘green performance’ in the RDE;
• the production of ad hoc products, differentiated on the basis of specific demand in the various geographic areas;
• the development of the Pzero tyre product line as the top product in the Ultra-High Performance segment.
This will all be done through the application of sustainable solutions, also in engineering processes, the introduction of innovative reinforcing fibres in the development of tyres and the introduction of second generation of the Cyber Tyre.
In the moto sector, in the period 2011-2015, Pirelli foresees:
• further availability of exclusive technologies;
• faster product renewal aimed at anticipating the needs of consumers;
• the strengthening of technological partnerships with the main motorcycle makers;
• the use of experience in Motorsport as a technological driver of innovation and the development of the Cyber Tyre for this segment.
This will all result in a higher performing and safer product portfolio.
In the industrial sector, in conclusion, in the period 2011-2015, Pirelli foresees:
• the development of products that will enable greater fuel savings and longer life (up to a million kilometres);
• greater speed in product renewal;
• the availability of high-tech production platforms in fast developing countries.
These results will be possible thanks to new steel cord materials and structures, the use of biomaterials and innovative reinforcing fibres, the registration of over 30 patents relative to structure, material and compounds innovation, new green solutions for trucks and the use of the Cyber Tyre also in this segment.
Categories: Sustainability