Goodyear has said that it plans to increase sales in Ecuador this year by a third; from US$9 million to $12 million. The company plans to sell more than 200,000 tyres and increase the number of service centres in the country from 23 to 37 by the end of the year. The US plans to negotiate a free trade agreement with Ecuador, which Goodyear says would provide incentives for local tyre manufacturers to increase efficiency and competitiveness.
Goodyear Dunlop Tires has announced a 10-year Business Transformation Outsourcing programme worth an estimated 50 million Euros in cost savings in two years. The agreement to partner with IBM on a procurement-to-payment program for indirect supplies represents another step in the company’s effort to reduce costs by 1.5 billion US dollars by the end of 2005. Goodyear Dunlop Tires Europe will retain its core purchasing competencies, the activities of between 50 and 80 Goodyear Dunlop employees will be transferred to IBM, on a phased basis.
Some 100 white-collar workers at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. whose jobs were outplaced to a sub contractor may not have their jobs much longer. Some will be out of work as soon as April 30, and others will follow them until most are gone by 2006. The workers at the sub contractor, Affiliated Computer Services Inc. of Dallas (ACS), were told they would keep their same pay, vacation, years of service and other benefits. Last month, Goodyear announced it was transferring 100 jobs in Akron to ACS under a 10-year agreement. Goodyear said it expected the move to save it 45 million dollars.
SmarTire Systems Inc. has announced it has signed an agreement with Motohaus Powersports Ltd. to distribute SmarTire’s second generation tyre monitoring product for motorcycles in the UK. Motohaus Powersports is a well-established distributor of motorcycle accessories and has a strong base of dealers throughout the UK. “With safety high on the agenda for UK riders and with tyre pressures so critical to the handling of modern high-performance motorcycles, we are excited to be offering SmarTire’s tyre monitoring system to the UK market,” says Owain Evans, Managing Director at Motohaus.
Amtel plans a foreign listing of up to 40 per cent of its shares in October next year. Amtel controls a third of the Russian tyre market. The company expects a capitalisation of around 500 million US dollars. Amtel is considering buying a plant in Iran and is looking at expanding in Malaysia. Meanwhile an agreement with Nokian is being dissolved, though the final arrangement between the two has not yet been confirmed.
SmarTire Systems Inc. has signed a distribution agreement with Lexani Wheel Corp., a premier manufacturer of luxury alloy wheels based in California. Lexani will bundle SmarTire’s tyre pressure monitoring system with its innovative Johnson line of custom wheels. Lexani wheels are sold through an extensive dealer base and are well known in the American automotive aftermarket, boasting a prestigious list of clients and countless award-winning show vehicles. A purchase order accompanied the distribution agreement.
Nokian has announced its intention to terminate the Joint Venture with Russian company, Amtel. Under the terms of the agreement Amtel produced Nokian’s intermediate brand, Nordman. Nokian has established its own logistical centre in the Moscow area and is now concentrating its marketing strategy on the Nokian brand alone. The company is building a new tyre factory close to St. Petersburg. It is expected that this factory will commence production in 2005.
Goodyear announced that its Flight Radial aviation tyres have been selected to equip Qantas Airways’ new low-cost carrier Jetstar Airways. Goodyear is exhibiting its aircraft tyres at Asian Aerospace, formerly known as the Singapore Airshow. Goodyear’s five-year agreement with Jetstar Airways also was announced here.
South African Tiger Wheels has reached agreement in principle to create a uniform global ownership and management structure for its original equipment manufacturer wheel businesses. Eddie Keizan, a joint chairman of Tiger Wheels, said that this would involve the alignment of the previously unequal shareholding of Tiger Wheels and the significant German minority shareholder in ATS and TSW Manufacturing, the wheel manufacturing plant in Babelegi near Pretoria. Tiger Wheels owns 100 percent of the Babelegi plant and 74 percent of ATS and the remaining plants, including those in Germany, Poland, the US. This unequal and differential shareholding had led to conflict and difficulties in the past. Keizan said that possibly the easiest way to resolve the difficulties caused by the differential shareholding was for the minority shareholder to buy 26 percent of the Babelegi operations so there was then equal shareholding in all the manufacturing operations. As a result of the agreement with ATS, Tiger Wheels has terminated negotiations on the possible disposal of its wheel manufacturing businesses.
ThyssenKrupp Elastomertechnik has signed a further technical co-operation agreement with the Indian-based manufacturer, Alfred Herbert India. The agreement relates to the manufacture of the column curing presses, for the Indian market. Following the agreement signed in 1999 for the manufacture of the first frame-type hydraulic curing presses for India, the two companies are now moving into the area of advanced machine technology for the production of high-performance radial tyres and ultra-high-performance tyres. ThyssenKrupp Elastomertechnik’s Managing Director, Frank Horch, believes that India – particularly its tyre sector – will play an important part on the world market and for ThyssenKrupp Elastomertechnik in the coming years.
About 130 Goodyear Tire & Rubber workers in Statesville (North Carolina) have reason to celebrate today after an independent arbitrator confirmed on Wednesday that a majority of production and maintenance workers have signed United Steelworkers of America (USWA) authorisation cards. They join more than 19,000 USWA members already working at Goodyear facilities in the United States and Canada. The workers, who produce tyre moulds for Goodyear, were organised through a neutrality agreement in the 2003 USWA-Goodyear labour agreement. It says the Union will be recognised as the workers’ bargaining agent if a majority of workers sign USWA authorisation cards.
In its latest move to cut costs, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. has transferred 100 human resources jobs in Akron to a sub contractor. The company has signed a 10-year agreement with Affiliated Computer Services Inc. of Dallas. All employees affected have been offered jobs at similar conditions with ACS. Some human resources functions will stay in house under the agreement, ACS will provide a wide range of human resources services, including payroll, medical benefits administration, training, recruiting and staffing for all Goodyear employees in North America.
Cabot Corporation has announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Cabot (China) Ltd., has signed a joint venture agreement with Bluestar New Chemical Materials Co., Ltd., a part of the China National Bluestar Group, to manufacture fumed silica in China.
Bridgestone Australia (Adelaide) has stated that the future of its Salisbury tyre-making plant looks “more assured”. Settlement of an improved wage agreement and several other changes late last year had resulted in “modest improvements” at the loss-making operation. Local manufacturing losses, intense competition and the higher cost of raw materials had caused a 15 per cent drop in net profit in 2003 to 10.6 million Australian dollars, despite sales rising 5 per cent.
Michelin signed a three-year agreement to supply Volvo Group with truck tires as original equipment on Renault and Volvo trucks assembled in Europe. The agreement confirms Michelin’s position as a major supplier of tires to the Volvo Group in Europe. The deal comes at a time when global radial truck tire production capacity is saturated, even as demand is expected to experience growth in the future. It is in line with Michelin’s commitment to balancing its operations in the original and replacement equipment markets in order to deliver optimal service quality across all markets, while maintaining its profitability.
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