Method for building tyres for vehicle wheels

A method for building tyres for vehicle wheels, comprising:

• moving, in a crown structure building line, second stage forming drums for building respective crown structures, said moving occurring
• along a first path from a first initial location to a first final location, for building a first part of components of the crown structure, the first part comprising at least one belt layer, and
• along a second path from a second initial location to a second final location, passing through a first intermediate location and a second intermediate location, for building a second part of components of the crown structure, the second part comprising at least a tread band;
• moving, in a carcass structure building line, first stage forming drums, for building respective carcass structures, from a third initial location to a third final location, passing through a third intermediate location;
• managing a flow of said second stage forming drums, carrying respective crown structures being processed, entering into the second path of the crown structure building line, through a first manipulator configured for transferring the second stage forming drums, carrying the respective crown structures being processed, from the second initial location to the first intermediate location of the second path of the crown structure building line;
• managing the flow of said second stage forming drums arriving into the second intermediate location, carrying the respective crown structures, through said first manipulator configured for:
• delivering the crown structure to a first loading/unloading device associated with a shaping and assembly machine, and
• bringing the respective second stage forming drum into the second final location;
• managing a flow of said first stage forming drums arriving into the third intermediate location, carrying the respective carcass structures, through a second manipulator configured for:
• delivering the carcass structure to a second loading/unloading device associated with said shaping and assembly machine, and
• bringing the respective first stage forming drum into the third final location,
• wherein the first loading/unloading device and the second loading/unloading device respectively associate the crown structure and the carcass structure on a shaping drum of the shaping and assembly machine that performs the toroidal shaping of the carcass structure assembling the carcass structure to the crown structure,
• wherein the second path of the crown structure building line and a second path of the carcass structure building line together form an elementary semi-finished products deposition area that extends substantially perpendicular to the first path of the crown structure building line and to a first path of the carcass structure building line to delimit an inner space in which the shaping and assembly machine is located.