Further capacity for Bridgestone’s Vietnam plant
Although Bridgestone’s new passenger car radial factory in Vietnam has yet to enter operation, the tyre maker has announced the plant’s first capacity increase. An additional 17.9 billion yen (£113.9 million) will be invested to further raise capacity to 49,000 tyres a day by the second half of 2017. This further growth will see the plant’s workforce expand from approximately 1,900 employees in the first half of 2016 to around 3,800 some 18 months later.
Continue ReadingDunlop Aircraft Tyres invests £4m into UK manufacturing
Dunlop Aircraft Tyres has announced the completion of an expansion plan for its Fort Dunlop, Birmingham manufacturing base. The aviation tyre-maker will switch on its latest additional production machine, completing a £4 million factory investment programme.
Continue ReadingHankook to build first US plant in Tennessee
Hankook plans to situate its first US-based manufacturing facility in Tennessee, the manufacturer has stated. The new global manufacturing plant is expected to be backed by a total investment of US$800 million, and will provide additional capacity for its growing business in the country.
Continue ReadingGoodyear parachutes Wells into European leadership role
Goodyear has reshuffled its global leadership resulting in a new head of the company’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) business unit. Darren R. Wells, who up till now has acted as the company’s global CFO has been named president of Goodyear EMEA. Arthur de Bok, currently president of this business, will move into the new role of senior vice president, responsible for driving standardized and integrated sales and marketing processes across Goodyear.
Continue ReadingConti reports dandelion rubber ‘breakthrough’, work on pilot facility underway
According to a statement released by German tyre maker Continental on 14 October, the joint venture project it operates with and the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME) is “on the verge of a breakthrough.” Recently, work began on the construction of a pilot facility at IME’s Münster site in Germany, and when finished this will be able to produce larger volumes of dandelion-derived natural rubber.
Continue ReadingContinental Sumter plant ready for 2014 switch-on
Continental Tire the Americas’ new PCR to light truck tyre manufacturing plant in Sumter, South Carolina is nearing completion, having broken ground on the site in mid-2012.
Continue ReadingGrouptyre’s Kenway celebrates 30 years
Grouptyre member Kenway Tyres, which services the northeast of Scotland, is celebrating 30 years in the tyre business in 2013. In addition to congratulating its member on reaching the milestone, Grouptyre discusses its long term evolution, and explains why it is introducing the Online Tyre Catalogue (OTC) from Cam Systems.
Continue ReadingTreadsetters discusses Falken distribution deal, Sunday Times accolade
UK and international tyre wholesaler, Treadsetters has recently been appointed as a UK distributor for the Falken tyre range – a move that it says enhances “significantly” its commercial tyre operation. The company says the Sumitomo-manufactured Falken brand joins Goodride and a number of specially selected mid-range and premium brands. The Shropshire-based wholesaler states that it has enjoyed a “very progressive trading period” in the last couple of years. As well as steadily increasing its product portfolio the company has also received a number of business accolades and were recently placed 59th in the Sunday Times International Track 200 list.
Continue ReadingTyregiant helping support independent Bond International customers
Reg Bond is rounding the final corner on 50 years of tyre wholesaling since opening in Pocklington, near York, and the company is currently developing one of its bigger innovations – the move into online tyre retail with Tyregiant – signifying Reg and his family’s desire to drive the business forward. The upcoming milestone has also been marked by another achievement recently, as Bond was rewarded for the work in his sporting passion outside the tyre business. Bond was presented with a special Lifetime Achievement Award by Go Racing in recognition of his outstanding service to the sport. Bond International continues to support meetings at York Racecourse along with Infinity Tyres, for which the company is the UK distributor.
Continue ReadingCooper counters Apollo offer reduction talk with statement
On October 7th, Cooper Tire & Rubber Company issued a statement regarding the pending merger with Apollo Tyres, in which Cooper makes it plain that it believes that a reduction in share price is unwarranted. The statement, in full, reads as follows:
Continue Reading@sign of the times
No one can deny that computers are now an integral part of the way we live and work. With the advent of mobile Internet connectivity – especially in the context of social media – they have become a central part of most of our lives. With this comes both an Orwellian suspicion of what people/corporations/governments might do with this data and the biggest opportunity yet to put your products and services in front of the right people. While the purpose of well-established media gatekeepers has been challenged by easier than ever information sharing, new quality and relevance measures have entered the market to help navigate the informational maelstrom.
Continue ReadingShipping costs continue to fall
Sea freight rates are currently on a downward trend that looks likely to continue for the foreseeable future, says freight forwarding specialist Rob Shelley of Maritime Cargo Services. According to industry feedback, this year’s peak season from Asia to Northern Europe got off to a slow start in July, and remained unconvincing even up to the beginning of September. Exports from Asia to Northern Europe in the second quarter were only the same as during the same period last year, and year-on-year growth in the first seven months of 2013 reached just one per cent.
Continue ReadingNokian issues profit warning
Nokian Tyres management has issued a profit warning stating that second half revenues are likely to be lower than expected. Third quarter sales are said to be stable year-on-year, which are somewhat lower than some analysts projections (Deutsche Bank for example had said +10 per cent).
Continue ReadingCooper takes suitor Apollo to court
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company has filed a legal complaint against the company that has agreed to buy it in a friendly takeover, Apollo Tyres. Cooper filed a complaint on 4 October in Delaware Chancery Court asking that “subsidiaries of Apollo Tyres Ltd be required to expeditiously close the pending merger between the two tyre companies in accordance with the terms of the definitive merger agreement”.
Continue ReadingReducing driving costs with recycling, retreading synergies
Continental will pursue the principle of making commercial vehicle tyres go further for customers with its synergetic TBR retreading facility named the ContiLifeCycle Plant. Announced in 2012 and due to open in Hannover-Stöcken later in 2013, the 10 million euro-plus plant is set to become the world’s first plant to integrate rubber recycling with hot and cold retreading, and will create more than 100 new jobs at Conti’s headquarters. Tyrepress got in touch with Christian Saas, Conti’s director Retread Business Commercial Vehicle Tires, to get the latest information on the plant prior to it coming on line.
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