SIAM, ATMA and ITTAC organizes 2nd Series of virtual seminar on ‘Road Safety Advocacy for Tyres’

Mumbai: The Indian apex automotive industry body, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) along with Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) & Indian Tyre Technical Advisory Committee (ITTAC) today led its 2nd edition of ‘Road Safety Advocacy for Tyres’ on a virtual platform. The seminar themed ‘Technology & Environmental Challenges’, this 2nd Series is a part of a Tri Virtual Series.

Under the ‘Tri-Series Seminar’, ATMA-SIAM is organizing three sessions to spread awareness on various aspects of tyre care, road safety, and sustainability to advocate the road safety mission by MoRTH, Govt. of India. While the first series focused on tyre and road safety, the second one is emphasizing on technology and environmental issues, and the third series will be on standards, regulations, and sustainability.

The 2nd edition of the virtual program witnessed the participation of government officials as well as industry leaders and subject experts, who deliberated upon topics such as Sustainable Mobility and Technology & Environmental Challenges.

In his opening remark, Mr. Prashant K Banerjee, Executive Director, SIAM, said, “The tyre sector is one of the most regulated ones, but the irony is that despite being one of the most critical components for a safe drive the tyres don’t get enough attention. I believe that tyres deserve to be dealt with on priority and with more respect therefore, this is important to spread awareness amongst the users.”

On the occasion, the Chief Guest, Mr. Ravi Agarwal, Additional Secretary, MoEF & CC, said, “This initiative by SIAM, ATMA, and ITTA will go a long way in creating awareness about tire maintenance and safety. Also, there is no doubt about the fact that automobiles are the true indicators of the economic well-being of the country. There is a lot of potential for research in this area as it has a widespread impact on the environment as well as the economy. Also, a practical and sustainable model for an extended producer economy in the domain of tyres must be constituted. The concept of a circular economy is important for the management of tyres from the design stage to the end of the product lifecycle.”

Mr. Rajiv Budhraja, Director General, ATMA, said, “Road safety and tyre-care are very much part of the inner core functioning of our association. In the first phase, we connected closely with the users, further in the second phase, we touched the product, sustainability, and environment and in the third and final phase, we will be connecting with influencers and policymakers. Life-safety is of utmost importance and deserves more attention in the awareness campaign. And now the time is RIPE for tyres and safety elements that are associated. We call this RIPE, where R stands for Respect, I for information, P for practice, and E for educate.”

During the inaugural session, Mr. Ravin Kurian, Chairman, ITTAC also highlighted the commitment of industry along with the challenges to attain low rolling resistance and improving the hostile environment for tyres.

Today, followed by the inaugural session, the first Presentation session on ‘Scenario towards Sustainable Mobility was hosted by Mr. Tom Thomas, Ex. Executive Director, R&D, Technology and Projects, CEAT; Dr K Rajkumar, Director, IRMRA; Mr V K Misra, Director Technical, J K Tyre & Industries Ltd. They respectively presented technical papers on sustainable- mobility: emerging new raw materials scenario, the role of the rubber industry in environmental sustainability, and end of life: Tyre Management. The session was moderated by Mr. P K Mohamed, Chief Advisor – R&D, Apollo Tyres.

The second presentation session was conducted on Technology & Environmental Challenges. In this session, Dr. D Balakrishnan, General Manager, Ashok Leyland Ltd presented the Challenges pertaining to commercial vehicle tyres. Another expert, Dr. Cyrille Roget, Innovation and Scientific Communication Director, Michelin (Europe) shared his thoughts on Sustainable Mobility: Technology Trends & Development. Mr. Anand Kulkarni, Vice President (Product Line EV), Tata Motors Ltd presented on ‘Tyre Requirement for EVs – Future Perspective. The second presentation session was moderated by Mr. Renji Issac, VP (R&D) and Technology, CEAT Ltd.

As aforementioned, SIAM-ATMA and ITTAC will continue the endeavors and organize one more remaining session due under the Road Safety Advocacy Tri-Series on the “Regulation and Sustainability” in October 2021.