MIRS Technology

Each phase of the MIRS production process, from designing the cover to manufacturing it, is controlled by integrated software which manages the production cycle at a speed and with a precision without precedent in this sector. From the compounds to the finished tyre in 3 minutes : without interruptions, without semi-processed goods to move nor intermediate storage phases, without wasting energy.

The integrated software manages all the manufacturing phases :

• movements of the robots
• automatic supply of materials
• the choice of the tyre size and thus of the manufacturing drum
• manufacturing the cover
• vulcanisation
• quality control
• handling the finished product

The software which manages all the manufacturing phases is in turn integrated with global software upstream of the manufacturing phase which, presides over the engineering process, starting from the initial tyre design.
For this reason, MIRS technology can be defined as a single computerized architecture which, starting from the definition of the product specifications, automatically determines the design of the mould, the choice of materials, the design of the drum, and as seen above all the manufacturing phases until the release of the finished product. The same software also defines the path driver of the MIRS robots and manages its working cycles.

The real secret of the total flexibility of the MIRS system is in this total integration between product design and production process .

Let us now see a summary of the main phases of a complete process - from design to production - by seeing how the main modules of the integrated system operate .
It starts with a building drum on which both the rubber elements (manufactured by winding the bead) and the reinforcement elements (metal and rubber coated textile cords) rest.

Mould Tire Designer

A software application called Mould Tire Designer (MTD) manages the definition phase of the product design specifications. The MTD allows the measurement of the building drum profile to be defined precisely, as well as the section of the cover to be realized on that drum. Once the scheme/configuration of the tyre has been defined (single layer, two-layer, runflat...) the system asks for the data necessary to manufacture the section of the cover, requiring the parameters characterizing each element. The results of the processing of the Mould Tire Designer are the design files of the drum profile.

The MIRS Specification Builder (MSB) is the software, which allows the information processed by means of the Mould Tyre Designer (MTD) and the Robot Path Driver (RPD) to be managed. The MSB creates the technological and manufacturing specifications necessary for the subsequent production phase. The MSB uses a relational database, by means of which any information (necessary equipment, product specifications, vulcanization, compounds...) is managed centrally.

Finally, the Pirelli MIRS Manufacturing Management Module (PM³S) is the software which takes care of transporting the product specifications from the central database to the factory, and then loads the MIRS lines with the information necessary for the production.

Thanks to the MIRS, to its technology, and to its new and innovative production method, the AIRI (Italian Association for Industrial Research) awarded Pirelli Pneumatici the Oscar Masi award in May 2002 . The award is given every year to the company distinguishing itself by means of a product or project for having determined innovative and highly original and competitive technological solutions. Professor Ugo, Chairman of the AIRI, in presenting the award highlighted that, "the mass-media and politicians too often limit the horizons of their interest to public research. But industrial research exists as well, indeed it represents about 50% of the total research expense in Italy and has demonstrated and is still demonstrating that it is capable of excellent results. The new Pirelli Pneumatici technology is a very important example of it. Industrial research and its people are one of the Italian assets and should be preserved and brought to the attention of politicians and public opinion."