Tigar Tyres boasts a longstanding tire manufacturing tradition that dates back to 1959. The company entered a new era in 2009, when it became part of the Michelin Group, explains company director Petar Nikolić
Demonstrating its agility and resilience, Tigar Tyres is a company that remains committed to innovation, as it strives – together with its employees, customers and partners – to create conditions for a sustainable future. In this exclusive interview with CorD Magazine, its CEO shares his own vision for Tigar Tyres’ future and the roadmap for achieving it, as well as providing insights into the trends shaping the automotive industry.
How has Michelin’s arrival impacted your operations over the past decade and a half?
— Michelin’s decision to invest in Pirot, in Serbia, was a pivotal event that ensured the survival of our factory. The decision for us to join the Michelin Group followed an extensive due diligence process. Beyond formal and highly technical analysis, Michelin representatives spent significant time with us on-site, in an effort to gaining an understanding of who we are as a collective.
They were particularly impressed by the knowledge and dedication of our people, as well as the environmental stewardship they observed within the factory and its surroundings. This demonstrated that, alongside profitability and people, environmental responsibility has always been a core value for Michelin. These principles of sustainable business continue to guide us today.
Strong of our values and our purpose, we have always cared about giving people a better way forward. Everyone in the factory shares the same values, working, and dreaming together as one Michelin. These values include respect for people, shareholders, facts, customers, and the environment.
More than 50 companies in Serbia specialize in tire manufacturing and retreading, yet Tigar Tyres remains the leader. What sets Tigar Tyres apart from the competition?
— I would dare to say: resilience, which represents our capacity to operate even in difficult conditions. In a complex political-economic context, with an unstable market and frequent supply chain disruptions, our core comparative advantage – agility – is of utmost importance. We have skilled, transversal teams that manage to overcome all unpredictable circumstances and turn them into new opportunities for development.
Our priority for 2025 remains ensuring workplace health and safety, adhering to preventative health and environmental measures, and maintaining occupational safety standards
Also, we have frugality in our DNA in Tigar Tyres, which means that we adopt strategies that maximize efficiency and minimize costs without compromising quality. Lean Manufacturing helps us to reduce waste, improve processes, and enhance productivity. This includes just-in-time production, continuous improvement (Kaizen), and value stream mapping.
There are many strategies through which we can achieve frugality, ensuring that we remain competitive while delivering high-quality products.
Despite challenging business environment, your revenue figures remain strong, as does foreign market demand for your products. Have no reason to complain about overall revenues or the demand for your products in foreign markets. You are still one of Serbia`s largest exporters. How do you maintain the position?
— The key to sustainable business lies in constant growth, which is our focus for the years ahead. We offer high-quality products and an exceptional customer service, as evidenced by our impressive Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 74%. This year we expanded our product portfolio and acquired new customers. Exports continue to dominate our business.
Crucially, we are building a culture of trust in which every employee can achieve their goals, discover their talents and boost their productivity, motivation and engagement.
Sustainability has been a buzzword both globally and locally in recent years. What initiatives and projects are currently underway to make Tigar Tyres even more sustainable?
— The Michelin Group bases its ‘All Sustainable’ strategy on the PxPxP formula: People, Profit, Planet. We believe that our full potential can only be realized if these three pillars are viewed as interdependent. If one pillar falters, the others are also impacted. Conversely, any value created for one pillar benefits the others.
We create value for people, profit and the planet. Value for people means providing equal opportunities for all employees to grow and develop.
Through our “Growing Together” initiative, Tigar Tyres is actively engaged in the life of the local community, supporting projects in schools, healthcare, safety and environmental protection
For example, in 2023 alone, we delivered over 160,000 hours of training at Tigar Tyres, demonstrating that the development of people and their empowerment, as well as fostering a culture of continuous learning, are at the core of our production system. Our skills and expertise are aligned with sustainable development.
We create value for the planet by reducing the environmental impact of our operations. Naturally, we also generate economic value by transforming our factory through technological innovation, digitalization and automation, offering our clients high-quality products and services.
You are renowned for your investments in employee training and education, improving working conditions and being a reliable partner to the local community. What are the key areas where you provide the most support?
— For us, corporate social responsibility represents a contribution to sustainable development through our work with employees, their families, the local community and society as a whole, fostering processes that promote overall development and benefit the company.
Through our “Growing Together” initiative, Tigar Tyres is actively engaged in the life of the local community, supporting projects in schools, healthcare, safety and environmental protection. In addition to material support in the form of donations, we are particularly proud of our employees’ volunteer actions. They have to date planted what could be called an entire “Tigar Forest” of approximately 4,000 trees.
The company has also supported the purchase of 550 additional trees to form a “green belt” along the motorway near the factory. We traditionally organize Family Health and Safety Day, as well as Goodwill Day, mobilizing compassion and solidarity among employees and local residents to help socially vulnerable groups. Many other initiatives are implemented in collaboration with key stakeholders and our partners in the local community.
All of this, as well as our overall business activities, is predicated on adherence to ethical standards. This entails the daily application of ethical principles by our employees, both internally and externally, with all stakeholders.
To conclude, 2025 promises to be equally challenging, but we have OUR WAY. We have demonstrated agility and resilience, remain committed to innovation and will continue working with our employees, customers and partners to create the conditions for a sustainable future.
