Panaracer’s roots go back to 1952, when National Tire was established in Osaka. Its history records a factory in Tamba, Hyogo, in 1965 and the Panaracer brand in 1979. Today its range extends from sporting bicycles to everyday transport and wheelchair tires.
Tire production starts with several separate components. Mixing combines natural rubber and other ingredients into compounds for the tread and casing. Rubber is then bonded to cord to create the casing material. Different cord and rubber choices produce different characteristics; temperature and humidity require close process control.
Next, casing and puncture-protection materials are cut to the width and angle required for each tire. Rubber compound is also extruded into strips. Panaracer’s factory account notes that even a deviation of a few millimeters at this stage can produce a reject, making dimensional control essential.
In its Craft Master story, the company says all its Japanese-made tires are produced in Tamba with skilled manual work and visual inspection. The emphasis is on people handling material alongside machinery: a finished tire’s characteristics develop through successive steps before a buyer ever examines its tread.