NZG Technology Key to Michelin’s Aircraft Tyre Segment Success
As Tyres & Accessories has reported on its tyrepress.com website, Michelin has recently secured a number of aircraft tyre supply deals. The French manufacturer was named the sole tire supplier for the Bombardier CSeries family and was chosen by Air France and KLM to equip their commercial aircraft. It has also been selected by Turkish Airlines, as well as by Russia’s Sukhoi to supply original equipment tyres exclusively for its SSJ100 Regional Jet. In addition, Michelin has been awarded an exclusive contract to provide original equipment tyres for the Gulfstream IAI G250, due to be launched in late 2010, and its tyres are in the process of being certified by Embraer for its E-170/175 family of airliners.
Michelin holds these contracts up as examples of its ability to “meet the expectations of aircraft manufacturers and airlines alike as they seek to respond to the air transport industry’s emerging challenges.” The tyre maker says its recent success has been driven by the performance offered by its radial aircraft tyres, particularly those that integrate NZG (Near Zero Growth) technology, which virtually eliminates casing growth when the tyre is inflated. According to Michelin, NZG reduces casing growth to less than three per cent when the tyre is inflated, compared with six to eight per cent for a standard radial. As a result, the tyre structure is subjected to much less stress and is thus much more impact and damage resistant, and can thus achieve up to 50 per cent more landings than a standard radial tyre and up to twice as many as a cross-ply tyre. Furthermore, NZG technology also reduces a tyre’s weight by up to twenty per cent as it integrates fewer layers. In addition to the reduced maintenance costs and fuel consumption these features can bring, Michelin notes this combined performance results in a smaller environmental footprint, as is seen in the corresponding reductions in both carbon emissions and the amount of raw materials used.
NZG has been in development since 1999 and gained international attention as the technology that enabled Concorde to fly again following the February 2000 crash near Paris. An early original supply fitment of NZG enabled tyres was on the Airbus A380, and later supply to the Embraer E-190 extended fitment to the regional jet sector. Now the company has set the objective of further deploying the technology in tyres for both new and existing airliners, and following on from the positive response from E-190 users it began work with Embraer to develop an NZG enabled tyre for its E-170 and E-175 series aircraft, with the goal of reducing total operator expenses by 15 per cent compared with the current market offering; these tyres are currently undergoing certification.
The tyre maker says that aircraft manufacturers and airline operators choose its tyres for two reasons: they are cost-effective and environmentally friendly. To achieve these two benefits, Michelin’s aircraft tyre development teams in France and the US work closely with key aircraft manufacturers. When Michelin Technology Center teams design a new tyre, the said focus is always on enabling the tyre to deliver a combination of performance benefits, including higher fuel efficiency, enhanced safety or a larger number of landing cycles. Achieving this performance combination, adds Michelin, requires leading-edge technology, which is backed by a research and development budget of nearly 500 million euros. Michelin comments that this sum is “an unrivalled amount” in the tyre industry.
Michelin reports its sales objective is to consolidate its positions in mature markets while speeding development in emerging markets. In this respect, the company sees Asia as especially important due to its dynamic growth – Michelin believes this growth may drive an increase in air traffic to the extent that it overtakes that of Europe or North America. Traffic is also rising sharply in the Middle East, Michelin comments. In these two regions, where airline fleets often contain very recent radial-equipped aircraft, Michelin says it is “especially well positioned to capitalise on its technological superiority.”
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