In order to keep a steady stream of tires flowing to the assembly line at its Moraine, Ohio sports utility vehicle plant, General Motors installed tire silos to accumulate them. The tires enter the silos from an overhead monorail system and then are fed by spiraling gravity conveyors within the silos down to the line where they are placed on the vehicles. No other power source is needed.

Most silos in other plants are constructed as round units. However, due to space limitations, the silos at Moraine had to be designed as ovals able to fit a compressed footprint. Careful engineering assured that the tires did not hang up as they traverse the tight oval turns.

The tire silos encompass the storage portion of an $8-million dollar, 2,000 foot tire and wheel conveyor system recently built as part of a new addition to the Moraine plant. The conveyors link with the existing overhead monorail delivery system originally installed in 1998. This monorail automatically picks up tires mounted on wheels in another area of the facility and transports them to the new assembly area.

The tires and wheels are then transferred from the monorail to a roller conveyor and sorted in two directions onto conveyors. These units then feed the silos serving each side of the line. Escapement stops at the top and bottom of the silos release the tires to the operators as they are needed for placement onto the vehicles.