Company History

Maine Industrial Tire, LLC was formed in January 2010 when a group of private investors, led by the Ganz family along with existing senior management, purchased the “Solid Tire” assets and StarBright tire manufacturing facility in China from the restructuring and subsequent sale of GPX International Tire Corporation. Maine Industrial Tire, LLC, can trace its roots back more than three-quarters of a century to two pioneering families in the tire business; the Ganz family of Massachusetts which started “Ganz Tire” founded by Louis Ganz in 1922 and the Elowitch family of Maine that formed “Maine Rubber” in 1949. Although Ganz Tire distributed only pneumatic tires, and Maine Rubber produced only solid tires, both companies focused exclusively on the industrial and off-road segment of the tire business, both having a reputation for bring to market innovative, high-quality products that delivered superior value.

Ganz Tire, later re-named Galaxy Tire, had been one of the leading global manufacturers of agricultural, industrial, and earthmoving tires with a particular focus on its “application specific – purpose built” tires, many of which became an industry leader. Over the years the company developed a reputation for bringing to market innovative, value-added products that delivered superior performance. As a result, the Galaxy brand was often the tire of choice for such blue chip original equipment manufacturers as Bobcat, Caterpillar, Case New Holland, JBC, and John Deere. The company grew steadily over the years. With the merger of Galaxy Tire and Dynamic Tire in 2005, GPX International Tire Corporation (GPX) was formed and within two years had annual sales exceeding more than half-billion dollars.

Maine Rubber was founded in Portland, Maine as Maine Industrial Rubber Products Company; later changed to Maine Industrial Tire. In 1999, Maine Industrial Tire acquired the Ontario Canada based Industrial Tires, Ltd. (ITL) and Precision Products, Ltd. (PPL) in order to expand its capabilities, geographic footprint and production capacity. The company changed its name to MITL to reflect the acquisition of the ITL product brand. MITL possessed a customer base with a balanced mix of Tier I original equipment manufacturers, multiple major and national accounts with significant aftermarket presence coincided with excellent relationships with long-term customers in the Tire Servicing Dealer and Equipment Dealer network. Securing both the Maine Tire and ITL brands allowed MITL the continued growth necessary to remain competitive in the conventional industrial tire market segment while providing two of the most recognized names for quality and performance into the market.
In order to better serve its valued customers GPX purchased MITL in 2006. The purchase expanded GPX’s product range into both the solid industrial tire market (for forklifts and airport ground and support equipment) and provided a toe-hold into the newly emerging market for solid and semi-solid tires used in severe duty pneumatic tire applications. The product offerings marketed under the “Brawler” brand name bridged the divide between solid and pneumatic tires and were used to replace pneumatic tires in severe duty applications where flats or excessive wear were significant problems. By combining the safety, strength and lateral stability of a solid tire with the load deflection and ride characteristics of a pneumatic tire, GPX was able to provide operators with a better performing and safer alternative to pneumatic tires. Moreover, these tires lasted significantly longer than the pneumatic tires they replaced, and effectively eliminated downtime due to flats, making them the most cost-effective alternative in the market.

At the time GPX purchased MITL, it offered a limited line of “Brawler” tires for skid steer use and an unmolded “wrapped” large off road Brawler for use on loaders. Our company has built upon that ground-breaking Brawler technology and developed 30 new innovative molded Brawler products incorporating new manufacturing techniques, patented interchange wheel designs and expanded the patented aperture technology. Today, Maine Industrial Tire LLC offers specialty tires for skid steers, aerial boom lifts, telehandlers, loaders, underground mining equipment, port vehicles and agricultural feed wagons.

By combining the solid tire assets to create Maine Industrial Tire, LLC, we are able to focus our full attention and resources on the conventional solid and semi-solid segment of the tire business allowing us to better serve our customers. Moreover, by combining the solid tire experience of MITL with the “application specific – purpose built” approach of Galaxy Tire, the management of Maine Industrial Tire intends to grow the business through the continued introduction of new and exciting products for numerous industries and applications that historically have not been able to utilize solid tire technology. At the same time, Maine Industrial Tire will continue to deliver premium products to its traditional customer base and will provide these costumers with the highest levels of service and support. Maine Industrial Tire remains today as one of the top three manufacturers of solid tires in the world and the only one of these companies to continue to manufacture a wide range of industrial and construction solid products in the United States.

Today, Maine Industrial Tire LLC operates factories in Maine, Pennsylvania and China and has more than 850 employees worldwide.