Trelleborg Wheel Systems Industrial Tires is acquiring US large solid and semi-solid tyre producer Maine Industrial Tire for an undisclosed sum, making it a market leader in the US.

"The acquisition is important for several reasons - both geographic and strategic," says Trelleborg Wheel Systems Italia SpA spokesman James Pick. "There is an immediate impact, making Trelleborg (the) market leader for industrial tyres in USA - the world's second-largest market for materials handling equipment and, thus, tyres."

The acquisition not only reinforces Trelleborg's position as a global market leader in solid tyre production, but enables it to enter the market for large solid off-road tyres used mainly in the construction, underground mining and waste management sectors.

Pick tells Forkliftaction.com News that over the medium and long terms, the transaction is expected to result in "significant growth in the key geographic markets of China and USA, and globally in the market segments served by the newly expanded product range".

Trelleborg will be able to satisfy the requirements of its existing OEM customers and enter new market segments.

The company's industrial tyres president, Jean-Paul Mindermann, says Maine Industrial Tire's product range "perfectly complements [Trelleborg's] existing range of premium tyres for materials handling applications".

"The Brawler range is a market-leading family of industrial tyres developed to work in the harshest of industries and demanding conditions where performance matters," Mindermann says. "The premium quality of Maine products and their history of innovation and market understanding are a perfect match for our own."

Maine Industrial Tire has manufacturing sites in the US and China.

"The acquisition includes the MIT Manufacturing operation located in Xingtai which is adjacent to the existing Trelleborg Wheel Systems Agricultural Tire manufacturing facility.
The factory employs 550 staff, including local management," Pick says.

Trelleborg plans to establish a sales and distribution organisation in China, where industrial forklift production already exceeds that of Europe and America combined. "The existing local operation already sells into the Chinese domestic market and Trelleborg will expand this over the course of 2013," Pick explains.

"Many of our key OEM supply customers already have manufacturing operations in China and having a manufacturing presence in the country will serve to strengthen those relationships."