Advances in tire technology has been created and implemented in Qingdao. An example of these advances is the creation of micro-chips imbedded into tires, enabling the monitoring of the entire life cycle of these tires, from production to scrapping. It is believed that efforts like this would be able to curb the production of counterfeits. Also, innovations such as the development of new materials that could reduce fuel consumption for car owners in the future. On the morning of the 18^th of this month, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Rankong joint-stock limited company, and Sai tyres Co.Ltd decided to create a joint venture called the National Engineering Laboratory. It will be the first national engineering laboratory for rubber tires in the country.

   Spreading information about new breakthroughs in technologies in the tire industry is one of the major challenges facing the new National Engineering Laboratory. A Rankong staff member explains, “The application of this technology is to make a good tire with the identity chip embedded during tire production, you can record the whole process from production to scrapping”. If a traffic accident occurs, some companies may use the tire manufacturer as a scapegoat and claim it was caused by the inferior quality of the vehicle’s tires. With this technology, we can promptly determine whether the problem is the tires, so as to effectively protect the tire production companies. Currently, the technology has only been tried on select experimental tires, and is expected to be put into large-scale production in the near future.

As one of the major consumer markets for tires, China produces 200 million units of waste tires per year, with only a 10% recycling rate. The resulting has become a huge waste of resources and also pollutes the environment. Therefore, the Dean of Electrical R&D at Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Wang Zhuangsheng, focuses on promoting new methods of laboratory techniques such as ‘scrap tire refining’.