Alliance Tire Leaves Petach-Tikva
Israeli company Alliance Tire is to close its Petach-Tikva plant (Tel Aviv). Production will continue in the second Alliance factory at Hadera.
Continue ReadingForward Strategy From Hayes Lemmerz
Hayes Lemmerz International is going to acquire the Schenk foundry in Germany in order to expand its suspension presence in Europe. Klaus Jünger, President European Chassis Components Group said that this is an excellent base for our expansion in Europe. Major customers of Schenk are Audi, BMW, Opel and Porsche.
Continue Reading“The Leading Edge” Award For Ronal From Volkswagen Group
Light alloy wheel supplier Ronal has been honoured by the Volkswagen Group with the Corporate Supplier Award The Leading Edge. Ronal is a supplier of the car brands VW, Audi, Seat and Skoda and has also received new development orders for the prestigious Bentley brand.
Continue ReadingMore Tyres For Formula 1?
The Formula 1 teams and the motorsport association FIA are in disagreement about the regulations for the next season. Among other things F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has suggested that each car at each racing weekend is supplied with three extra sets of tyres.
Continue ReadingPrice Increase From Pirelli Germany
Pirelli has announced a price increase for commercial tyres of 2.5%, effective 1st September 2000. A company statement attributed this to the increasing costs of raw material.
Continue ReadingQuality Seal For Online Shopping
German tyre dealer Reifen Mayerosch (Wolfersheim-Berstadt) has been awarded a quality seal by Trusted Shops for his online shop offer komplettradkauf.de. Trusted Shops examines the quality and security measures of internet shop companies.
Continue ReadingMilitary Contracts For Goodyear Worth $16 Million
Goodyear has won new and extended contracts for off-the-road tyres from the US Army, valued at $16 m. One is an $11.5 m deal to supply AT-2A traction tyres (size 14.00R20) for five-ton cargo trucks. The extended contract is for $4.5 m to supply the same tyres in size 16.00R20.
Continue ReadingJob Cuts At Tenneco Automotive USA
Tenneco Automotive, the manufacturer of Monroe shock absorbers and Walker exhaust systems, has laid off 285 salaried workers at four sites in the USA. The move follows a steep fall in operating profits and is part of a world-wide programme of up to 700 job cuts. Tenneco has 70 factories in 21 countries.
Continue ReadingSenate Approves New Powers to NHTSA
The US Senate, last night approved legislation prompted by the Bridgestone Firestone tyre recall. The new measures strengthen reporting requirements for automotive related manufacturers. The enforcement powers given to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration allow them to impose civil and criminal penalties for misleading the government about auto defects which result in death and injury. The maximum civil penalty for violations has been raised from $925,000 to $15M, and prison terms of up to 15 years have been prescribed, alongside fines of up to $100,000 for withholding information in cases where death occurs. The legislation instruct NHTSA to conduct tests into SUV safety and issue rules requiring the fitting of safety devices to warn drivers of underinflated tyres.
Continue ReadingEBIT Expectations Of Michelin Confirmed
In an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, the Michelin management has confirmed that it expects an EBIT of between 7.2 and 8.2 per cent for this year, which has to be regarded as a success under the present economic circumstances.
Continue ReadingDunlop Record Growth in 1999
Dunlop GmbH (Hanau) expects further turnover and profit increases in the 1999 tyre business. Turnover will rise by almost ten per cent over the previous year to 1.64 billion marks. The pre-tax group profit will be significantly above the 1998 level of 133 million marks. The good business development is due to consistently strong demand for Dunlop tyres both in original equipment and in replacement. High winter tyre sales figures also contribute to this development, representing approximately 20 p.c. in Dunlop’s total German production. Dunlop 1999 winter tyre sales will probably have gone up by 16 p.c. over 1998. Since 1994 Dunlop GmbH has doubled its car tyre sales. During the last few years the Hanau tyre manufacturer has made progress in the high-performance tyre segment far above the market average, and the company operates a profit-sharing scheme for its employees. Against the industry trend, the Dunlop payroll has increased by almost 21 p.c. since 1991, with the number of people working for Dunlop GmbH at the end of November 1999 reaching almost 5,000. If one leaves out the former subsidiary Dunlop TECH, which ceased to belong to the contributing members of the Dunlop GmbH group in the middle of last year, the figure is similar to that of the previous year.
Continue ReadingFirst Prize For Conti Teves
A. T. Kearney and the weekly magazine Produktion held a competition for the best factory of the year. 80 plants were nominated and the winner of the first prize for outstanding manufacturing processes was the Conti Teves factory in Rheinböllen, which produces brake components.
Continue ReadingRenault On The Expansion Trail
Renault is negotiating with Samsung Motors, of South Korea, to buy the latters Pusan plant (production capacity 200,000) for Euro 400 million. Renaults daughter company RVI, made an offer to Daewoo to buy its truck operation (production capacity 20,000) and bus operations (production capacity 6,000 units) for Euro 700 million. Renault has already bought a 37% stake in Nissan for around Euro 5 billion and the new plans will bring the companys investment in Asia to more than Euro 6 bn.
Continue ReadingAt Last The Number One Again – “Goodyear, All Systems Go!”
Imagine the scene; Goodyear chairman Sam Gibara addresses an audience of 144 leading managers from around the world, telling them of Goodyears ambition to be not only the worlds biggest tyre manufacturer, but also the most profitable. He tells them of the reasons behind the Dunlop joint ventures and spells out the goals for which the Goodyear family has to strive to achieve the companys aims. What lies in store for Goodyear? Does size matter? What changes are needed in management attitudes, distribution policy and brand strategies if Goodyear is to be the best? How important is the adoption of a mullet-brand strategy in the various world-wide markets? These and other thought-provoking questions are discussed at length. As we said earlier, imagine the scene. The truth is there was no meeting in Hawaii and Mr. Gibara did not make the speech - but he certainly could have. The article can be downloaded in full length as PDF file (size: 2.84 Mbyte, Adobe Acrobat Reader required).
Continue ReadingBridgestone Aims To Gain Market Shares In Brazil
Japanese tyre manufacturer, Bridgestone is going for more market shares, especially in the truck tyre segment. This could effect the market leader Michelin, who has about 30% of the market. Bridgestone is also increasing the prices in Brazil for the replacement market by 8% and the OE market by approximately 10%. The only option to the price increase is to walk away from a losing money business.
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