4×4 Tyres
Bridgestone/Firestone is offering European motorists a free inspection of 4×4 tyres made in the USA. This covers 24 types of tyres, around 13,000 of which have been imported into Europe over the past decade. The company estimates that only half this number are still on the road and it will replace them free if the customer is still worried after inspection. Nine sizes are involved.
Michelin has released its financial results for the first half of the year, confirming the disappointing message given earlier. Turnover was 7,377 m Euro (first half of 1999: 6,488) and operating profit 540 m Euro (596). Increased raw material costs and a weak Euro were blamed as contributing factors, but Michelin says that the results do not fully reflect progress made in increasing competitiveness.
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 4×4 vehicles in Europe is expected to double by the year 2005 compared to 1995 and leading to a growing market for 4×4 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 4×4 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.
The Cooper Discoverer Sport HP – a 4×4 tyre designed specifically for roads in Europe – is to be manufactured at Cooper-Avon’s factory at Melksham in the UK.
The Ford Explorer has come under pressure because of a supposed series of accidents, blamed on allegedly faulty Firestone tyres. Both Ford and Bridgestone Firestone are strenuously denying the allegations. Firestone is the biggest tyre supplier for Ford’s Explorer and Expedition SUVs and the Aiken factory (opened last year) depends heavily on this business. The plant has an annual capacity of ten million tyres, of which nearly half are destined for Ford. After US retailer Sears Roebuck has taken some types of Firestone tyres off its shelves for this reason, in Tokyo, shares in Bridgestone fell by 8.8% at the news. In the US, Bridgestone/Firestone suggested at first that customers visit their B/F dealer for a tyre check but then decided to recall voluntarily ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT tyres. The only size involved is the 235/75 R 15. This can count for up to 6.5 million tyres. This information was given in a press conference on 9th August in Washington D.C. The replacement will start in the south states of the USA because the problem often occurred in hot weather. The customer will be given a new tyre free of charge regardless of the condition of the old one. Firestone are also immediately recalling tyres from its 4×4 Wilderness range in Europe. Only one size is affected and relatively small numbers are involved. It is expected that the cost to Firestone could reach US$ 500 million. There are also rumours that Ford – itself coming under growing pressure – intends to change tyre suppliers for its Explorer and Expedition models. Industry observers have expressed surprise at how badly Firestone is managing the public relations aspect of the current crisis.
Pirelli recently invited journalists and analysts to its factory at Bicocca, Milan in order to see first hand the company’s new manufacturing process MIRS (Modular Integrated Robotized System). MIRS reduces the steps in tyre manufacturing from 14 to 3 and a tyre can be produced every three minutes. Tyres are built round a special drum, with the instructions given to the robots (the process is totally automated) through a barcode. The tyres are said to be more uniform and consistent. As well as its speed and flexibility, MIRS has the advantage of compactness and a line capable of producing 125,000 tyres a year can be sited in an area of a mere 350 square metres. Pirelli Chief Executive Marco Tronchetti Provera said that Pirelli will invest 50 million Euro over the next three years in 80 MIRS lines, increasing output by ten million tyres a year. Two of these lines will be located at Pirelli’s Burton-on-Trent factory in the UK, concentrating on SUV and 4×4 tyres. Burton stopped making tyres in 1994 and the news is a welcome change for the UK tyre manufacturing industry. It is a large factory, and there is ample scope for more MIRS lines to be added in the future, should this be Pirelli’s strategy. The figures associated with MIRS are truly impressive; investment costs are lower than for traditional factories and the minimum economic batch size has been reduced from 3,200 units to 375. The time taken to change sizes comes down from 375 minutes to 20. Workforce productivity is increased by 80% and MIRS uses less energy than a ‘normal’ plant. The manpower needed is significantly reduced too – it is estimated that 850 staff will be needed to produce the proposed ten million tyres. There is one other figure which, in these days of competition and falling prices, is even more interesting – a MIRS tyre is 25% cheaper to produce than a conventional tyre.
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