A press release made public by tyre pressure monitoring system manufacturer Beru AG on June 26 reports that Marco von Maltzan and the company’s supervisory board have mutually agreed to end Mr. von Maltzan’s activity as member and chairman of Beru’s executive board as of that day. The release added that the supervisory board “thanks Mr. von Maltzan for his efforts and his successful activity for the company over a period of more than four years.”
Bridgestone Corporation announced on June 27 that its board of directors has given approval to a number of proposed changes to board members and corporate officers. The changes to board member position and responsibilities, effective as of June 29, are as follows:
– Masaharu Oku: Oku’s new position is that of vice president and senior officer, and he will continue in the role of member of the board responsible for production technology. Mr. Oku will discontinue his present position as director of the Raw Material Manufacturing Engineering Development Division.
As of 1st July Dr. Andreas Esser (48), who has headed Continental’s global Original Equipment Car Tires business for many years, will be responsible for the company’s newly-created business units Replacement Business Car Tires and Replacement Business Truck Tires Asia, based in Shanghai. At the same time Nikolai Setzer will take over as head of Continental’s Original Equipment Car Tires business. Dr. Esser previously held this position for over six years, whilst Nikolai Setzer was responsible for the OE Car Tires business in North and South America.
Creating the two new business units enables Continental to consolidate its growing activities in the car, MPV/light van and commercial vehicle tyre replacement business on Asia’s booming market, and Continental believes this move demonstrates the company’s interest in this continent. In his new position Dr. Esser will report directly to Manfred Wennemer, chairman of the board at Continental AG and head of the Car Tire division, as well as to Dr. Hans-Joachim Nikolin, who is a member of the board and is also responsible for the Commercial Vehicle Tire division. Dr. Esser headed the Original Equipment Car Tires business unit for over six years and under his leadership Continental became number one in Europe for OE sales and number three in North America.
Niall Smith joins the Business Development team at Viking International, taking on the role of Business Development Manager for the Midlands. With almost 10 years sales experience from the motor trade and tyre industry, Smith brings vast knowledge and valuable skills to the team. Looking forward to the new challenge, Niall commented: “I intend to help Viking International continue to provide a first class service to customers in this area.”
Amtel-Vredestein N.V. will debut a 150 million euro-denominated Eurobond by 30 June 2007. The company plans to use proceeds from the Eurobond to replace some of its existing debt positions. Nomura International plc will manage the sale of the unsecured Eurobond.
“I enthusiastically support Amtel-Vredestein’s inaugural Eurobond, which is expected to further align the Company’s funding structure with its operating needs,” said Supervisory Board Chairman, major shareholder and Amtel-Vredestein founder, Sudhir Gupta.
“We believe that this Eurobond will be an ideal new opportunity for investors to participate in Amtel-Vredestein’s debt portfolio and we fully support it,” said Vagan Abgaryan, Head of Asset Management, Senior Vice President of major shareholder Alfa Bank.
Former United Steelworkers union members who crossed picket lines during last year’s Goodyear strike in the US have filed a complaint against the union with the National Labor Relations Board. The ex-union members claim that the union’s Local 2 fined each of the workers US$620 while also continuing to collect union dues from their pay despite the termination of their union membership.
The tyre makers state their return to work was necessary for them to continue supporting their families, but according to the complaint, the Local 2 then held an internal trial committee and imposed the fine on each employee who had returned. Since that time, the complainants add, the union “has been interfering with, restraining and coercing employees.”
Amerityre Corp. has promoted chief operating officer Dr Gary Benninger to president and chief executive of the company. Benninger, 64, will become president immediately and will succeed Richard Steinke as CEO from 1 September. Steinke, 63, will serve as a full-time technology consultant once Benninger becomes CEO.
In January 2007, Mr. Steinke announced his intention to step down as chairman and chief executive officer of the company as part of the company’s overall management succession plan. The board of directors selected Dr. Benninger following months of deliberations and interviews with several potential candidates proposed by an independent executive search firm. Dr. Benninger has been serving as the company’s chief operating officer since October 2005.
On May 31 Bridgestone Corporation announced that the company’s board of directors have approved a number of top-level management changes, to become effective July 1. Hideo (Hank) Hara, who served as executive vice president, Tire Development and Technology with Bridgestone America at their Akron Technical Center until returning to Japan in mid-October 2006, is to assume the position of vice president and officer, Original Equipment Tire Sales. His role prior to July 1 is that of vice president and officer, Original Equipment Tire Sales and Motorsport.
On May 31 Bridgestone Corporation announced that the company’s board of directors have approved a number of top-level management changes, to become effective July 1. Hideo (Hank) Hara, who served as executive vice president, Tire Development and Technology with Bridgestone America at their Akron Technical Center until returning to Japan in mid-October 2006, is to assume the position of vice president and officer, Original Equipment Tire Sales. His role prior to July 1 is that of vice president and officer, Original Equipment Tire Sales and Motorsport.
(Akron/Tire Review) According to European news reports, Gerhard Cromme, supervisory board chairman of Siemens, said Continental AG’s $13.4 billion bid for Siemens VDO, the company’s automotive electronics unit, is not high enough.
Various sources say that TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. has also made an indicative bid and that private-equity firms are also interested.
(Akron/Tire Review) The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) has made some staff changes. The board of directors named current COO and CFO Tim Zilke to succeed Ron Weiner as president and CEO. Weiner had served as president and CEO for the last 25 years. Zilke, who first joined ASE in 1991, will take the reins as of Jan. 1, 2008.
“Over the last 30 years, Ron’s contribution to the organization has been enormous,” said Stan Elmore, ASE board chairman. “Under Ron’s leadership, ASE has enjoyed tremendous growth and earned a prestigious reputation within the occupational testing industry. Ron has developed a great team that will step up to fill his shoes and drive ASE into the future without missing a beat. He has agreed to remain available to assist ASE as a consultant.”
In addition, ASE promoted Trish Serratore to senior vice president and extended Bill Kersten’s tenure as president of the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation.
Three new class 1 directors were elected at Titan International’s annual shareholders meeting on May 17. Chosen for the three-year term were J. Michael A. Akers, Edward J. Campbell and Maurice M. Taylor Jr. Titan stockholders also voted in favour of amending the company’s bylaws to allow the number of board of director positions to increase from the current level of seven to a total of nine positions. Also on the agenda was the ratification of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the company’s independent registered public accounting firm for 2007.
Titan’s Board of Directors met after the stockholders meeting and re-elected Maurice M. Taylor Jr. as chairman and CEO, Ernest J. Rodia as executive vice president and COO, Kent W. Hackamack as vice president of finance and treasurer and Cheri T. Holley as vice president and secretary.
GPX International Tire Corporation (GPX) has appointed Craig Steinke, formerly President and Chief Executive Officer of Eagle Family Foods (a $500 million consumer product company) as President and Chief Operation Officer starting June 1, 2007.
Before his role at Eagle, Craig was a Senior Vice President and Group General Manager at Broken Hills Propriety (BHP) a $100 billion mineral resource company. He was responsible for worldwide sales, marketing and operations with direct responsibility for $3 billion of sales. Prior to this position, Craig was President of Magma Metals, a subsidiary of Magma Copper, a $1 billion resource company. Craig was responsible for sales, marketing and operations of a 1,000 person smelting and refining facility. Craig is a CPA and spent 10 years with Arthur Andersen before entering the private sector.
According to preliminary figures, Delticom revenues increased by approximately 52 per cent to 38.9 million euros compared with 25.6 million euros for the same period in the previous year. EBIT improved to £300,000 at 31 March 2007 following negative EBIT (30,000 euros) in the first quarter of 2006.
The first three months of the year are seen as the weakest in terms of sales and earnings and this was no different for Delticom. Most winter tyres had already been bought before the turn of the year and sales of summer tyres only begin in earnest in the second quarter, a company statement read.
“With the preliminary quarterly figures, we started the current year somewhat better than we had thought”, explained Rainer Binder of the Delticom AG Managing Board, adding: “Having increased our revenues by 34 per cent in fiscal year 2006 and generated a strong EBIT margin of 5.9 per cent, the online tyre market also offers good growth opportunities for us this year. We intend to make use of these in the course of the year and to continue our strong growth in 2007.”
A number of senior management changes were decided upon at the Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd board of directors meeting in early May. These changes will become effective subject to approval being granted at the general meeting of shareholders on June 28.
Three corporate officers, Koichi Tanaka, Takashi Fukui and Norio Karashima, have been promoted to the role of managing corporate officer. Taking their place as corporate officers are Etsuji Hanatate, who on June 28 will become corporate officer deputy general manager of Tire Overseas Sales & Marketing Division and general manager of Tire Overseas Sales & Marketing Department No.2, and Misao Hiza, who will become in charge of MB Technical, general manager of MB Business Development Center, general manager of Hamatite Division and general manger of Hamatite Technical Department.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
