Loss In Market Share Not Without A Fight
The management of Bridgestone/Firestone USA has made it very clear that it will do everything in its power to revitalise the Firestone brand and losses in market share will not be accepted without a fight. It is expected that the company will embark on one of the biggest advertising and marketing campaigns in the groups history.
Continue Reading500 Jobs Set To Go At Wolverhampton
In common with other manufacturers in the UK, Goodyear has been suffering cost and productivity problems at its plant, which is not competitive in global markets. In October last year, Goodyear Wolverhampton took the step of issuing an HR1 notice to the Department of Trade & Industry, which in effect gave the workforce a number of possible solutions to the problem and a 90-day deadline to arrive at an answer. Since the issuing of the notice, discussions have been on-going between management and unions to try to thrash out a mutually-acceptable solution. Eventually, such a solution was agreed, which involved workers moving from a four-shift to a five-shift system, and which was recommended to the workforce by the unions. However, this recommendation was ignored and, in a ballot of the Wolverhampton workforce, the proposal was rejected. The reaction of Goodyears management to this was immediately to announce that it had no other option other than to instigate actions that will make some 500 associates redundant from the Wolverhampton plant. Later it was announced that only 240 jobs are to be lost at Goodyears Wolverhampton factory. This is on top of 215 redundancies earlier in January, but the total figure of 455 is less than was originally expected after cost-cutting proposals from management were rejected by the workforce, despite being recommended by the unions. A Goodyear spokesman is reported as saying that the job losses could save the plant from closure.
Continue ReadingNo Price Reductions For Chrysler
Goodyear, Chryslers number one tyre supplier in the USA, has resisted pressure to drop prices by 5%. Tire market competitor Cooper does not deliver tyres to Chrysler but its Technical Rubber Products generates every fourth dollar from business with Chrysler. We will see whether Cooper can resist the pressure from Chrysler to drop prices for products from its Technical Rubber Division.
Continue Reading“Oxxynova” For Car Tyres
On January 1, 2001, Degussa-Hüls transferred its DMT (dimethyl terephthalate) business to a separate legal entity. The new company, Oxxynova, will initially operate as a marketing operation. Production of DMT, including two production facilities, employing 250, will be transferred to Oxxynova GmbH & Co KG (Marl, Germany) on April 1. DMT is a base product used in the manufacture of polyester. DMT based polyester uses include, for example, the reinforcement of car tyres. Oxxynova is the European market leader with total production capacity of 480,000 tons.
Continue ReadingOE Success For Bridgestone At DAF
DAF models 45 and 55 and also the successor series LF will be fitted with Bridgestone R 227 tyres on the steer axle and M 729 on the drive axle. It is the first time that Bridgestone has been chosen on an exclusive basis in this middle class truck segment. The choice is part of a long term contract with Paccar, the American parent company of DAF. The trucks will be produced in the UK at the former Leyland plant.
Continue ReadingEuropean Distribution Centre in Rotterdam Opened By Hankook
Hankook has in the past announced on more than one occasion its intention to improve capacity and focus chiefly on Europe. A concrete decision has not yet been made, Jung Rak Chey (Managing Director Europe Regional H.Q.) told the press in Rotterdam in March. He thinks that a factory in Europe seems most likely, but locations in North America or acquisitions in South East Asia are possibilities. Hankook could achieve further successes in European original equipment – the company is already a supplier for the Ford Transit – and Jung Rak Chey talks of negotiations with Volvo and Volkswagen. If a supplier does not have a factory near the customer, then the logistics have to be so efficient that it should seem that such a factory exists. The European Distribution Centre (EDC) opened in Rotterdam is impressive in size, and Hankook itself calls it a milestone in the companys history. Capacity of the warehouse is 300,000 passenger car tyres, 20,000 light truck tyres, and 20,000 truck/bus tyres. Also, 250,000 car batteries are on storage, some of which were already filled in Korea but a filling station also exists in the EDC. Hankooks target is to deliver its customers with three million tyres and one million batteries annually from the EDC. The EDC will supply 35 countries, from Finland to Portugal, from Iceland to Russia.
Continue ReadingRenewed Tyre Deal For Bridgestone/Firestone UK
Bridgestone/Firestone UK has renewed its four-year deal to exclusively supply logistics company Hays Logistics UK with new and retreaded tyres. Hays operates a fleet of two thousand vehicles and trailers and the deal is worth around 1 million Pounds a year. Service will be provided by the Truck Point network of independent tyre dealers.
Continue ReadingCost Reductions Planned By Michelin
Michelin achieved a 2.8 per cent growth in sales for the first quarter of 2001, compared to the same period last year. The passenger car divisions in Europe and the USA were successful, selling more UHP tyres than ever before and improving the mix. Obviously, price increases are sticking, with the exception of truck tyres in the USA. Michelin has announced a cost reduction plan for the US, designed to save around 125 million Euro. Despite a sharp fall in EBIT, Deutsche Bank analysts confirmed Michelin shares as a buy.
Continue Reading19th Autopromotec in Bologna – Good and Bad got close
From May 23rd to 27th, 2001, the 19th Autopromotec took place in Bologna’s exhibition center, where nearly everybody could have met who is traditionally engaged with some kind of vehicle care and repair. 924 exhibitors (7 percent more than in 1999) from more than 30 countries were presenting their products on the whole site of more than 90,000 square meters, divided into 12 exhibition halls and an outdoor area. Again, the complete service sector concerning the car was represented there: Garage alignment suppliers, remoulders with their material and equipment suppliers, garagists, manufacturers of wheels and vehicle parts, and last but not least, tyre industry as well as wholesaler and special trade organisations and companies. Visitors had been as international as the exhibitors – the organisers did expect more than 80,000 car repair specialists from more than 100 different countries. Although in the end there had been some 3,000 more, but without visiting every hall equally. And again, those halls got the visitors’ main interest where garage alignment suppliers, i.e. the manufacturers of balancing machines, alignment gauges, hydraulic ramps or even complete test lane automates had their stands. However, there had been considerably less visitors in hall 23, where remoulding technology was concentrated.
Continue ReadingAlliance For The Development Of Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems
Lear Corporation (Southfield, Michigan/USA) and Beru (Ludwigsburg/Germany) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly design and develop Tyre Pressure Monitoring systems for the global automotive market. Under this strategic partnership, the two companies will develop Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems that will relay information to drivers through the electronic architecture used for the Remote Keyless Entry System. The joint venture will combine Lears capabilities as the North American leader in Remote Keyless Entry Systems with that of Beru, the market leader in Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems in Europe.
Continue ReadingTurnover Up, Net Earnings Down For Marangoni
Italian tyre and retreading group Marangoni has revealed its financial results for last year. Turnover rose by almost 10 per cent to 264.5 million Euro, but net earnings plummeted by just over 76 per cent to 1.79 million Euro. There were mixed sales performances from the different divisions: new tyre sales were 70 m Euro (+18.3 per cent), retreading material sales 90.8 m Euro (+7 per cent) and retreaded tyre sales were 63.1 m Euro (+12.8 per cent). It is indicative of the state of the retreading industry that sales of equipment used for retreading and recycling were 6 m Euro; down by over 14 per cent. Marangoni cited increased raw material costs as the main reason for the fall in profits.
Continue ReadingTwo More Tyres For Europe From Cooper-Avon
Cooper-Avon has introduced another two new tyres to its range of products available in Europe. First of these is the Lifeliner Touring SLE (Sport Luxury Edition) and it is the first premium touring tyre from Cooper to be available in three speed ratings; T, H and V. The second product is the Discoverer M+S, which is a winter tyre made in Findlay Ohio, but designed for European roads. It features a number of pin holes for those countries where studded tyres are acceptable.
Continue ReadingGood Second Quarter Results From Nokian
Nokian Tyres has reported its Q2 results, which proved better than analysts expected. While sales were as forecast (up 11.7 per cent to 95 million Euro), operating income was much higher than predicted at 8.5 million Euro, with an operating margin of 8.9 per cent (last year, 3.5 per cent). Results were helped by the 1.9 million Euro operating profit recorded by the Vianor retail chain. Analysts are cautious about the outlook for the second half of the year, with much depending on winter tyre sales.
Continue ReadingRecalled Tyres Potential Recycling Nightmare
The 13 million recalled Firestone tyres in the USA may be about to create another set of problems.Ford has contracted Recovery Technologies Group (RTG) to collect and recycle 6 million of the tyres. The company is having to use sub-contractors to collect, so may not be fully in control of the collection and it is feared that many tyres may be returned to the road. Additionally, RTG, can currently only shred 500 tyres per day, which equates to 32 years of non-stop shredding. Even if the firm does shred and crumb every tyre, there are serious doubts about the available market for the end product.
Continue ReadingOn Its Way To Becoming A Global Tyre Brand
Vredestein boss Rob Oudshoorn is interested in making the Vredestein brand – already well-known in Europe – a global brand. In Asia, T-Trac and Protrac tyres are produced by sister company Elangperdana Indonesia for use in the Asia region of Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China etc. The Importer Tyreland is the business partner at the other end of the world in New Zealand. This has been learned from the latest company brochure News Flashes which is distributed to the trade. At the moment it is not easy to cover Vredestein stories due to the fact that there is obviously no press office in the Dutch company.
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