German logistics development company Honold is currently building Continental a new tyre warehouse in Aachen, direct on Germany’s border with Belgium and The Netherlands. When complete early next year the warehouse will have storage room for some 800,000 tyres and be able to handle the shipping of up to 35,000 tyres a day.
Lehigh appoints ex-Yokohama, Goodyear executives to Board
Sustainable materials company Lehigh Technologies has announced two new Board members. Former executive vice president and chief operating officer at Yokohama North America, Jim MacMaster has joined the company’s Board of Directors, while Adel Halasa, PhD, a polymer scientist formerly with Goodyear, has joined its Advisory Board.
A Canadian firm is setting up what it says will be North America’s largest tyre retreading plant. The CA$37 million facility in St. Mary’s, Ontario will open in February 2014 and operator Green Arc Tire Manufacturing Inc. stated in a press release that it will remould up to 3 million passenger, SUV and light truck radials a year at the facility.
Two tyre makers have both pledged aid to support relief efforts in the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan on 8 November, and a third is contributing to aid efforts following the earthquake there three weeks earlier.
At this month’s SEMA show in the US, the China Manufacturers Alliance (CMA) displayed the first Warrior brand passenger car tyres sold in North America, the R29 and R30. The Warrior range, the product of a joint-venture between Double Coin Holdings and Michelin Tire Group and manufactured by Double Coin Group (Anhui) Warrior Tyre Co., was re-introduced in the Chinese domestic market in May 2012 following a two year absence.
Reifen China 2013 opens, organisers launch RubberTech Europe 2014 preparations
As the Chinese government announced the modernization of its governance system – including further acknowledge of the role market forces play in its development – the minister responsible for the tyre industry joined other dignitaries in opening Reifen China 2013 in Shanghai today. Early visitor numbers are not yet available, but there are anecdotal indications that the show is on-track to achieve is pre-exhibition goals in terms of both visitor and exhibitor numbers. The shows organisers also launched RubberTech Europe 2014 preparations on opening day (more on this below).
Some six weeks after groundbreaking at the site of Yokohama’s future plant in the United States, Yokohama Tire Corporation subsidiary Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Mississippi (YTMM) has hired its first employee – human resources manager Melissa Orman.
Team Toyo Tires Drift wins Japanese drift championship
Toyo driver Masato Kawabata has won the 2013 D1 Grand Prix Series overall championship as well as the tan-sou championship. In the finale of six rounds of the 2013 D1 Grand Prix Series, held on November 9 at a specially built course in Odaiba, Tokyo, Masato Kawabata unleashed a powerful driving performance in the tan-sou finale contested by the top 16 racers.
Singapore’s Stamford Tyres has appointed UAE automobile distributor Al Habtoor Motors as the official dealer and distributor of its Firenza car tyre brand. The Firenza brand is already established throughout Europe and the UK and this latest association is designed to build a sales profile in the Middle East for the future.
A new Mesnac facility being set up in the US will aid the company in its goal of developing equipment, processes and systems that are more closely aligned to the needs of its customers in North and Latin America. The Chinese tyre and rubber industry supplier is locating this new Research and TechnicalCenter in Akron, Ohio and says the facility will be an extension of its recently-established Research Institute in Qingdao. The company already runs a similar centre in Slovakia to support its European customer base.
On 8 November, Toyo Tire Rubber Co. Ltd. and its US subsidiaries filed a trademark infringement action against Toyama Tyre Corp and its subsidiaries. The action against Toyama was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada, where both companies had exhibitor booths at the annual Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association (SEMA) trade show.
Michelin to pay $16.5 million in tyre failure suit
A jury in the US state of Georgia has ordered Michelin North America to pay $16.5 million in a tyre blowout case that killed a 50-year-old Bhutanese immigrant in 2011, reports Tire Review. The man was killed when the rear tyre allegedly suffered a sudden failure, causing the large van to lose control and flip over on I-75 near Macon, Georgia. Two people were killed and 12 more were injured in the single-vehicle accident.
In the USA Goodyear has been named a Top 100 Military Friendly Employer by GI Jobs magazine for the second consecutive year. The listing, drawn from a long list of more than 5,000 companies, recognises the company’s efforts to hire and support veteran employees, with companies selected based on the results of a data-driven survey on veteran-related programs and policies.
The 1.2 million tyre recall Bridgestone announced in Japan also affects some markets in the Americas, albeit on a much smaller scale. On 8 November Bridgestone Americas announced a voluntary recall of approximately 2,600 Tochigi-produced truck and bus tyres that were sold in Guam, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America. The tyre maker says it has received no “field complaints of adjustments” regarding the defect in the Americas, nor has there been any report of property damage, accidents, injuries, or deaths.
US-headquartered OTR tyre specialist Eurotire reports that its OTR radial facility in Drobeta Turnu Severin, Romania has been granted several management systems certifications through IQNet and CISQ/RINA.
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