A process and a plant for producing tyres for vehicle wheels are described. Building of a crown structure of the tyre includes building a crossed belt structure on a substantially cylindrical first forming drum, transferring the crossed belt structure from the first forming drum to an annular holding member, positioning a second forming drum in a radially inner position with respect to the annular holding member, transferring the crossed belt structure from the annular holding member to the second forming drum by radially expanding the second forming drum until it is brought into contact with the crossed belt structure so as to toroidally shape the crossed belt structure, and depositing at least one zero degrees belt layer on the second forming drum in a radially outer position with respect to the toroidally-shaped crossed belt structure.

A plant for producing tyres for vehicle wheels is described. The plant includes a building line configured to build a crown structure. The building line includes a building device configured to build a belt assembly. The building device includes a trolley, a first forming drum, a second forming drum, a first working area including a belt building device, a second working area downstream from the first working area including a depositing device, a first service area downstream from the second working area including a stationary annular holding member, and a second service area downstream from the first service area including a first support member.

Provided are a method of manufacturing a tire and a system for manufacturing a tire. A plurality of forming drum bodies are allowed to be temporarily placed on a placement device between work stations adjacent to each other, and at least three of the work stations adjacent to each other are provided in the forming step. In accordance with a specification of a green tire, a plurality of the work stations necessary are selected, and a movement path of the forming drum body is determined. A robot arm disposed at a position corresponding to the movement path is used, the placement device disposed at a position corresponding to the movement path is utilized to deliver the forming drum body, thereby the forming drum body is moved along the movement path, and a forming work is performed in each of the selected work stations to form the green tire.