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Goodyear to Build New Factories in Asia, Eastern Europe

On August 15 Goodyear made mention of plans to build new tyre factories in Asia and Eastern Europe in addition to expanding capacity at existing facilities. These new additions come as part of the tyremaker’s plans to increase global capacity for high margin tyre lines by 40 per cent and capacity in existing low-cost facilities by a third. According to Goodyear, these new plants and increased capacity will be instrumental in company plans to source half its global tyre production from low-cost countries by 2012.

The US tyre major also plans to inject funds into its facilities in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Gadsden, Alabama, to increase their capacity for producing higher-margin tyre lines.

16th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

New ATL Package from Codi International

Due to increased demand, Codi International is in August launching a complete automatic test lane (ATL) package from the Danish specialists HH Intertech. The VOSA approved ATL package is comprised of a brake tester, brake test control unit, vehicle lift with play detector and headlamp alignment unit. There is a full range of equipment to meet both Class IV and Class VII standards. The brake testers are PC controlled, store individual tests for a minimum of a year and provide print-outs.

The test, operated by an infra red remote, automatically calculates brake efficiency of service and parking brakes, incorporates axle weighing and has a manual facility for testing four wheel drive vehicles. The roller unit of the brake tester is of robust quality construction with hot dip galvanised chassis.

15th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Birla Tyres to Remain Part of Kesoram

In the face of rumours that Birla Tyres is to be demerged from its parent company, Basant Kumar Birla has stated that both the tyre business and its sister cement business will remain part of Kesoram Industries after he cedes control of the company to a new generation. The 87 year old B K Birla Group of Companies patriarch confirmed that, when he retires in about three years’ time, his grandson Kumar Mangalam Birla will be handed the entire business of BK Birla group aside from a small part portioned out to other family members.

“I have not yet decided that how to divide Kesoram,” said Basant Kumar Birla. “But one thing is for sure that the cement business will remain with the company. Even the tyre business too will remain with Kesoram …Only a small portion of Kesoram could be demerged but that is still to be worked out.”

14th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Update: Infinity Truck Tyres at a Realistic Price

Manufactured by the Shandong Linglong Rubber Company in China, Infinity tyres continue to be seen as a leading ‘value for money’ force in the highly competitive international market. A private brand label of the Al Dobowi Group based in Dubai, Infinity is not produced by the Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber company as was erroneously reported. Al Dobowi’s divisional Company, Goldspark Trading is based in London, and they are responsible for the distribution of the brand in the UK, Ireland and throughout Europe.

A fully comprehensive range is available from 16 inches and 17.5 inch ratios, through to 445/65R22.5. Goldspark General Manager, Rob Henderson says: “Infinity truck tyres represent excellent value for money and the production capacity in China is being further enhanced to cope with the additional ongoing demand for the tyres. This currently stands at 3 million units but in 2008 this capacity will rise to 4 million.”

13th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Kumho Consolidating in China

International News, Product News

(Rubber Asia/sg) The aggressive forays of Korean tyre major Kumho into China, carried out with a view to establishing the country as its major overseas production base, will go a long way towards realising the company’s vision to emerge as the world’s 5th largest tyre maker by 2015. The booming Chinese tyre market is to become the most important overseas production base for the Kumho Tire Company, if its ongoing activities, the latest being the recent launch of its US$220 million wholly-owned radial truck/bus project in the Nanjing Economic and Technical Development Zone, are any indication. This is the Korean’s fourth major Chinese project, and the company hopes to ultimately produce 1.4 million tyres there annually. The groundbreaking ceremony for the proposed plant was held in May, and the first phase of the project, with an installed capacity of 300,000 tyres per year, is expected to go on stream by June 2008.

10th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

First Batch from Hankook’s Hungary Plant Roll off Production Line

Hankook Tire has shipped its first batch of tyres produced at the company’s maiden European manufacturing operation. Current capacity is reportedly 1 million units, but mass production operations at the factory could be up and running in as little as six weeks. The first batch is reportedly en route to the UK and France, two of the manufacturer’s key regional markets.

The tyres produced are the Optimo K415 and K715, which were developed mainly for the European replacement business. Hankook Tire Executive Vice-President and COO for Europe, Seung-Do Jin, Hankook Tire CTO & CPO Hwi-Joong Kim together with the Hungarian plant Managing Director Eung-Young Lee wished a safe journey to the drivers of the first two trucks leaving the loading platform of the new Hankook-warehouse, located next to the production facilities.

10th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Overview: Triangle Tyre

Since its establishment 31 years ago (1976) in Weihai (Shandong province) Triangle Tyre has developed strongly and many things have changed over the years. Firstly, the company was founded as Weihai Factory; later on it was renamed as Shandong Tire Factory. Twenty years after it was first set up the company was finally given its current name: Shandong Triangle Tire Co. Ltd.

Today the Triangle group, with the tyre factory at its core, has 6,300 employees. Last year, the group generated an annual turnover of about 727 million euros, and during the past three years alone turnover has increased by 50 per cent. Triangle has a production capacity of around 11 million tyres, eight million of which are radials, produced at the Triangle facility since the mid 1990s.

Currently the company has plans to expand and restructure its production capacity. By the end of next year output will increase to 14 million units and by 2009 to as much as 17 million units. The Triangle group mainly produces – next to passenger car tyres – truck, OTR, industrial, agricultural and other tyre types; thus is a strong commercial tyre producer.
Triangle tyres are DOT- and E-marked and carry the CCC Chinese approval mark and the local Chinese market. They are not only sold on the Chinese and international replacement markets but also to many Chinese OE customers. According to the company, Triangle sells tyres to more than 100 countries. The tyre manufacturer is certified according to ISO-9001 and ISO-14001 as well as QS9000.

9th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Alcaline: ‘Continental Ideal in the Long Run’

International haulier Alcaline (UK) Limited has reported that it finds Continental tyres ideally suited to the sort of long-distance operation that takes its trucks deep into Italy and increasingly into Eastern Europe. From the UK, the company runs 40 tractor units and 60 trailers out of its base at Ashford in Kent, which is conveniently located for the Channel tunnel and Dover ferry port. Coiled steel, paper and automotive parts are the main products carried and the company plays a key role in the supply chain for several prestige car makers.

Almost all the trucks are DAF’s top-of-the range XF95 and XF105 two axle tractors – the latter being the current ‘International Truck of the Year’ – operating at 40 tonnes gross. Trailers are high-quality, tri-axle curtainsiders by Schmitz Cargobull, including ‘mega cube’ units of up to 104 cubic metres capacity, and all are on air suspension.

9th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Second-Hand Tyres Costing More Than New as OTR Shortage Bites

(Akron/Tire Review – Mining Weekly South Africa) Second-hand tyres for large off-road trucks were costing more than new ones because of the biting tyre shortage, Kumba Iron Ore CEO Ras Myburgh told Mining Weekly Online on Tuesday. Myburgh said that the shortage of tyres was at one stage so acute that trucks were grounded for months.

Second-hand tyres were selling in the region of R250,000 each and trucks costing as much as $5-million dollars were being delivered without tyres because of the acute shortage. He said that the JSE-listed Kumba bought tyres separately. “Currently you can get trucks, but you can’t get tyres,” he said. “If you don’t have a long-term supply agreement, you can end up buying brand-new tyres that last only a fraction of what you get from normal suppliers.

8th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

New Butyl Rubber Production Technology Enters Production

A new rubber processing technology pioneered by ExxonMobil Chemical has entered commercial production in France. At the end of July ExxonMobil Chemical reported that its Notre Dame de Gravenchon (NDG) facility had begun employing a technology that reportedly can significantly increase the butyl rubber production capacity at established production plants. In addition to increasing capacity, ExxonMobil Chemical state that the process now being used at the NDG plant is more energy efficient than current methods owing to changes in the temperature at which the butyl rubber polymerization process takes place.

The process technology unrolled at the NDG plant is the result of a long-term multi-million dollar program conducted by ExxonMobil Chemical. “This is possibly the biggest breakthrough in butyl process technology since the invention of halobutyl,” said Art Sullivan, Global Butyl Polymers vice president at ExxonMobil Chemical. “It is the culmination of our relentless focus and investment in research and development, and it demonstrates the continued technical leadership of ExxonMobil Chemical and our continued commitment to the global tyre industry.”

The commercial application of the technology comes after two years of tests and trials at the NDG facility. Stable, efficient plant operations, significantly higher production capability with existing reactors and refrigeration compressors and equivalent product properties and performance were amongst the key success criteria evaluated prior to commercialisation of the technology. The company plans to implement the new technology at its other butyl plants around the world, however details of the company’s plans, including the timing and target capacity increment, have yet to be finalised.

7th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Maul Scrap Tyres with a Grizzly

The US manufacturer of recycling equipment Granutech-Saturn Systems and its Cheshire based dealer/distributor BTR Group are working together to provide equipment and design expertise to tyre processors throughout the UK. Their latest sales and installations include:

Wheeldon Brothers
With the goal of making steel free granules smaller than 15mm from whole truck and car tyres, Bury’s Wheeldon Brothers Waste commissioned a two-stage process Granutech-Saturn tyre granulation system. The system features a Saturn Model 60-44BGHT tyre shredder with 300hp hydraulic drive system and the Granutech Model 80 Grizzly, a stage-two grinder that effectively separates steel from the tyre rubber while keeping operating costs at a minimum. Plans are currently in the works to expand the processing side of the system to reduce material to as small as 0.5mm.

3rd August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Marangoni US Facility now Company Owned

Marangoni Tread North America has finalised purchase of its current manufacturing facility premises in Madison, Tennessee. This transaction concludes a process of expansion and development at the facility as part of the company’s declared aim of further strengthening its presence in the North American market.

The purchase of the 80,000 m2 (including a covered surface area of 14,000 m2) premises required an investment in the region of US$5,000,000. As a result of the purchase, the warehouse, which was previously contracted out, can now be managed directly. Marangoni hopes efficiency in the clearance of customer orders can thus be improved.

Recent expansions to the facility that saw its surface area triple will lead to an increase in production output and double production capacity over the next two years. “Now, approximately 75 per cent of the North American demand can be met locally”, said Bill Sweatman, chairman of Marangoni Tread North America. “This expansion will help us to further improve our response to customer service requirements.”

3rd August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Welsh JV Liquid Nitrogen Facility Opens

TyreGenics’ new £4 million recycling facility in Baglan, South Wales is now open and operational. The facility, which uses liquid nitrogen to freeze shreds of tyres to below –80C before pulverising them into tiny crumbs, is the first facility of its type in northern Europe. The new plant is said to have a capacity of 80 tonnes per day and will create more than 30 jobs now that it is open. The ground breaking collaboration by majority shareholder Credential Environmental and BOC, Field Turf and RTI was backed by £1.4 million of European development funding. Crucially, like the announcement that its cement works plans are going ahead, the Welsh TyreGenics plant opening provides a new and disposal route for reprocessed ELTs.

The TyreGenics process uses liquid nitrogen to freeze shreds of tyre to below -80˚C, at which point they become brittle, then mechanical ‘hammers’ to smash the rubber into ‘crumb’. The product has a number of uses, including the production of artificial sports pitches, insulation products and rubber flooring. And it is here that the project can be distinguished from previous efforts to use cryogenic technology. This North American connection with Canadian companies Field Turf and Cryogenic systems maker, RTI, provides both the means to produce the technology and a secure sales route. According to the company, 70 per cent of production for the next three years has already been bought by Field Turf.

2nd August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Buys Oliver Rubber for $69 million

Michelin North America, Inc. has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Oliver Rubber Company, the Cooper Tire & Rubber Company tread rubber and retreading equipment subsidiary, for $69 million. The acquisition is subject to final due diligence as well as Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice approval. Following the acquisition, Oliver will operate as a subsidiary of Michelin North America, Inc.

According to an official statement on the subject: “This acquisition will complement the manufacturing capability and service network of Oliver with that of the Michelin Retread Technologies (MRT) network, enabling Michelin to extend its reach in the growing commercial retreading market. In 2005 Michelin announced a major expansion of its tread manufacturing facility in Covington, Ga. and, earlier this month, the opening of a new manufacturing facility in Mexico.”

31st July 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Sales Up, Profits Posted, Titan Eyes 73.5-Inch Tyre

(Akron/Tire Review) Titan International posted record first half sales of $436.6, up 22 per cent from the same period last year, but dropped only $2.5 million in net profits for the period, down from a $14.2 million net profit in the first half of 2006.

Titan said its total sales for second quarter 2007 were $210.3 million, up 20 per cent from the $175.2 million in sales posted for the second quarter of 2006. Net income for the quarter was $5.0 million, down slightly from 2006’s $5.6 million.

“The second quarter has been very exciting for Titan,” said Maurice Taylor, Titan’s chairman and CEO. “Our sales are up, as they should be from last year’s acquisition. We are expanding our OTR business and adding new OTR products by expanding capacity in Freeport, Illinois. While this is happening in Freeport, certain farm tyres are being transferred to our Des Moines facility.”

31st July 2007/by Tyrepress Editors