Columbus McKinnon has sold its American Lifts unit to Autoquip for a reported $2.4 million. The plant at Greensburg, Indiana will be closed and sold. The acquisition will expand the Autoquip product range, adding scissor lift technology to complement Autoquip's vertical ram lifts and dock levellers. Manufacture will be moved to Autoquip's HQ in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
Britannia Tyres, part of Bridgestone’s First Stop tyre service network, has refurbished the reception of its Coventry Centre. Following significant investment, the company says that the reception area gives customers a modern, comfortable environment. The group’s Nuneaton, Hinckley and Derby centres have just taken the top three places in First Stop’s Elite Business Development Programme, designed to help First Stop dealers deliver the highest possible levels of service. Centres are rated by mystery shoppers, monthly mystery phone calls and a detailed audit from a Business Development Manager.
Cooper Tire has announced that it will become the exclusive tyre supplier and first sponsor of the newly-revived USF2000 National Championship, which is being re-launched for the 2010 motorsport season as a feeder category to the US-based Indy Racing League. Tyres for the series will be joint-branded COOPER/F2000 and supplied by Avon Tyres Motorsport in the UK. “The USF2000 National Championship presented by Cooper Tires” will launch in the Spring, as a single-seater racing category with races expected to take place on road courses, street tracks and ovals. Cooper will also present the winner of each race’s pole position with $500, which will be called the “Cooper Tires, Don’t Give Up a Thing Award”.
The Singapore based International Rubber Study Group (IRSG) has announced that Dr Stephen V. Evans will take on the position of group secretary general on January 1, 2010, following the end of incumbent Dr Hidde Smit’s tenure. Dr Evans, notes an IRSG statement announcing his appointment, has been involved in the elastomer industry for the past decade and operated his own consultancy business since late 2008. The qualities he brings to the position include “extensive experience in biotechnology, business and marketing development as well as strategic management and research skills.”
Michelin is planning to increase its activities in Russia. Bloomberg writes that Michelin Russia will double capacity at its Davydovo passenger car tyre plant to four million units per annum, and also next year open a facility for retreading commercial vehicle tyres. This retreading operation will apparently serve as a precursor to local truck tyre production.
The solitary remaining tyre manufacturer in Zimbabwe marked its 50th Anniversary on November 18, and company management have taken the opportunity to express their optimism for the future. At an event held by Dunlop Zimbabwe and attended by numerous dignitaries, company chairman Dr Luis Cenevis stated that the tyre maker had managed to survive the previous years’ trials and was looking forward to production levels returning to full capacity.
Regardless of whether you view ‘girlie calendars’ as art worthy of prolonged admiration or frown upon the exposure of bare flesh, there’s no denying the influence the Pirelli Calendar – the ‘Cal’ to its friends – has imparted upon the genre. In Pirelli’s own words, the Cal is “the icon of Pirelli's communication. A symbol that for over forty years not only celebrates female beauty, but also celebrates the complexity of an art that has been able to transform itself over time.” This evening, the 2010 edition of the famous wall adornment will be launched in London – bookmark tyrepress.com to ensure you don’t miss our coverage of the prestigious event.
It’s time for another dose of dismal news, but at least we can take comfort that we’re not the only motoring nation guilty of tyre safety apathy. In the US the results of a Rubber Manufacturers Association survey of more than 7,000 vehicles has shown at least 11 per cent of motorists to be driving on at least one bald tyre. This latest statistic backs up similar RMA findings from the March to May period of this year, in which an inspection of more than 5,400 vehicles revealed only nine per cent of vehicles to have four properly inflated tyres, and half of all vehicles to have at least one under inflated tyre. Furthermore, 19 per cent of vehicles had at least one tyre under inflated by at least 8 psi.
As part of its drive to increase localisation and provide better technical support to customers in the Chinese market, Continental AG has opened its new Asia headquarters and research and development centre in Shanghai’s Yangpu district. The new 16-floor 15,000 square metre facility currently houses around 700 employees from Conti’s Automotive Group, and a further 200 will relocate there by early 2010. The site will function, says Continental, as its Asia headquarters as well as an “important technical centre for the design and development of vehicle electronics”. The new R&D centre is the second Conti has opened in Shanghai; the company’s Continental Automotive Tech Centre in Jiading focuses on vehicle application development and systems testing for electronic brake systems, hydraulic brake systems, and engine management and system control. Some 60 million euros have been invested in both sites.
In recent times Guangdong Greatoo Molds Inc, the only tyre mould maker listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchance, has increased its reach far beyond its native China. After expanding in India, where Greatoo has gained supply agreements with virtually all the leading tyre makers (including Apollo, Birla, CEAT, JK Tyre, MRF and BKT), this fast growing company is now aiming to become a truly global player after gaining some key contracts in Europe.
Speaking to senior technical consultant RNK Krishnan at November’s Reifen China show in Shanghai, Tyres & Accessories learnt that increased outsourcing amongst the world’s top ten tyremakers has led the company to build “good ties” with the majority of European tyre makers including Michelin, Continental, Pirelli and Marangoni.
Feddi, the cheerful corporate mascot of Taiwanese tyre manufacturer Federal, has been preparing for the new year by readying himself for a variety of excursions to top tourist destinations depicted in the new 2010 Federal Calendar. The full-colour calendar highlights the World’s most visited attractions on a monthly basis. Feddi clearly wishes to fit in, since his outfits for circumnavigating the globe include several national costumes, showing – in his inimitable style – Federal’s desire to continue to strengthen its brand name worldwide.
Accuride Corporation’s Gunite and Accuride Wheels brands have received Silver Supplier Awards for 2009 from Daimler Trucks North America division Thomas Built Buses. This award is given to Thomas Built Buses suppliers whose “supplier report cards” exceed a 90 per cent standard of excellence for the year. Suppliers are graded on their performance in specified criteria surrounding quality, delivery, cost, warranty, and technical support.
As of December 1 prices for Goodyear consumer replacement tyres will go up by as much as six per cent in North America. The company announced these increases are being made in order to offset higher raw materials costs. This is the first Goodyear price increase for this segment since September 2008, when a 10 per cent increase was implemented.
Coral Group Ecological Technologies (Ukraine) has become the latest company to join the Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau (TRIB). Formed just over five years ago, Coral Group has developed what TRIB describes as “a very important method for recycling waste tyres and has a pilot plant in operation in the Ukraine to prove the economic and environmental benefits of their method.” Coral Group’s method is a pyrolisis-based technique that the company says results in an “ecologically clean and financially beneficial method of recycling the worn out automobile tyres.”
To get an idea of the scale of what Coral Group are planning, subscribers can view company’s corporate video below.
Dunlop Aircraft Tyres has opened its new retread and distribution facility in China. The facility, operating as Dunlop Taikoo (Jinjiang) Aircraft Tyres Company Limited, is a joint venture with Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company Limited (HAECO) (28 per cent) and Taikoo (Xiamen) Aircraft Engineering Company Limited (TAECO) (9 per cent). Based in Jinjiang, Fujian Province, the operation has full site and product approval from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). The site has also received full repair-station approval from EASA. In addition to the retreading of aircraft tyres, the facility will support customers in Asia Pacific by distributing new tyres that have been made at Dunlop Aircraft Tyres’ manufacturing site in Birmingham, UK.
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