Partnership Between Point-S And Bridgestone
The German cooperation organisation Point-S and Bridgestone-Firestone are working more, and closer, together than in the past. Point-S is evidently reducing volumes with Pirelli and Michelin, which are the biggest suppliers to the fast-growing Viborg group.
Continue ReadingNot So Good For ArvinMeritor
ArvinMeritors first fiscal quarter (ended 31st December 2000) results returned sales of $1.7billion and net income of $20million, representing 30cents per share. However, sales declined $265 million or 14%, and net income fell by 69% compared to the same period last year. The company is in the process of a rapid restructuring program and expects to start seeing benefits in the coming year.
Continue ReadingECE-Regulations Still Under Discussion
In Germany, there exists a handful of proving laboratories examining tyres according to the ECE regulations, and most clients are retreaders. In February one of these laboratories, the Prüflabor Nord (PN, Bad Bramstedt), held an Open Day. Day of Open Doors. Proving authority for the retreading facilities in Germany is the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA), which, up till now has evaluated 35 truck tyre and eight car tyre retreading facilities in conformity with ECE-R109 and ECE-R108. The proving process is not obligatory but on a voluntary basis. It might be another two years before the regulations become mandatory. The discussion of retreading experts with responsible persons from KBA and PN has shown that a lot of questions, which have been answered up till now through the actual ECE wording show it to be inadequate or bad. The planned ECE regulations need modifications very urgently, otherwise the whole retreading business is threatened. The rules are so vague that they constitute an open invitation to the black sheep of the retreading business to bring the whole industry into disrepute.
Continue ReadingRestructuring For Pacific Dunlop
Australian company Pacific Dunlop has revealed restructuring plans, which involve splitting the group in two. The Ansell health care business (turnover $Aus 1.3 bn) will be floated as a separate company. The second company will include the distribution of consumer products (Pacific Brands) and automotive products (Pacific Automotive and South Pacific Tyres). Turnover of these units totalled $Aus 2.7 bn.
Continue ReadingConcorde Tyres From Michelin
Group Michelin has developed a new radial aircraft tyre. Designed to be more damage resistant than existing aircraft tyres, testing will take place on an Air France Concorde in the next few weeks.
Continue ReadingTalking Together – Stahlgruber’s “7th Round Table Reifentechnik”
At the end of April the seventh round-table conference concerning tyres and tyre technology organised by the Tip Top Stahlgruber company took place in Munich. This years 91 participants came from many, varied backgrounds: There were tyre dealers, retreaders, material suppliers, representatives of associations (ADAC, BRV, DEKRA, TUV etc.), scientists and representatives of the vehicle and tyre manufacturing industries. Some of the highlights of the event included Hans-Jürgen Drechsler, deputy managing director of the BRV (Association of Tyre Traders and Non-Industrial Vulcanisers), speaking about development trends in the German retreading industry, which is characterised by a fall in sales, specially in the passenger car tyre segment, and a consolidation process among the companies in that sector. Furthermore Drechsler gave an overview about the actual status of ECE regulations 108 and 109 and their transformation into national laws. Other topics concerned the efforts in reducing tyre-surface-noise, the wrong tyre pressure as one of the main causes for serious accidents and last but not least the presentation of various non destructive methods of tyre examination. Due to the fact that the organiser of the meeting shortened the list of speakers, there was much more time left for intensive discussions; something which was appreciated by the conference delegates.
Continue Reading4×4 Tyre From Lassa
The Turkish tyre manufacturer Lassa is introducing a new 4x4 tyre to the market. The product, called Competus, has been designed for on-road and off-road use and will perform well even under extreme terrain conditions. The Competus will be available in nine sizes covering aspect ratios from 80 to 65. The first sizes will be available in early summer and the complete range at the beginning of autumn.
Continue ReadingNew Director For Goodyear
James M. Zimmerman (57) has been elected to the board of directors of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. He joins the company from Federated Department Stores Inc., where he was chairman and CEO, and has extensive experience in retail. It was also announced that Katherine G. Farley, senior managing director of Tishman Speyer Properties Inc., has resigned from the Goodyear board after three years service.
Continue ReadingBusiness Between Ford And Bridgestone/Firestone Cancelled
Finger pointing between Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone is continuing and has reached the point where the tyre manufacturer has terminated its business relationship with Ford after 100 years. In a written statement, BF-boss Lampe said we believe that the auto maker is attempting to divert scrutiny of the vehicles by casting doubt on the quality of Firestone tyres. The tyres are safe and as we have said before, when we have a problem we will acknowledge that problem and fix it. We expect you (Ford) to do the same. The assumption that Fords Explorer is a problem-car seems to be based also on the fact that Ford felt forced last week to recall more than 50,000 Ford-Explorers equipped with Michelin and Goodyear-tyres, avoiding the word recall but calling it a Customer Satisfaction Program. While the business with Ford accounts for only five per cent of BFs total turnover, virtually everything depends on the success of the Explorer for Ford; the companys best selling car for years and its cash cow.
Continue ReadingFactory Closure And Reduced Profits For Bridgestone Corp.
At a press conference, Bridgestone President Shigeo Watanabe revealed that the company was to close its plant at Decatur, Illinois, where 1,500 people are employed. The plant closure will lead to a loss of $210 million, offset to some extent by cost savings of $100 million. Bridgestone will also incur an additional special loss this year, amounting to $549.6 million and the group has revised its worldwide consolidated net profit forecast from 48 billion Yen to 10 billion. For Bridgestone Japan, the company is predicting a net loss of 130 billion Yen for the calendar year 2001, the first loss for the group since it was first listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1961. Bridgestones shares fell nearly 2 per cent on the news, to stand at 1,273 Yen.
Continue ReadingFaulty Wheel Bolts Cause Recall
The possibility of faulty wheel bolts being fitted to Honda vehicles has prompted the company to recall all vehicles manufactured between 9 January and 20 April. Defects have been found in 37 cases. Honda is investigating whether cars produced in North America or Europe are affected.
Continue ReadingConcern Over Asian Auto Sales – Report
A recent report from autopolis, the organisation offering strategic advice on the worlds auto industry, expresses some concern about future vehicle sales in Asia. It forecasts reduced sales in markets other than China for this year and next, picking up in 2003. Long term, says autopoliss Graeme Maxton, Asias auto sales will grow by nearly five million units over the next ten years.
Continue ReadingQuality Recognition For Hayes Lemmerz Facility
Hayes Lemmerz International, Inc., a leading global supplier to the automotive and commercial highway industries, announced that its Montague, Michigan Operations has been recognized for achieving a flawless quality rating from DaimlerChrysler Corporation. The facility received a 100-percent quality rating for the left and right exhaust manifolds it supplied to DaimlerChrysler during the 2000 production year. These components are used on a variety of light-truck V-10 engines.
Continue ReadingAdditional Orders From Ford For Continental
Continental has announced that it has received an additional order from Ford for over 2 million car tyres. Whether or not this is at the expense of Firestone is unclear. Continental now claims to be one of the biggest tyre suppliers for Ford in Europe, if not the biggest. In the US the tyre manufacturer is in dire straits. The Continental General tyre company is facing a loss in the US this year of up to 100 million Euro despite the fact that Continental also took advantage of the Firestone recall on the US replacement market. It is expected that Continental General will make another loss next year of up to 50 million Euro. The company also announced a restructuring program for the North American tyre market, aimed at saving costs of 90 million Dollars within 3 years. Presently Ford is not accepting General tyres as OE in the USA after the NHTSA said that the claim rate of the General Ameri 550 S is much higher than the Firestone tyre, which it replaces.
Continue ReadingIAA In The Shadow Of Terror
The tragic terrorist attacks against the United States had an effect on the 59th International Automotive Exhibition (IAA), which took place in Frankfurt from 13th to 23rd of September. For a moment it seemed that, as a reaction to the catastrophes in New York and Washington the whole event would have to be cancelled. However, the authorities decided to continue with the show at a subdued level – which meant that exhibitors cancelled their music and showcases, reducing the programme to pure product presentation level. It was a quiet show, is how Prof. Dr. Bernd Gottschalk, President of the German Car Manufacturers Association (VDA) summed it up. The official opening ceremony with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder was also cancelled. At noon on Thursday 23rd a five minute silence was held over the whole exhibition area in memory of the victims. The first press day of the IAA was attended by around 10,000 journalists who came to report on the 57 world premieres at the show. The news of the apocalyptic terror attacks spread very quickly amongst press representatives and exhibitors alike. In some areas of the exhibition, for example, hall number 10, which was occupied by the garage equipment suppliers, exhibition activities immediately broke down completely. Groups of visibly shocked people followed the TV transmissions. The shadow of extremist terror had touched even this event.
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