Internet Sales By Delticom Now In Great Britain
German e-commerce company Delticom AG (Hanover) is expanding to other European countries and is now starting to sell tyres and wheels via the Internet (www.mytyres.co.uk) in Great Britain. A subsidiary company, Delticom Ltd., has been founded in Oxford, with Lennart Pluim as Managing Director.
Continue ReadingHayes Lemmerz Faces Great Distress
Can you imagine? Hardly three years ago, the share of the world’s biggest wheel manufacturer was worth 30 US Dollar, sometimes it even reached 40 US Dollar. With one US Dollar only on September, 28th 2001, this share has reached is absolute baisse so far. An alarm bell that cannot be ignored. The company is in great danger of collapse. And the terrorist attack against the World Trade Center could have finished the company off. Already before that, the group had replaced its long-term boss Ron Cucuz by Curtis J. Clawson, who enjoys the reputation of a fireman within the automotive business.
Continue ReadingFailure To Sell Costs Conti
The collapse of talks to sell ContiTech are said to be behind the resignation of Stephan Kessel, who has been replaced by Manfred Wennemer, who was until recently the head of ContiTech. Analysts have been taken by surprise by the move and many believe it will result in a loss of confidence in Continental. The sale of ContiTech had been expected to fund moves into electronics and complete automotive systems, without these funds the execution of that strategy may have to change.
Continue ReadingSelf-Rescue Plan For Kumho
Kumho Industrial, parent company of, among others, Kumho Tires, is currently overwhelmed with debt, due largely to the performance of is Asiana Airlines subsidiary. The company has formulated a self-rescue plan, which involves raising money through selling shares in the tyre company. Few details are publicly available, but it is believed that two foreign financial institutions (one from Hong Kong, the other from the USA) have taken a shareholding worth US$ 1.2 billion in the tyre manufacturer, which will continue to run with the same management. The plan also involves Kumho selling off one of its three petrochemical plants.
Continue ReadingNew Boss For Pirelli Germany
After only one year, Dr. Paolo Masera (59), boss of Pirelli Germany, has left the company to take over responsibility for Pirelli in Brazil. His successor is Dr. Klaus Betka, up till now production chief. Betka should only be regarded as a short-term solution for two or three years, as it is said that he has already signed a contract for early retirement.
Continue ReadingGet The Lead Out
The motor industry is under attack from all sides by the green lobby and the car is subject to environmental constraints at all stages of its life cycle. It looks as though yet more restrictions will be imposed on the industry with the likely adoption of the End Of Life Vehicle Directive (ELV); this lays down minimum requirements for the recyclability of cars and also seeks to reduce or eliminate toxic or environmentally-unfriendly materials used in construction. Lead is one such material and it is not only used in car building, but also in wheel balancing weights. If lead is outlawed, what are the alternatives for the automotive industries, and the tyre trade? What alternative materials are available, and what are the likely costs? Coated lead weights do not solve the problem, which leaves steel and tin as the most likely solutions. Tin is easier to work than steel, but it is many times more expensive than lead, and could lead to significant increases in costs for tyre shops, who will have to decide whether or not to pass this on to the customer. The ELV places the responsibility for disposing of vehicles squarely on the shoulders of the manufacturers, and they will put pressure on their suppliers to ensure that levels of toxic materials are kept to a minimum.
Continue ReadingTemporary Closure Of Seven Vehicle Plants In North America
In an attempt to reduce vehicle stocks, Ford and General Motors have announced the temporary closure of seven factories in North America. GM is to close five plants (sited in Oklahoma City, Ontario, Michigan and Ohio) for a week, affecting over 14,000 workers. The two plants which Ford is to close temporarily manufacture vans and are situated in Ohio, employing 4,150 hourly workers.
Continue ReadingScottish Winter Tyre Safety Campaign Results
The annual tyre safety campaign in Scotland moved from October to December last year. A four day clinic programme held in supermarket car parks revealed that 20% of motorists had tyres with tread below 1.6mm. The clinic programme was followed by a week of police enforcement on the roads, which showed an illegal tyre level of 14.4% – almost exactly matching the UK average of 14%.
Continue ReadingGood EBIT Margin From Michelin
The tyre giant Michelin has today released more figures. The EBIT margin reached 7.6 % on a turnover of 15.4 billion Euro. Michelin reached this expected good result in spite of the fact that increases in raw material costs ate into the results over the year at many other tyre manufacturers. The truck division, which accounts for about 27 % of the total turnover, confirmed excellent double digit EBIT margins. For this year it is expected that Michelin will again achieve at least the same level of results as it did last year. But there is hope that oil prices are falling, which could give the company even better margins. The net debts stood at 4.9 billion Euro at the end of the year 2000.
Continue ReadingNew E-Commerce Products From Continental
The tyre industry is faced with a new method of doing business: e-commerce. Continental has developed a new product that enables smaller customers to check stock availability and order product at a time to suit him. Called ContiContact, it is essentially an electronic catalogue giving information on product and prices in real time and is available to any dealer who has a PC and a modem. ContiContact is designed to complement, not replace, traditional methods of ordering and Continental will continue with its EDI and call centre operations; the new service is part of Continentals desire to be known as a company that is easy to do business with. It has been on trial with selected customers for a year and is now ready to roll out to a wider customer base. Continental has also introduced e-billing, which allows customers with internet access to log on to a website where they can view or download their invoices. The advantages are space and time saving (Continental can archive invoices for customers if required) and less chance of mistakes, lost invoices etc. The system is totally secure and records are stored electronically at two separate locations, in case of accidents.
Continue Reading$60 Million Investment For Nizhnekamskshina
Russias leading tyre manufacturer, Nizhnekamskshina, is to boost capacity by 2 million steel belted radial car tyres by 2002. There are also plans to create new truck tyre lines by 2003, to produce 17.5, 21.5 and 22.5 truck tyres for the domestic market. The $60 million investment is being supplied by a major Russian oil company and will see car tyre production rise to 7 million units, though overall output will remain at around 12 million.
Continue ReadingJCB Award For Bridgestone/Firestone UK
Bridgestone/Firestone UK (BFUK) has been presented with a 2000 Supplier Award by JCB, one of only five companies to receive awards and the only tyre company to be nominated. The award was given for supply service, product quality, innovation and cost reduction. John Patterson, JCBs CO, presented the trophy to Jim Wilson, MD of BFUK, at the JCB Suppliers Conference.
Continue ReadingFirst Quarter results From Hayes Lemmerz
Hayes Lemmerz International Inc. (NYSE:HAZ) has announced results for the first quarter – ended April 30 2001. Sales were down on the previous first quarter, from $595 million to $541 million, but showed an increase on the $475 million from the fourth quarter of 2000. Diluted earnings per share was a loss of $(0.27), against earnings of $0.51 in the first quarter last year. This compares to a loss of $(0.58) for the fourth quarter of 2000.
Continue ReadingFurther Firestone Recall By Ford
Ford has announced that it will replace up to 13 million Firestone tyres fitted to Ford Explorer SUVs. This is double the number of tyres recalled last year and the cost to Ford will be around $3 billion, with the exercise taking nine months. It was this decision which precipitated the announcement from Bridgestone/Firestone that it would sever all ties with Ford; an announcement which caused Bridgestone shares in Tokyo to fall by over 9 per cent.
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 Reading