Process and plant for building tyres

A plant for building a tyre for vehicle wheels, comprising:

• a work station having a first working location comprising a chuck and a tailstock capable of being associated with a forming drum, the chuck and the tailstock being aligned along an alignment axis;
• two forming drums;
• and
• an intermediate handler for the forming drums comprising a support and two symmetrically opposite grippers carried by a rotating structure comprising actuators, the rotating structure being hinged on the support, wherein:
• a first gripper of the symmetrically opposite grippers is suitable for engagement with a first forming drum while a second gripper of the symmetrically opposite grippers is engaged with a second forming drum,
• the support is alternately movable relative to the first working location between a first position and a second position by a horizontal translation,
• the rotating structure is capable of rotating the support about a horizontal first rotation axis to invert the position of the symmetrically opposite grippers while the first gripper engages the first forming drum and the second gripper engages the second forming drum, the first rotation axis being parallel to the alignment axis, and
• the first gripper is capable of releasing the first forming drum to the first working location while the second gripper is engaged with the second forming drum, and the first gripper is capable of engaging the first forming drum in the first working location before the first forming drum is transferred to an exit location.