Agricultural
The initial two products in the reborn Continental agricultural tyre portfolio will debut at the Agritechnica show this November. The radial Tractor70 and Tractor85 ranges share the same design; Continental comments that both are “characterised by their robustness and durability” and “ensure a high degree of ride comfort and tractive force.”
Trelleborg will display VIP – Variable Inflation Pressure – system at Farm Progress Show 2017 in Decatur, Illinois, from 29 to 31 August.
Andrea Masella, Brand Manager for Trelleborg’s agricultural and forestry tyres in North America, said: “The Trelleborg VIP system represents a major step forward and a great new advancement that producers will benefit from in North America.
Balkrishna Industries, the firm behind BKT brand tyres, recently announced plans to build a 60,000 ton/year carbon black plant at its facility in Bhuj, Gujarat, India. No completion date was announced for the project that is estimated to cost roughly $23 million.
Michelin has updated local dignitaries, staff and business partners on its multi-million pound investment plans in Stoke-on-Trent. Proceedings were opened by Mike Lawton, head of communications at Michelin Northern Europe, who described what was announced in the “investing in the future” presentation as the “dawning of a new era”, before head of Michelin Northern Region John Young spoke of the “amazing” relational, business footprint and heritage of the site. To put recent changes into a single figure, productivity across the site has reportedly increased 35 per cent in the last five years.
Starting small, European Agriculture Tyre Distributors B.V. aims to build up sales of the Tianli agricultural tyre range in Europe. The Netherlands-based wholesaler has set itself a target to sell 20,000 of these tyres this year, and reports being almost half way there by the end of June.
A return to the agricultural tyre market is imminent, and Continental is preparing for its range’s market launch with the appointment of a new field engineer. Harm-Hendrik Lange began in this newly-created role within the Continental Commercial Specialty Tires (CST) team on 1 June. A second newly-created appointment focuses on the earthmoving tyre business, which Continental returned to last year. Matthias Engelhardt is now the field engineer responsible for CST’s earthmoving tyre customers.
Excessive or uneven tyre wear is once again the problem most frequently reported by respondents to J.D. Power’s annual survey of tractor performance in India. It is also noted as the most bothersome problem by tractor owners.
GKN Wheels & Structures has developed a brand-new wheel for its Profi-line+ range, with this new product designed specifically to suit the new Nokian CT tyres which were introduced to the market earlier this year.
Featuring a double well radius, new flange design and a wider bead, the wheel design has been optimised to meet the very specific requirements of the new heavy duty, high load-bearing CT tyres from Nokian.
To assist with the complex task of mounting tyres onto its tractors, Kubotas Rodgau contacted German-based forklift truck attachment manufacturer KAUP, to provide an efficient and safe solution to this industry-wide issue.
Kubota requested a material handling solution not only for the transportation and lifting of tyres, but also the handling of pallets to increase the efficiency of its forklift truck even further.
TP Commercial Solutions LLC has appointed Alex Vitale as its new CEO for North America. The appointment is effective immediately and will see Vitale bring over 20 years of global tyre industry experience to lead the company’s efforts and expansion in the commercial truck and fleet markets in the US and Canada.
As we have all heard by now, following the high profile acquisition of Pirelli by ChemChina (whose Chinese tyre manufacturing plants include respected truck and car tyre manufacturer Aeolus and well-known OTR tyremaker, Torch) what we used to refer to simply as Pirelli has split itself in two. The part focusing on car and other consumer-orientated high-performance products retains the Pirelli name, while the remaining parts of the business (which were previously known as Pirelli Industrial) are in the process of being merged with their Chinese opposite numbers, subject to approval by the relevant authorities, and folded into a new entity – Prometeon Tyre Group. Autopromotec was Prometeon’s first public outing, so Tyres & Accessories interviewed chief operating officer (COO), Murilo Fonseca, during the recent Autopromotec exhibition in Bologna to find out more about the strategy behind the moves.
Mitas in partnership with Russian agricultural equipment company, Rostselmash, organized an initiative aimed at raising awareness of the unique ecosystem of Lake Baikal in Russia. In March 2017, in collaboration with National Geographic Magazine, a photo and video session was held at the frozen Baikal Lake. The extreme conditions of -25 °C demanded top of the range equipment such as Versatile 2375 tractor with a double mounting of Mitas 520/85R42 AC85 tyres.
The latest addition to the Michelin agricultural tyre range is the RoadBib. The new tyre was specifically developed for contractors using 200+HP tractors; Michelin claims the RoadBib is the “first solution on the market” for this tractor category, and therefore the tyre “defines a brand-new segment of the market.” The RoadBib was presented for the first time at the European Drivers’ Championship 2017 and will be available as of the first quarter of 2018 in the front wheel size 600/70R30 and rear wheel size 710/70R42.
Prometeon Tyre Group (the former Pirelli Industrial business unit) is to make its first public appearance at the Autopromotec fair. Prometeon is hosting a multi-brand stand with Pirelli-branded and truck, bus and agricultural products as well Aeolus-branded truck, bus and OTR tyres. The news follows the announcement on 13 April that Pirelli’s Industrial activities will […]
Prometeon Tyre Group – the new name for Pirelli’s recentlly separated Truck, Bus, Agro and OTR tyres business – has signed a commercial agreement with Iveco Defence Vehicles, which calls for a partnership for the development and supply of tyres for new generation defence vehicles. The news is a big step forward for Prometoen as it shows the business’s willingness and ability to work at an international OE level.
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