Continental AG is a leading tire manufacturer and industry specialist. At its ContiLifeCycle, or CLC, retreading plant for truck and bus tires in Hanover-Stöcken, Germany, employees have retreaded more than 1 million worn truck and bus tires since 2013.
Retreading tires is a long, heavily manual process. First, the company inspects and strips old tires of their treads. Next, they receive a new tread and vulcanize the tire to give it a new profile. Finally, the team completes quality and safety checks.
The process enables the company to reuse up to 70% of the original tire. And the result is a product that matches a new tire in terms of safety and performance.
Much of this process involves transporting heavy tires across a large facility. Continental needed a way to free up its employees to focus on more skilled and fewer tasks while also boosting efficiency.
Continental deploys AMRs to keep tires moving
In March 2025, Continental deployed seven autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) at its CLC facility. At CLC, the robots use sensors, a 360-degree camera system, and AI to navigate through production halls.
While the company did not specify where it got its AMRs, they appear to be AUMOVIO’s AMR IL 1200 LU.
Continental said the robots move at 2 mps (4.4 mph), roughly the pace of a brisk walk. The AMRs transport tires between stations in the retreading process: from the tire-building machine to the curing presses and on to quality control.
The new hot-retreading workflow starts with a handling robot transferring the buffed tire carcass to the tire machine. Here, depending on the tire size, the tire is fitted with up to 18 kg (39.6 lb.) of fresh rubber heated to about 100°C (212°F) for the tread and sidewalls.
Once the tread and sidewall have been applied, the handling robot places the tire on a transport trolley. An AMR, connected to the digital order system, then moves the trolley either to the curing press or to an intermediate storage area, depending on capacity.
In the curing press, the roughly 75 kg (165.3 lb.) tire is vulcanized at 160°C (320°F), giving it its final shape and tread pattern. It is then transferred via a conveyor belt to quality control.
AMRs boost employee morale
By integrating automation, Continental said it’s making manual production processes more ergonomic while further boosting efficiency in tire manufacturing.
“Self-driving robots have been supporting our production workflow for six months now,” said Felix Hantelmann, head of the ContiLifeCycle plant. “They handle simple, repetitive transport tasks such as moving a tire from one point to another.”
“The robots are directly connected to our digital order system, so they know exactly where to go and how to coordinate with each other to get there,” he added. “They are a valuable addition to our daily operations and help create a safe, efficient and ergonomically optimized production environment.”
Before the robots were introduced, employees transported tires manually using cranes and trolleys that weighed up to 250 kg (551.1 lb.) when loaded with two tires. This required multiple manual steps and trips between stations.
“Our employees no longer have to carry tires across the hall, which means less physical strain for them. Instead, they can focus on more demanding tasks like machine operation and quality control,” Hantelmann said.
Continental supported the rollout with a comprehensive training program, which helped to boost acceptance by its workforce. Employees were even involved in choosing the robots’ names, like Cargo Knight, Rubber Ranger, and LifeCycle Commander. Now, the robots are an integral part of the team, Continental said.
The company has now deployed similar systems at its other tire plants worldwide. These include locations such as Mount Vernon, Ill., and Clinton, Mo., in North America; Púchov, Slovakia, and Otrokovice, Czech Republic, in Europe; and Hefei, China, and Rayong, Thailand, in Asia.
Save the date for the 2026 Robotics Summit
