Asia
Tenneco Automotive, the manufacturer of Monroe shock absorbers and Walker exhaust systems, has laid off 285 salaried workers at four sites in the USA. The move follows a steep fall in operating profits and is part of a world-wide programme of up to 700 job cuts. Tenneco has 70 factories in 21 countries.
Michelin and its local joint-venture partner Siam Cement has announced an investment of THB 3,82 billion in their Laem Chabang production plant near Bangkok. The development will double the capacity to 6.12 million passenger and light truck tyres a year. Michelin Siam also operate an additional two plants in Thailand providing production of truck, earthmover and motorcycle tyres.
Automotive hose manufacturers Phoenix and Goodyear Engineered Products have agreed to use each other’s factories to meet increasing demand on a global basis. Phoenix has six plants in Europe and GEP has six in North America and Mexico. The companies expect to expand the agreement to cover Asia and South America.
In the last week of March Yokohama Rubber Co. presented the new A 539 tyre to the European trade press at the Japanese D-Parc (Daigo Proving Ground and Research Center). Thirty-three sizes of this tyre will be available in Europe, about 20 of them are already in the market, the remaining sizes to be introduced within the next four weeks. The A 539 has an asymmetrical tread pattern and, according to the manufacturer, the excellent qualities of sportiness, quiet running and good cornering stability on dry and especially on wet roads.
Continental makes her know-how available to Iranian company Kerman Tyre and Rubber Company (Tehran) for the production of truck and car tyre radials. Later Kerman will produce its own brand under this technology plus truck and car tyre radials in an offtake agreement under the Continental brand for the Middle East and Central Asia.
Michelin has announced a fall in net profits, from 535.5 million Euros to 154.4 million Euros for 1999. This is even lower than latest predictions of financial analysts. The figures were affected by the inclusion of a special provision of 370 million Euros, made to cover the entire cost of Michelin’s three-year restructuring plan. However, operating profit for the year rose to 1.23 billion Euros; an increase of almost 15%.
German company Degussa Hüls is building what it says will be one of the most modern industrial carbon black plants in the world at Paulinia, near Sao Paulo, Brazil. Production will begin in early 2002 and initial annual capacity will be 60,000 tonnes. Degussa Hüls says the new site will strengthen its role as a global partner of the rubber industry.
Krupp Elastomertechnik was created in 1996 by the merger of the company Werner & Pfleiderer Gummitechnik in Freudenberg and the rubber technology division of Krupp Kunststofftechnik. Thus two companies were united which, by their own admission, had cooperated in technology for a long time. This offers the rubber processing industry the opportunity of a “one-stop shop”, as it claims to a large extent to cover all essential preparation and process stages. According to Krupp, all machines, facilities and systems are the product of computer-aided development and construction on modern machine tools and manufacturing facilities and are installed and thoroughly checked before being handed over. In the recent past various new and advanced developments at Krupp Elastomer GmbH were particularly aimed at consolidating and improving the market position of the company. Largest market shares overall are held in Europe, but that does not mean that other regions of the world are less important to the company. For example Asia, which has so far produced 40 p.c. of the total turnover. At present this market is not too prosperous although there are a few positive signs, but that deficiency was almost made up by comparatively good sales in Europe, since the boom in the motor manufacturing industry and therefore in tyre production also benefits machine manufacturers. For the current year further growth in tyre sales figures is generally expected, at least in Germany. That should herald a bright future for machine manufacturers in the tyre industry, shouldn’t it?
In an interview with the rather left-wing daily paper “Liberation” Edouard Michelin gave his comment on the so-called “Michelin Affair”. On 8th September the group reported a 20 p.c. rise in its half-yearly profits while at the same time declaring that it wanted to shed 7,500 employees in European factories within three years. The Michelin boss attributes the unusually fierce public reaction, by French politicians in particular, to insufficient public discussion. It has to be possible, he argued, to take the right entrepreneurial measures in time to achieve a rapid improvement in productivity, which is 15 to 20 p.c. below that of the group’s main competitors, Bridgestone and Goodyear. And the only way to do that, he claimed, is through accelerated growth on the basis of a new sales policy and through job cuts. Edouard Michelin reminded his critics that in the last twenty years the group had twice been faced with extinction, that it had needed to lose 25,000 employees in France and in spite of that had issued only 186 dismissal notices. Asked about the “Lex Michelin” (a change of law to accommodate the “Michelin case”, dealing with the application for state aid to facilitate social plans), Edouard Michelin pointed out that the group had indeed received a French state subsidy for its social plans in the past amounting to four or five billion francs, but that at the same time the French state had received 45 billion francs in social contributions, taxes and other levies. Today the group still makes 30 p.c. of total investments within France, he continued, and retains 30 p.c. of the production capacity in the country, although the domestic market takes only 15 p.c. of total sales. Though keen to dust off certain parts of the company, he said, he wants to preserve its culture, personality and customs. As the head of a “family business” he sees himself as “permanently accountable” and cannot afford not to make long-term plans, because he is only too well aware of having to defend his decisions also in five or ten years’ time. On the question of worldwide merger plans Edouard Michelin said that his company is in a position “to play an active part. Our gaze is directed towards Asia. Michelin has a talent for growth.”
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