Michelin: Early adopter sings AxioBib 2’s praises
A farmer from Northern Ireland says his working day has been transformed by Michelin’s new AxioBib 2 tractor tyres – after becoming the first person in the country to fit a set.
Agricultural
A farmer from Northern Ireland says his working day has been transformed by Michelin’s new AxioBib 2 tractor tyres – after becoming the first person in the country to fit a set.
A concept displayed by Nokian Heavy Tyres at Agritechnica suggests what form tomorrow’s tractor tyre may take. With this tyre, known simply as the Concept Tyre, Nokian has aimed to address declining of specialisation amongst small scale-farmers and a growing tendency to diversify activities, such as farmers who earn a portion of their income through carrying out contracting services.
When it comes to market share, 75 per cent is a very respectable figure indeed. This is, according to Hubert Plouchart, EMEA region director of sales at the Carlstar Group, the share the company’s Carlisle tyre brand holds in the US small tyre market. This isn’t the case here in Europe, however the Carlisle brand is well-known for its lawn and garden, ATV and UTV tyres. What it isn’t yet known for is its tractor tyres, and at Agritechnica the Carlstar Group set out to change that.
Amongst the products shown by the 2,900 or so exhibitors at this year’s Agritechnica fair were two new tyre and wheel combinations from STARCO. Introducing the HT Pro solution for hay tedders and the HS Flotation for agricultural implements, the company’s segment director for Agricultural Implement, Frédéric Ivancich, commented that while wheels and tyres are often not considered when looking at ways to optimise the performance of an agricultural vehicle, machine or implement, STARCO and its customers “know their true potential.”
When Tyrepress.com visited BKT’s new factory in Bhuj, India late in 2015, work had begun on a new research and development centre. The off-road tyre maker reports that this facility is now complete, and it recently inaugurated the ‘Suresh Poddar Innovation Hub’. The centre is named after the oldest of the three Poddar brothers. It is located within a 25-acre area called the Mahabirprasad Poddar Knowledge Center, named after BKT founder, the late Mahabirprasad Poddar.
Prometeon Tyre Group isn’t maintaining a presence at this year’s Agritechnica, however that doesn’t mean the new Pirelli agricultural line is entirely absent from the show. Heuver Tyrewholesale is displaying the Pirelli PHP at its stand in its capacity as distributor of the Pirelli agricultural range in several European markets, including Benelux and Germany. A Heuver Tyrewholesale representative commented that negotiations to determine UK distribution rights were “still ongoing” at the time Agritechnica commenced.
African freestyle footballer Iya Traoré may be drawing crowds to the BKT stand at Agritechnica, however the off-road tyre specialist considers the true stars of its exhibition space to be two recent arrivals in its agricultural portfolio. One of these is displayed fitted to a full-sized plexiglass tractor weighing one and a half tonnes.
When Bridgestone announced its flagship brand’s entry into the agricultural tyre business in Europe in 2014, the range it introduced was one featuring the latest innovations, such as the Very High Flexion (VF) technology seen in the Bridgestone VT-Tractor. Standard agricultural tyres remained the preserve of the company’s Firestone brand, however this is no longer the case – at this year’s Agritechnica fair in Germany, the tyre maker unveiled the first standard segment agricultural tyre for Europe to wear the Bridgestone name.
Activity in the original equipment segment currently accounts for no more than 20 per cent of Alliance Tire Group’s business in Europe, however the company intends to change this. In order to place a greater emphasis on supply to OEMs, ATG has set up a dedicated original equipment team. The new OEM team is headed by Andreas Sarfert, who in April was named ATG’s head of business development OE Europe. ATG introduced Sarfert and the team during the Agritechnica show this week.
On 12 November Michelin announced it had bought PTG and Téléflow – both industry leaders in tyre pressure control systems which allow users to monitor and adapt tyre pressures according to the terrain and conditions of use. These acquisitions signal Michelin’s intention to become the global leader for Central Tyre Inflation Systems (CTIS) in the agricultural market. No pricetags associated with the purchases have yet been revealed, but Europe is known to be the centre of the segment, which is valued at around US$1.7 billion in 2017.
Today, Vredestein has announced the end result of what it describes as “years of extensive research into the particular needs of tractor manufacturers and end users.” This end result is the Traxion Optimall, the next generation of Vredestein VF (Very high Flexion) tyre for the upper tractor segment.
Given that the world’s population is growing and the area of land available for agricultural use is on the decline, farmers are under pressure to work their land more efficiently and with greater environmental sensitivity. In the run-up to its return to the agricultural segment, Continental reiterates that its new tyre range was specifically developed in response to this challenge.
Trelleborg has announced it will launch a smart wheel “designed to produce more, with less” at next month’s Agritechnica trade fair. Called ConnecTire, the new product is a sensor-based smart wheel that enables data sharing at multiple levels, reducing the risk of tyre slippage on the rim. It allows farmers to leverage the Internet of Things for safer and more efficient operations.
The latest “premium tyre for the top tractor segment” from Vredestein will be launched at next month’s Agritechnica show. Apollo Vredestein hasn’t revealed what its new product is called, however it shares that the tyre is based on “ever-improving” VF (Very High Flexion) technology, and that its development drew upon on extensive research into the needs of tractor manufacturers and end users. The result, the tyre maker states, is a VF tyre that “sets higher standards in the market.”
We first encountered PneuTrac at the Agritechnica show four years ago. Back then, Mitas described the combined track and tyre concept as a “revolution” in tyre design, however a spokesperson admitted there was still “some way to go” until a commercial product came to market. Since then we’ve gone some way, and Trelleborg, which acquired Mitas last year, has now announced the launch of a market-ready PneuTrac product.
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