Third Tyre Factory For Bridgestone In Thailand
Bridgestone has announced that it will build its third tyre factory in the Chonburi province, in the southeast of Thailand. They will produce radial truck tyres, about 90 per cent of which will be exported to European countries and to the USA. The plant will create about 1,000 jobs.
Continue ReadingStrike Ends At General Tire
Employees at Continental General Tire’s plant in Bryan, Ohio USA have signed an agreement ensuring an increase in wages and pensions plus a regulation of working time (a four shift programme, seven days a week) up to the year 2006. The same agreement will apply in Charlotte, General Tire’s largest plant in North America, where employees had been on strike for over a year to achieve these improved conditions. Continental’s workforce has diminished from 1,450 to around 1,300 following the strikes.
Continue ReadingBoss Of South Pacific Tyres Goes Ashore
John Gurrieri, CEO of South Pacific Tyres for five years, is leaving the company at the end of February after 29 years service to seek new challenges. South Pacific Tyres is a 50/50 joint venture between the Pacific Dunlop group and Goodyear.
Continue ReadingNew Power Station To Burn Tyres
Construction work is set to begin this month on a new power station which will burn 65,000 tonnes of scrap tyres annually. It is sited at Four Ashes in Staffordshire and is due to become fully operational in January 2002. The total cost will be around 332.4 million.
Continue ReadingPart Worn Tyres Collected By Mercedes
As part of the Mercedes Recycling System (MeRSy) the car manufacturer collected 508,000 part worn tyres in Germany during 1999.
Continue ReadingRecord BRV Membership
Membership of the German tyre retailers association BRV (Bundesverband Reifenhandel und Vulkaniseur Handwerk) reached record levels in January, when 82 new tyre retailers joined. The association now has 1,115 members with 1,443 outlets, which represents around 73 per cent of the 3,500 tyre dealers in Germany.
Continue ReadingSupplier Accolade For Hayes-Lemmerz
The Anderson Consulting Supplier Index recently carried out a survey to establish the most stable and competitive US automotive suppliers and ranked Hayes-Lemmerz joint second alongside Federal Mogul. Top performer was Tower Automotive.
Continue ReadingManagement Changes At Pneuhage
Peter Schütterle is once again in the drivers seat at Pneuhage after the resignation of three managers. Hanshugo Sürth, Kurt Scholl and Holger Abeln left the company on 13th March. The company, one of the largest tyre retail and wholesale groups in Germany, made a loss last year. This came as a big surprise – possibly even for Schütterle, the owner of the group, who until now has not been involved in the group on a day-to-day basis.
Continue ReadingNew OTR Tyres From Bridgestone To Be Shown At Intermat
Bridgestone/Firestone is displaying its new generation of off-the-road tyres at Intermat 2000, one of a series of exhibitions for the construction and civil engineering industries, to be held in Paris from 16-21 May. Bridgestone claims a global OTR tyre market share in excess of 40% and in the past three years, has invested US$ 100 million in this product sector.
Continue ReadingContinental Wants To Buy Back Shares
The German newspaper Handelsblatt says in todays issue that Continental is planning to buy back its own shares. This will be confirmed at the general meeting taking place on May 19th. The Supervisory Board proposes the usual limit of 10 p.c. of the original capital and a time limit up until the end of October 2001. With this move Continental wants to keep the option open to make acquisitions by exchanging shares.
Continue ReadingLand Rover Sale Finally Agreed
The sale of Land Rover to Ford by BMW – a deal which was in doubt recently – has been finalised. BMW agreed to Fords stipulation that one third of the asking price of 3 bn Euros will not be paid until the year 2005.
Continue ReadingWith three new tyres,
With three new tyres, named 4x4Contact, 4x4SportContact and 4x4WinterContact, the German tyre manufacturer wants to establish its leading brand in the segment of sports utility vehicles (SUV). And this segment seems to be quite interesting: According to a Continental market analysis the number of 4x4 vehicles in Europe is expected to double by the year 2005 compared to 1995 and leading to a growing market for 4x4 tyres. Some reasons are that new fashionable/stylish compact SUVs which are faster, fuel efficient and easier to drive or larger SUVs offering a high load carrying space and/or seating capacity are stimulating the demand. As a result SUVs are increasingly becoming an alternative to standard cars. Therefore the focus of the three 4x4 tyres is for on-road use, but for the future Continental plans to launch all-terrain and off road tyres, too. Meanwhile the 4x4Contact is the tyre for compact and medium range SUV, whereas the 4x4SportContact has a more sporty image. Fast and high powered cars are the target for this tyre. The 4x4WinterContact – as the name suggests – is the specialist for the colder time of the year. European production of the tyres was launched recently and later this year they will also be manufactured in USA.
Continue ReadingGoodyear Wins BRV Awards Again
Once again, Goodyear has won the Golden Award from the BRV – the German tyre dealers association – for the passenger car and truck sectors. The prize reflects market- and customer-driven behaviour.
Continue ReadingClosure Of Two Uniroyal Factories In Mexico
Uniroyal S.A. Mexico, daughter company of Michelin North America, has confirmed the closure of their two factories in Tacuba and Queretaro. 760 employees are affected and will receive a severance package. Uniroyal Mexico says that it was not possible for the two factories to produce tyres cost-effectively and the company was losing money, while imported tyres were making a profit. Other possible reasons for the closure, for example political or environmental reasons, were strongly denied.
Continue ReadingMore Technology Partners For Rubbernetwork.com
Rubbernetwork.com, the global market place for the tyre industry, has entered into an alliance with IBM, i2 and Ariba, who will connect the software of individual member companies to the network.
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