In the era of the Internet of Things, traditional manufacturing is undergoing unprecedented digital transformation. As an important component of the automotive industry, the tire industry has quietly sparked a wave of “intelligence”. In the past, tires were often seen as black rubber components without an “identity”; Nowadays, by implanting an RFID chip in tires, every tire has a unique “digital ID card”. This not only achieves full lifecycle traceability from raw materials, production, sales to scrap recycling, but also provides critical data support for smart logistics, autonomous driving, and intelligent transportation systems. In the current of industry transformation, Triangle Tire Co., Ltd. has once again become the focus.
Recently, according to the Tianyancha APP, Triangle Tire has obtained a new utility model patent authorization, named “Automatic Reading and Feeding Device for Large Roll Curtain Roll Information Based on RFID Technology”. This patent is mainly applied in the field of tire production equipment. Its design purpose is to achieve automatic reading and feeding of roll information for large roll curtain, and to use an information system for error prevention verification and binding traceability, thereby improving automation level and production efficiency, reducing human intervention, and ensuring the accuracy of the feeding of large roll curtain in the cutting process.
Michelin RFID Tire Tags | Embedded Tire Intelligence for Smart Mobility & Fleet
RFID has been deployed for many years
Looking back at the innovative path of Triangle Tire, this is not its first appearance in the RFID field. As early as many years ago, Triangle Tire keenly captured the enormous potential of IoT technology empowering traditional manufacturing industries and began systematically laying out the “digital embodiment” of tires. From early participation in the development of the industry standard “Performance Test Method for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Electronic Tags for Tires” (HG/T 4955-2016), to the landing of new patents today, Triangle Tire has established a full chain RFID technology system covering production, management, and terminal applications.
On the production side, triangular tires have already integrated RFID technology into the bloodline of intelligent manufacturing. The patent previously applied for by the company for “a method of automatically binding internal mixing automatic sampling information based on RFID device read-write function” is a vivid footnote to this layout. In the mixing process, RFID chips are installed at the bottom of pallets and carriers, and MES (Manufacturing Execution System) is used to automatically bind raw materials and detection data. This not only greatly improves the efficiency and accuracy of production traceability, but also accurately implements the concept of “lean production” through data flow into every production process.
Earlier, Triangle Tire also obtained a patent for “Method of Implementing Personnel Safety Management Based on Active RFID Technology”, which applied RFID technology to the safety control of workshop personnel. Through the linkage of electronic tags and alarm systems, it built a three-dimensional safety protection network for intelligent manufacturing factories. Due to its profound accumulation in the application of the Internet of Things, Triangle Tire’s “Application of the Internet of Things in High Performance Passenger Tire Intelligent Factory” case has been successfully selected as a typical case list of IoT enabled industry development by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in 2024, becoming a model for the intelligent transformation of the industry.
From quality traceability on the production line, to personnel safety management in the workshop, and now to anti replacement monitoring on the road surface, Triangle Tire has built RFID technology into a bridge connecting physical tires and the digital world through nearly a decade of continuous cultivation. The acquisition and application of this series of patents not only enhance the core competitiveness of triangular tires in the industry, but also lead the tire industry from traditional “black box” manufacturing to the intelligent era of full process visualization, traceability, and controllability. In the future, with the deep integration of 5G and artificial intelligence technology, tires implanted with RFID tags may not only be components of transportation vehicles, but also become indispensable data nodes in intelligent transportation systems.
Why are more and more tire giants introducing RFID
At present, almost all of the world’s top tire companies have introduced or fully promoted RFID on a large scale, forming a unified trend in the industry. Michelin, as a pioneer in the industry, has long been deeply involved in the research and development of RFID technology and patent layout. In recent years, it has joined forces with chip and tag partners to extensively embed high-temperature resistant RFID tags on passenger and commercial vehicle tires, supporting digital product passports and full lifecycle traceability. It is one of the most resolute and widely covered giants in the world. Bridgestone is synchronously promoting RFID standardization and mass production applications, fully implementing in production traceability, channel management, fleet operation and maintenance scenarios, and completing global product upgrades in accordance with EU regulatory requirements. Goodyear focuses on commercial vehicles and intelligent driving scenarios, combining RFID with tire condition monitoring to provide traceable and monitored intelligent tire solutions for logistics fleets and OEMs. At the same time, RFID is popularized in production and after-sales processes to improve efficiency. Continental Group (Ma Pai) is building an intelligent tire system based on RFID, achieving interconnectivity between tire data and vehicle systems. It is the first in the European market to meet traceability and compliance requirements, and is promoting it to the global market. Jiatong has officially introduced RFID in its European commercial vehicle tire product line, achieving identifiable management throughout the entire chain from manufacturing to use, refurbishment, and recycling. As a domestic leader, Zhongce Rubber has built-in RFID chips in its main series of products, which enables digital management of the entire production, distribution, after-sales, and claims processes, becoming a benchmark for the popularization of RFID in domestic tires. Overall, both top tier and domestic tire brands around the world have adopted RFID as a standard technology, jointly promoting the industry to upgrade towards traceability, intelligence, and compliance. Specifically, the reasons why more and more tire giants are introducing RFID are as follows:
The ESPR Ecological Design Regulation and Digital Product Passport (DPP) issued by the European Union explicitly require tires to have full lifecycle traceability, recording complete information from raw materials, production, use to refurbishment and recycling. RFID is one of the few electronic identification technologies that can withstand high temperature and high pressure during tire vulcanization and accompany tire lifelong use.
In the full chain management from production, circulation to after-sales, RFID can assign a unique electronic identity to each tire, realizing intelligent manufacturing and quality traceability in the production process, reducing manual errors and defect rates; Effective anti-counterfeiting and anti smuggling measures can be implemented on the channel end, stabilizing the price system; In after-sales claims and recalls, the ability to quickly verify tire information greatly improves efficiency, reduces disputes, and enables enterprises to achieve cost reduction and efficiency improvement throughout the entire chain.
For end users and fleets, RFID can cooperate with the system to collect real-time data such as tire pressure, tire temperature, wear, mileage, etc., achieving safety warning and preventive maintenance, significantly reducing the risk of accidents such as tire blowouts, while extending the service life of tires, improving operational safety and economy, and enabling brands to shift from simply selling products to providing more reliable safety and services.
From the perspective of long-term industry development, RFID has transformed tires from traditional rubber products into intelligent terminals with data collection capabilities. Enterprises can accumulate full lifecycle data, promote product iteration and service innovation, and even derive new models such as pay per mile and tire as a service. Data assets will become the core competitiveness of tire enterprises in the future.
At the same time, RFID tag technology that is resistant to high temperatures and sulfurization has matured, and costs continue to decline. Supporting reading and writing devices, as well as in vehicle and handheld terminals, are gradually becoming popular. The threshold for large-scale applications has been greatly reduced, allowing tire giants to quickly implement and promote RFID solutions, further accelerating the industry’s popularization speed.