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3106

From Tyres to Playgrounds With Charles Lawrence

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Towards the end of last year Michelin signed a deal with Newark based recycling firm Charles Lawrence International, guaranteeing that, each year, a minimum of 6,000 tonnes of its truck tyres will be used to make children’s play and sports surfaces. Each week some 200 tonnes of material are to be shipped from Michelin in Dundee and Ballymena to the Nottinghamshire recycler.

The deal is a mutually beneficial one, as Charles Lawrence International managing director Roger Hicks explains: “The formal agreement to take 6,000 tonnes of Michelin tyres per year comes after extensive trialling and a lot of discussion. We needed to be sure we could take a consistent amount of tyres each week so that we had a secure supply of materials and so Michelin could find other uses for the old tyres we can’t use – which I know they have done. The figure is a minimum standard and we would realistically expect to be taking at least 10,000 tonnes per year.”

3107

Bike Tyrestore Wins British Dealer News Award

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Bike Tyrestore (BTS) has won the “Best Trade Service” award during the British Dealer News Industry Awards ceremony, following day one of the 2008 Motorcycle Trade Expo Show. Presented by industry personality Peter Gleave, the trophy was presented to Bike Tyrestore’s Managing Director, Peter Smith. The award follows a survey of motorbike tyre dealers (conducted by British Dealer News) that resulted in BTS being described as the best trade service. During the presentation citation BTS was described as being “recognised not just for its excellent service but for the breadth of its service.” The citation continued: “Next day delivery and competitive pricing is normal these days, but this company goes the extra mile with a free phone order service, free technical training for dealers’ staff, a weekly trade newsletter and customer invitations to their highly popular track days.”

3108

Bridgestone F1 Tyres ‘Essentially the Same’ as 2007

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Bridgestone reports that Formula 1 teams are busy testing ahead of the 2008 season, with most running their new cars at the latest test session at Valencia in Spain, and teams have the benefit of racing on tyres that are fundamentally the same as those tried and tested last year. Interest in the new season seems at an all-time high with a staggering 35,000 crowding the track to watch the Ferrari duo of Felipe Massa and defending World Champion Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest times.

Perhaps most impressive, however, was Nico Rosberg who finished third on the timesheets in the new Williams FW30, which had only had its first shakedown the day before. Rosberg’s best time was just a tenth behind Raikkonen and two-tenths faster than McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen. The man most of the crowd had come to see – Spain’s double World Champion Fernando Alonso – finished the day with the sixth fastest time behind countryman and McLaren test-driver Pedro de la Rosa.

3109

New Appointments at Dunlop Aircraft Tyres

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Birmingham-based Dunlop Aircraft Tyres has recruited a new operations director. Marc Jordan, who joins the company from Trelleborg Group in Germany, will be responsible for ensuring that sufficient new tyre capacity is in place to support the company’s international expansion plan. He will also work with a locally based general manager in China to ensure best practice procedures adopted in the UK are followed in Xiamen when Dunlop Aircraft Tyres’ new retreading facility becomes operational there in 2009.

During his career Jordan has held a number of senior operations management positions within the aerospace, automotive, manufacturing, marine, production and rail markets. While in his last role at Trelleborg Group, he won national industry awards for lean transformation and environmental excellence.

3110

Pirelli Reveals New WRC Winter Tyres

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Pirelli’s tyre range for this year’s FIA World Rally Championship has been completed with the addition of two new winter tyres. The first of these is the Sottozero Snow, which the Italian manufacturer claims will be best suited to events such as the Rallye Monte Carlo (which begins on January 24). The tyre is of similar dimensions to the PZero asphalt and is available with or without studs.

As anti-deflation mousse is no longer permitted in WRC events, resistance to punctures has been sought through other means and the Sottozero Snow therefore features a reinforced shoulder to combat such occurrences. The compound used in the Sottozero Snow is reportedly very similar to that used on Pirelli’s winter road car tyres, however the tyre’s studability provides drivers with additional flexibility in marginal conditions. Competing teams will only be permitted by the FIA to use one type of tread pattern, construction and compound.

3111

Reports: EU Legislation Will Kill Budget Tyres

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New EU regulations could lead to “type approval” of tyre specifications on CO2 emissions, effectively pushing out economy options that perform lower than the premium brands in this respect. According to an Auto Express, new EU rules aimed at cutting CO2 emissions could mean that drivers are forced to spend hundreds of pounds more to get the most fuel efficient tyres, increasing the so-called OE pull-through effect and therefore premium brand sales. Auto Express states that if the proposals go ahead, drivers who have purchased new or used cars that come with CO2 reducing low-energy rubber tyres would need to replace these with the same type or face failing their MOT.

3112

First Test for ‘Official’ Bridgestone F1 Tyres

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Bridgestone Motorsport had its first outing in the capacity of official tyre supplier to the Formula One world championships between January 14 and 16, when nine of the eleven competing teams attended the opening test of the 2008 season at the Jerez circuit in Spain. A mixture of 2007 and 2008 specification cars were tested by a variety of race and test drivers through the field over the three days, and in keeping with the 2008 regulations, teams ran without traction control and used the standard ECU.

Mixed weather conditions greeted all teams present – BMW Sauber and Honda Racing opted not to attend – and Bridgestone’s dry weather medium compound Potenza grooved racing tyre dominated the proceedings. The wet and extreme wet racing rubber were not wholly relegated to the tyre rack, however; conditions on Monday morning and Wednesday provided an opportunity for their use. Afterwards, Bridgestone Motorsport Technical Manager Tetsuro Kobayashi spoke of the lessons learned at Jerez:

3113

Apollo in Europe: Neeraj Kanwar Speaks with Tyres & Accessories

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In the coming months Apollo Tyres will establish a stronger foothold in Europe through the establishment of its first facility, the recently announced 200 million euro passenger car tyre factory to be built in Hungary. Only days after announcing this monumental step for the Indian manufacturer, Apollo Tyres’ joint managing director and COO Neeraj Kanwar spoke to Tyres & Accessories about the decision to enter Europe and what the future holds.

Firm news of Apollo’s intention to set up a European production facility was first made public in mid-November 2007, and several sites in Eastern Europe were scouted as potential factory locations; in addition to Hungary the company named Poland and Slovakia as contenders (media reports on potential sites in Germany were dismissed as unfounded). However, the first of these three locations proved most attractive to Apollo: “The decision was primarily on the basis of hard economic and commercial factors, based on which a total cost of delivering the final products to markets was derived,” Mr. Kanwar told Tyres & Accessories. “Hungary was very competitive.” Secondary reasons, including the region’s liveability and cultural openness, were also taken into consideration, he added.

3114

Pirelli Launches Cinturato ‘EcoImpact’ Tyre

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Pirelli today re-launched its Cinturato brand as a range of high mileage, low rolling resistance tyres. The glitz associated with Pirelli launches aside, the main news is that the Pirelli claims to have married the odd-couple of lower rolling resistance/increased mileage with improved braking performance. Company executives described this as an “extension” of the Pirelli range, despite the fact that it represents quite different values to the high-speed, high performance image the Italian tyre manufacturer has cultivated for so long. 5 million units of the tyre will be produced initially, rising to 10 million after that. The tyres will be produced at Pirelli’s Bollate, Italy; Manresa, Spain; Izmit, Turkey; and Carlisle, UK factories.

The new Cinturato specifically offers a 20 per cent reduction in rolling resistance, compared with Pirelli benchmarks. As a result, the company claims the new tyre provides fuel consumption savings of 4 per cent while, by the same token, reducing carbon dioxide emissions. As far as mileage is concerned, Pirelli Tyre CEO Francesco Gori, explained that the Cinturato’s completely redesigned geometry means that the new tyre has a 30 per cent longer lifespan on average. This means the average motorist will now replace his or her tyres every four years instead of every three, based on a European average driver mileage figure of 15,000 km (roughly 10,000 miles). What’s remarkable is that the company report that braking distances are still shorter than the company’s benchmark, despite the other improvements.

Pirelli group chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera explained that the new product’s green credentials are further enhanced by the fact that it is completely aromatic oil free: “We are two years ahead of Europe legislation,” which is set to come into force in 2010. But with a tyre lasting so much longer, and not being aimed at the high-profit UHP sector, does this mean margins will come down? Apparently not. Marco Tronchetti Provera explained that due to the fact that the tyre offers increased value, it can be sold at a higher entry price.

So, instead of reducing markets opportunities or cannibalising existing sales, the new Cinturato is designed to develop a part of the market that, up till now, has been neglected due to Pirelli’s focus on the UHP segments. In terms of positioning, this means the new Cinturato tyre will be placed “immediately following the top line” products, according to Tronchetti Provera. “Up till the 1980s it [the automotive business in general] was all about volumes. Today we are looking to expand in the increasingly sophisticated market,” he explained.

The product launch coincided with the inauguration of a new exhibition at Milan’s Triennale Musuem, which chronicles the development of the Pirelli brand and its pioneering advertising and communications strategies. The exhibition features dozens of posters, sketches and historic files together with original works by 15 contemporary artists on the imagery covering the Pirelli Cinturato – from its first incarnation in the 1950s to the eco-tyre it has become today.

But Pirelli’s decision to name its green tyre demonstrates that the company is by no means distancing itself from its high-performance profile. On the contrary, the first Cinturato was something of an iconic product (especially in Italy) when it was first launched in the 50s; and was known as being “sporty.” In fact one 1956 article quoted during the launch the launch the Pirelli brand as “a tool for having fun.”

3115

Ceat Tyres Implements SAP platform

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According to a report in India’s Business Standard, Ceat Tyres has recently automated its business processes on the Software Application Protocol (SAP) platform. The SAP implementation covers the company’s entire office network, consisting of corporate office, two manufacturing plants, 34 regional offices, 28 RDCs, 125 clearing and forwarding agents, 3,500 dealers, a warehouse, 15 outsourcing locations, 8 RPD & Mixing locations.

Unlike most companies, who phase in new IT systems in stages, Ceat has opted to have all modules in its 180 plus locations go live at the same time. Ceat Tyres vice-president Arnab Banerjee explains the reason behind this decision: “If we look at the industry, most of our peers have used a phased approach. We were advised to follow it too. However, in this kind of implementation there is resistance to change and opposition to new systems and processes. So, we thought that instead of going through these issues in phases, let’s take the problem head-on and implement it in one go.” The project was implemented within a timeframe of eight months.

3116

Tyre Pressure & Tread Depth Neglected in Winter – TyreSafe

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TyreSafe has marked the post New Year return to work, and the daily commute, by issuing another warning about the importance of regularly checking tyre pressure and tread depth. The organisation’s latest report quotes disturbing figures from surveys conducted by vehicle supermarket Motorpoint, which indicates more than 50 per cent of drivers fail to regularly check their tyre pressure before embarking on a journey, and by carmaker Kia, which found that one in three drivers failed to check their tread depth even monthly during the 2007 winter season.

3117

TyreSafe Publishes Cold Weather Information

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The incidence of car accidents on wet roads during winter months in the UK leaps by a staggering 267 per cent, according to DfT figures. In response, TyreSafe is providing information on cold weather tyres. TyreSafe recommends that UK drivers visit their local fast fit dealer or independent tyre retailer to discuss the option of fitting cold weather tyres for winter months. Cold weather tyres have been developed by most large tyre manufacturers and whilst the market for this type of tyre in the UK is currently small (less than one per cent of the total UK replacement market), cold weather tyres are becoming increasingly popular across the rest of Europe.

3118

Titan Welcomes Ruling on Chinese OTR Tyres

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For Titan International, the US Department of Commerce’s decision to impose duties on new OTR tyres from China deemed to be benefiting from government subsidies comes as welcome news. “Today’s (December 13) determination sends a signal to producers in China that they have to start playing by the rules of game just like everyone else,” said Titan chairman and CEO Maurice M. Taylor. “Tyre producers in China benefit from government subsidies that give them an illegitimate advantage in our market, and it is the US industry and American workers who have suffered as a result. Hopefully today’s decision will start to counteract the damage being done by China’s unfair subsidies.

3119

Goodyear Supplies CV Tyres to Blue Bird in US

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Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has announced it has become a preferred supplier to Blue Bird Corporation, a leading US school bus manufacturer. Blue Bird school buses will use Goodyear Unisteel G149 RSA and G182 RSD commercial tyres. Both tyres help deliver even wear, resistance to sidewall damage from curbs and superb traction. The tyres destined for Blue Bird buses will be produced at manufacturing facilities in Danville, Virginia, and Topeka, Kansas.

3120

US to Impose Duties on Chinese OTR Tyres

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The US Department of Commerce has decided upon the implementation of countervailing duties on new OTR tyres imported from China, a move based upon assertions that the manufacturers of these products are financially benefiting from Chinese government subsidies. The Department found that OTR tyre manufacturers in China received subsidies including loans from government-owned banks, tax breaks, government grants, and access to low-cost rubber and land, with subsidy margins for Chinese tyremakers ranging from 2.38 to 6.59 per cent.

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