Africa
Exhibition organiser ECI International has confirmed that tyre and workshop equipment exhibition Tyrexpo Africa will return to the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg on 4-6 March 2014. Managing director, Paul Farrant, said: “We are delighted to confirm that Tyrexpo Africa will once again be returning to the Sandton Convention Centre, which has proved to be an excellent host venue for the show since it was first launched in 2006.
Apollo Tyres Ltd has opened a global R&D centre in Enschede, the Netherlands as well as a global branding centre in London, UK. Opened just days apart, the two moves follow earlier commitments to put European activities in the driving seat for passenger car tyre development and, in company chairman Onkar S Kanwar’s words, to fuse the company’s three cultures into one team. Hints towards increased OE activity and the potential of a more international investor base are also evident.
Titan International has announced several personnel changes resulting from its acquisition of Titan Europe. Cecilia LaManna will serve as the CEO of ITM, the company’s design and assembly centre for complete undercarriages and side frames in Europe. And Chris Akers will head up the entire Titan Europe wheel group; Akers will report to Titan Wheel’s president, Dave Salen.
Mitas is recalling 1,752 tubeless E-07 motorcycle tyres. The tyres were mainly sold to customers in Europe. The sizes subject to recall are: 110/80-19 M/C 59T E-07 TL MI, 100/90-19 M/C 57T E-07 TL MI and 110/80-19 M/C 59T E-07 DAKAR TL MI. According to the company, the problem that has sparked the recall is that under extreme conditions the affected tyres can “suddenly loose air pressure.”
“People in this world will always eat bread and rice,“ an agricultural tyre supplier said some years ago while participating in a panel of experts. However, it isn’t just the passenger car and truck tyre businesses that are vulnerable to negative conditions; the year following the Lehman collapse, 2009, showed that the agricultural tyre business was by no means recession proof. Investments in farming equipment and in tyres for these machines collapsed, however even back then it was clear that the market must bounce back at some stage as people will always need to eat. And that applies around the world, not just here. Because global populations are on the rise – we’ve already passed the seven billion mark – there is a corresponding increasing need for foodstuffs to be grown. Agriculture is a growth industry.
During November and December Michelin Training Instructor Carl Williams visited Tanzania with Transaid to teach much-needed tyre safety skills. In this exclusive diary feature, he shares his experience with Tyres & Accessories.
The motivation behind transport industry charity Transaid’s involvement in African and Tanzania in particular is clear. Road deaths are the third biggest premature killer in sub-Saharan Africa. And this led to Carl Williams’ decision to volunteer within Michelin to visit Tanzania, located on the east coast of the continent, to help improve road safety. As one of the project’s supporters, Michelin agreed to send Williams on two-week secondment during November and December, teaching local driver trainers and road safety enforcers about correct tyre management and how to improve tyre safety in Tanzania’s largest city, Dar es Salaam.
Recently Goodyear launched its FleetOnlineSolutions Mobile Technical Evaluation (FOS Mte) for OTR tyre into the Europe, Middle East and Africa region business area. The internet-based tyre management programme allows fleet inspection reports to be filed online at the time of each visit, quickly giving the customer information on the performance of each tyre in the fleet. It also provides relevant information in actual cost terms for greater transparency.
As announced at this year’s Brityrex, Bandvulc has added the Boto brand to its wholesale commercial tyre range. The company has now released a statement confirming the brand’s introduction, and in it Bandvulc writes that Boto has invested “over £250 million in people, technology and buildings to produce an annual production capacity of over 3.6 million Boto radial truck and bus tyres.”
Former Nokian Heavy Tyres marketing manager Perttu Mäkinen has been appointed by Mitas as its country manager for the Nordic region. Mäkinen will operate from the Mitas a.s. headquarters in Tampere, Finland, and his responsibilities will include sales and marketing for Mitas and Continental agricultural and other off-road tyres in Finland, Sweden and Norway.
Metzeler has again served as sole tyre supplier to the BMW Motorrad GS Trophy, which ran in South America from 24 November to 2 December. The rally-raid is organised every two years by the German motorcycle maker to allow its best and most competent customers to test the off-road qualities of BMW bikes. After the first edition in Tunisia in 2008 and the second in South Africa in 2010, the “Two-wheeler specialist” was chosen by BMW as the ideal technical partner to take on the hard trials scheduled.
The ‘Grizz’, Titan International chairman and CEO Maurice Taylor, has issued a statement on the tyre maker’s 2013 guidance. In the statement, Taylor writes that “2012 was again record revenue, net income, gross margins, operation margins, just everything. The only negative is we could have done better and I’m the one who didn’t keep a better eye on the changes taking place in Bryan.” This final comment referred to reduced production in the Bryan, Ohio factory due to the plant’s new computer system.
More news about the tyre recycling world’s equivalent of a yo-yo: after being approved (November 2011), withdrawn (January 2012), declared “back on track” (April 2012), approved again (July 2012), declared “stolen” (August 2012), challenged in court (August-September 2012), and then once again put on hold (November 2012), South Africa’s REDISA plan has now been re-gazetted and come into force.
Tyrepress.com took the opportunity of Reifen China to discuss the effect on exports of the US tariff on Chinese manufactured tyres coming to an end on 26 September. While Tyrepress.com has often focussed on the introduction of EU tyre labels – which received mixed coverage amongst exhibitors in Shanghai – the effect of its introduction should be seen in the context of the US tariff’s end. The question isn’t just how Chinese manufacturers are dealing with tyre labelling restrictions, but whether they are altering export strategies based on demand created by the expiration of the three years of 35 per cent duty faced by importers of Chinese tyres in the US too.
The sixth Reifen China show took place at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre on 14-16 November, with two neighbouring halls housing RubberTech China 2012 simultaneously on an exhibition area of 11,500 square metres in total. Representing an increased number of nations, exhibitor stands included large displays near the entrance for leading Chinese manufacturers such as Double Coin, Shandong Linglong, Techking, Hangzhou Zhongce and Cooper Chengshan, while less familiar and almost brand new names mingled with visiting stands from India (Apollo) and Europe (Deldo, Interstate and Profil) in the rest of the hall. Joint organisers Messe Essen – responsible for Germany's market-leading Reifen show – and the China United Rubber Corporation welcomed visitors on the first day; the latter's general manager Ma Junhua said that Reifen China's "six years of previous success" was "inseparable" from the support of visitors and exhibitors. Overall, 112 exhibitors from 15 nations – newly including Poland and Russia – were present at Reifen China showing tyres, wheels and garage equipment.
In 2011 Continental engaged with Innoware, a software and web applications firm, to develop a bespoke online competitor-analysis pricing tool. The aim was to automate reporting across the UK, mainland Europe and South Africa. According to the company, pre-set reports and complex calculations are created in seconds for all key retail outlets, providing views at local, regional, and country level.
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