New TM Blue™ concept promotes sustainable agriculture
02 March 2011
Trelleborg Wheel Systems launches the TM Blue™ agricultural tire concept that offers the highest respect for the environment, superior productivity and lower fuel consumption.
The innovative concept results from advanced tire engineering and enhanced production processes to decrease the use of natural resources and environmental impact while boosting the farm productivity.
“We challenge our organization daily to look for environmentally friendly approaches that improve the performance and efficiency of our products and solutions” says Lorenzo Ciferri, Marketing Director of Agricultural and Forestry Tires. “The mission of the TM Blue™ concept is to move from the traditional theme of low soil compaction to an advanced overall respect for the earth. This enables farmers to benefit from our caring for the environment and can mean real savings in their pocket through increased productivity and lowered fuel consumption.”
“TM Blue™ is not just about the tire itself but also the Blue manufacturing process,” says Marco D’Angelo, Industrial Director of Agricultural and Forestry Tires. “Significant investment has been made into several projects to reduce energy consumption and to prevent the risk of environmental contamination and includes the use of environmentally-friendly extender oils throughout our production process.”
The TM Blue™ concept is developed to respect the structure of the soil and preserve its organic life by minimizing mechanical damage caused by compression and bad or wrong tillage. This is achieved with its extra wide footprint, carcass deflection capability and the consequent overall pressure distribution on the field. The tire allows the soil to return to its original state as an organic reactor that is capable of absorbing air-bound nutrients, recycling crop residues and retaining water to ensure high crop yields in the short, medium and long term.
The concept incorporates the unique tread design used throughout the TM range. This is characterized by its inter-lug terracing that gives excellent self-cleaning properties, a higher traction capability under torque conditions and less soil transfer to roads. The shape of the lug and damping capability of the carcass guarantee low vibration, significantly reducing the stress on the driver for comfort on the road and benefiting operator health.
In addition, the TM Blue™ concept contributes to a much reduced fuel consumption and consequent substantial lowering in CO2 emissions. For a tractor of 260 Hp during road application, TM Blue can save up to 3,000 fuel liters which means about 2,550 EUR per year, compared to the average performance of the market (reference sizes 710/70R42 – 600/70R30).