Bridgestone investing 24 million euros in Spanish truck tyre plant
Bridgestone Corp. is investing 24 million euros ($28.2 million) in order to produce a new line of 24-inch radial truck tyres suited for on- and off-road applications at its Puente San Miguel, Spain, factory.
Continue ReadingDuPont polymers to increase prices
Effective July 1, or as soon as contracts allow, DuPont Transportation & Advanced Polymers has announced that it will increase prices globally for the following products: DuPont Zytel and Zytel HTN.
Continue ReadingTrump puts 25% import tariff on Chinese aircraft tyres
US president Donald Trump has announced plans to impose 25 per cent tariffs on US$50 billion worth of Chinese goods, according to various leading news sources. The tariffs affecting over 800 products including aircraft tyres and are due to come into effect on 6 July. The White House said it would consult on tariffs on the other $16 billion of products with a view to applying these later.
Continue ReadingGKN Wheels invests in Danish plant
GKN Wheels and Structures is commissioning a brand new manufacturing cell at its plant in Nagbøl, Denmark. The programme will see the introduction of robotic technology, with the largest and fastest robot in Denmark being installed to improve both the company’s speed of manufacture and flexibility of production. On completion, the new manufacturing cell will be capable of producing very small batch sizes efficiently and cost-effectively, with changeover times brought down to an absolute minimum. Depending on customer’s specific requirements, the new production cell can also weld different valve guards and make a high spot mark.
Continue ReadingETRMA and other tyre manufacturing associations convene in Washington DC
Chief executives from regional tyre manufacturing associations including the European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA), the Tire and Rubber Association of Canada (TRAC), the Japan Automobile Tyre Manufacturers Association, Inc. (JATMA), the Korean Tire Manufacturers Association (KOTMA), and the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) convened a two-day meeting 5-6 June 2018 in Washington, DC. The goal was to discuss “issues of importance to the tyre manufacturing industry and the stakeholders it serves across the globe”. Major topics included industry commitments in sustainability and environmental stewardship, the comprehensive global regulatory landscape and a platform for increased dialogue.
Continue ReadingConti bans Snapchat and WhatsApp on company phones
On 6 June Continental announced that it will prohibit the use of WhatsApp and Snapchat on company-owned mobile phones due to GDPR compliance concerns. The measure applies to all of Continentals global locations and affects more than 36,000 mobile phones.
Continue ReadingPirelli celebrates nation day with Italian ambassador and tricoloured tyres
On 6 June Pirelli celebrated the “Festa della Repubblica Italiana”, Italy’s National Day, with a special edition of its coloured tyres, produced expressly for the event in a special ‘tri-color’ edition. The tyre was donated during a ceremony at the Italian Embassy in London in the presence of the ambassador of Italy in the UK, Raffaele Trombetta and Victoria Trombetta.
Continue ReadingEuropean FinTyre Distribution buys Reifen Krieg
European FinTyre Distribution Limited (EfTD), one of the largest Pan European tyre distributors, has agreed to acquire the privately held Reifen Krieg Group, a leading full-range tyre wholesaler in Germany. As a result, EfTD is set to become the market leader in two key European countries, Germany and Italy, with 1.1 billion euros of total revenue. According to EfTD, Reifen Krieg’s current owners, Holger Krieg and Tobias Fink, will continue as the groups managing directors
Continue ReadingFischer-owner sells majority stake in tyre manufacturing machinery maker
Funds managed by Equistone Partners Europe have agreed to sell a majority stake in Karl Eugen Fischer, the world’s leading manufacturer of cord-cutting machines for the tyre industry. Equistone acquired Karl Eugen Fischer in August 2013 and is now selling its stake to DBAG Fund VII, managed by Deutsche Beteiligungs AG. Management will retain a shareholding in the company. The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
Continue ReadingSainsbury’s, Asda and truck tyre tariffs
At the end of April the UK’s second largest supermarket Sainsbury’s announced that it is merging with the Walmart-owned Asda supermarket. The goal? To push first-placed Tesco off the top-spot and to give the newly combined chain better access to different geographic areas and consumers. Strange as it may seem at first glance, this story can be read across to the tyre market in general and the truck tyre segment in particular (click here for complete coverage on developments associated with the recently initiated European anti-Chinese truck tyre import tariffs).
Continue ReadingAiming at the fast-growing European SUV segment
Following its introduction in February and some subsequent OE announcements, Goodyear has now officially launched the Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 SUV. Key features of the new Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 SUV are its Active Braking; Grip Booster; and SUV-Optimized Construction technologies.
Continue ReadingPirelli Calendar: Albert Watson working on 2019 edition
Albert Watson was behind the camera when photos were taken for the 2019 Pirelli Calendar. Pirelli shares that the Scottish photographer went to work in April, shooting the artwork at locations around the USA.
Continue ReadingTire Cologne: Association claims visitor numbers similar to Reifen 2016
When we compared the visitor headcount at last week’s The Tire Cologne exhibition with those at Reifen 2016 two years earlier, we noted visitor numbers were down around 20 per cent this year – a figure we reached by examining the official post-show reports released after each respective event. But did attendance drop so sharply from the one show to the next, or were the published visitor numbers for Reifen 2016 incorrect? The former industry association partner to Reifen and current partner to The Tire Cologne says the figure for Reifen 2016 was a case of over-inflation, and points to statistics supporting this.
Continue ReadingSun-TWS acquires STARCO Lanka operation
The solid tyre factory established by STARCO in Sri Lanka has been divested to TVS Group company Sun Tyre & Wheel Systems (Sun-TWS) for an undisclosed sum. The STARCO Lanka facility becomes Sun-TWS’ fifth manufacturing plant and, together with expansion programmes at its existing facilities, will help increase overall capacity by 40 per cent – a measure required in order to meet growing global demand.
Continue ReadingTire Cologne organiser upbeat about debut show
Many consider it successor to the Reifen tyre fair, therefore comparisons are inevitable. For this reason, the organiser of The Tire Cologne may be nervous about visitor and exhibitor numbers. But should this be the case, Koelnmesse isn’t showing it.
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