Toyo Tire Malaysia Sdn Bhd. was established in Taiping, Malaysia on 12 April 2011 following the acquisition of Silverstone Berhad. On 8 May 2013, Toyo Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd. Chairman, Mr Kenji Nakakura officiated the First Phase Factory Completion Ceremony of Toyo Tire Malaysia. The factory was built on a 148-acre site site in Kawasan Perindustrian Kamunting Raya, Kamunting, Taiping and it produces high quality tires for passenger car, multipurpose vehicle (MPV) and SUV tires. The facility is equipped is latest manufacturing equipment and uses Toyo Tires’ most advanced technologies – T mode and Advanced Tire Operation Module (A.T.O.M.), a highly flexible and automated production system. Toyo Tire Malaysia is currently headed by its managing director, Mike Toh and is primed to be the largest outside Japan for Toyo Tires when all phases are completed. The factory produces about 5 million tires annually and exported to Southeast Asian countries, Middle East, Europe and U.S.

Before I took part my internship in tire manufacturing field, I never knew about tire is made up of different components and not only rubber. The photos below show the components and the location of the components in tire.

• Cut Section of Cured Tire

•      Cut Section of Tread                                          

•  Bead with Apex

The tire manufacturing process in Toyo Tires Malaysia is mainly divided into 5 parts: incoming of raw materials, mixing and preparation of tire compounds, production of tire components, tire building and inspection.

•    Rheometer Test with Moving Die Rheometer (MDR)

After all the compound mixed in Banbury mixer must undergo Mooney Viscosity (MV) and Mooney Scorch (MS) by using Moving Die Rheometer (MDR). It is a quick test to measure the vulcanization properties of rubber compounds by measuring the torque at the status from uncured to overcured. The rubber compound is cut into round pieces with weight of 5.5g to 6.0g and then put into MDR. The testing in MDR is automated and each piece of the sample takes about 2 minutes. The sample is compressed between two heated platens and by an applied oscillating force at a specific temperature. The degree of vulcanization determines the cure characteristic of the sample as it is heated and compressed. The photo below is Moving Die Rheometer equipment.

•    Hardness Test with Digital Hardness Durometer

Durometer utilizes an indenter loaded by a calibrated spring. The measured hardness is determined by the penetration depth of the indenter under the load. A hardness measurement is a simple way of obtaining a measure of the elastic modulus of a rubber by determining its resistance to a rigid indenter under an applied force. After mixing process, the rubber compound is cured and cut into dumbbell shaped. The dumbbell shaped rubber compound is known as specimen was then be placed on a round platform. The load handle of the durometer is released gently without giving a shock in order to obtain an accurate result. Higher numbers on the scale indicate a greater resistance to indentation and thus harder materials. Lower numbers indicate less resistance and softer materials. The photo below is Digital Hardness Durometer equipment.

• Tensile Properties Test with Tensile Strength Tester

After measuring the hardness of the rubber compound, tensile test is carried out to measure tensile strength at break, elongation at break, and modulus (stress which corresponds to a certain elongation). The rubber compound was cut into dumbbell shaped. The thickness of the specimens was measured at least 3 points (front point, middle point and end point) and the average value is taken. Then, the specimen was tested using tensile strength tester which is shown below. Tensile strength, elongation at break and modulus are measured and recorded.

    Toyo Tires Malaysia is a global leading tires manufacturer which specialized in design and manufacture tires such as passenger tires, multipurpose vehicle, SUV, competition tires and so on. I am grateful that I am able to carry out my 12 weeks Industrial Training in Toyo Tires Malaysia.
  During the 12 weeks internship, I am attached under Technical Development Department. The department mainly carry out trials on building tires and make sure the built tires achieve the desired specifications before able to proceed to mass production. My job scope during the time of internship are mainly assisting the engineers to perform data compilation and analysis. I believe the data compilation and analysis tasks that I performed during the internship will bring me great benefit. As we are now living in an Information Age, most of the companies are starting to pivot from their traditional trail and error model to a data driven model as it yields higher productivity. Data analysis will be a crucial skill to posses as more and more companies are shifting to Industrial 4.0.
Beside than the skills learnt during the internship, I believe the practical experience that I gained during this internship had greatly influence my way of thinking and enhance my imagination. During school day, we are mostly absorbing hard cold facts, knowledges, principles and etc without applying it in real life or even observe how it works in real life. In Toyo Tires, I have learnt the way of thinking in system or “system thinking”. As Toyo Tires is a Japanese company, it has adapted a few principles such as Lean Manufacturing, 5S, Genchi Genbutsu, Kaizen and etc from Toyota, the world leading car manufacturer. Combining the understanding and visual aids of how the principles works, it gives me an astonishing realisation of how a mature system able to control even the tiniest aspect of people and process and together able to deliver the finest quality of products, just like the cogs in our wristwatch working as a system in clockwork to provide us an accurate time, these are the experience that I am unable to gain from classroom.
    I have also experienced a new kind of lifestyle that I have not experience in my last twentyish years of life. During the internship, I am working from 9 am to 5pm. I have come to realize my time is not as flexible as the time I have during study and time management has show how significant it is during the period of internship. To achieve work life balance, time must be carefully planned between working, Final Year Project, family and social life.