HISTORY

Canada

Solideal Canada's origin goes back 1972 as the Industrial Tire division of Green & Ross Tire Co. During the early years, the group's activities were mainly service of industrial tires in the Greater Toronto region and distribution across Ontario. In order to widen the scope of the business, in 1985, a sister company was formed called Unitrac Industrial Tires. This company's mandate was to manufacture industrial tires and distribute them globally. In 1991, Unitrac purchased the Industrial division of Green & Ross and partnered with Solideal.

Over the following 12 years, the partnership with Solideal flourished as did Unitrac's market presence in Canada, the United States, South America, and Europe. The Unitrac brand had become known for high quality industrial tires.

In 2003, Unitrac moved its tire production to its sister company in Sri Lanka. This move allowed Unitrac to further focus efforts on the Canadian customer base and to secure the long term benefits of production scale and better proximity to raw materials.

In 2006, Unitrac changed its company name to Solideal Canada in order to better reflect its global resources and to take advantage of the Solideal brand image. Unitrac brand tires remain a staple in Solideal's material handling product line in Canada and throughout the world.

International

Solideal began manufacturing material handling tires in Sri Lanka in 1985. The group has grown rapidly exporting to all important world markets and steadily building its reputation for high quality natural rubber solid tires.

In order to be closer to the customer, the Solideal group expanded into distribution operations throughout the world during the following 10 years. In 1988, the group's R&D centre was established in Gent, Belgium. Today, the division employs 20 full time professionals helping to drive Solideal's growth.

In 1991, Solideal began manufacturing pneumatic tires for Industrial and Construction applications and quickly developed a reputation for quality which matched that of its solid tires. In each year numerous products have been introduced. Today the group manufactures and distributes tires for most construction equipment right up through wheel loaders.

In order to complement the complete range of Material Handling tires, the group's first Industrial wheels were manufactured in Sri Lanka in 1994, thus completing the value-added proposition to the Material Handling industry.

Rubber Tracks became an important part of the Solideal group in 1995. From its inception, there was a high priority on technical advancement. This philosophy continues as Solideal leads the industry in several important anti-vibration developments.

From 1996 through today, Solideal has continued to focus on the Material Handling and Construction niche industries. Through organic growth and acquisitions, Solideal has become an important player in the Material Handling and Construction businesses. The company will continue to pursue its goals while balancing growth with responsibility to all of its stakeholders.