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Kayaba Strengthens UK Logistics

Kayaba UK has improved its logistics support to the aftermarket with an additional warehouse facility and a new warehouse manager.

Located in Warrington, next to the company’s HQ, the new warehouse provides an additional 5,000 square metres, with a stockholding capacity of 42,000 components and space for 500 pallets.

Running the new operation is newly-appointed warehouse manager Chris Flood (32), who joins Kayaba UK from logistics company Exel, where he worked his way up to management level.

30th March 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Apollo To Make Passenger Radials?

Michelin Apollo is eyeing the possibility of producing passenger car tyres, perhaps even tyres for India’s large two-wheeler market, Asian news sources have reported. The news comes as the company prepares to enter the Indian truck and bus tyre market with radial products.

According to Herve Dub, chief executive, there are no definite plans for car tyre production but he concedes that plenty of market assessment is underway. Currently the company imports Michelin brand tyres into the market, although it is aiming to begin producing within India by the end of 2005. Capacity at the company’s $85 milllion joint venture is expected to hit 350,000 tyres per annum by the end of the decade.

22nd March 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

MRF Plans to Protect Profits

(India/Rubber Asia) The profits of MRF, one of India’s largest tyre makers, are continuing to come under pressure. With raw material costs showing no signs of easing, the company is resisting attempts to pass cost pressures onto consumers. Chairman and MD, K M Mammen summed up the situation when he admitted that the company was searching for areas where is could rein costs in to “protect our profits.”

21st March 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper Strike Update

(Akron/Tire Review) Workers at Cooper Tire & Rubber’s Texarkana, Arkansas, tyre plant remained on strike today, as talks between the tyre maker and United Steelworkers of America (USWA) negotiators are said to be continuing. USWA represented employees walked off the job 12 March when their contract with Cooper, which had been extended from an earlier 6 March deadline, finally expired.

16th March 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

New Start for Prestige Batteries

Platinum Batteries Ltd has released a statement thanking customers for their support during the company’s litigation case with Fiamm Automotive Ltd, which was finally settled last December. “It was extremely difficult maintaining stock levels during the litigation process and our national customer database has been extremely supportive and patient with us. Our situation is turning around rapidly now, with stock levels already back to capacity.

“We will be trading as Prestige Batteries, the result of seeing a marked increase in demand for our four year calcium/calcium range of batteries. The company has a bright outlook for the future and much confidence in it’s ability to go from strength to strength, expanding its share of the UK market,” the statement concluded.

15th March 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin’s Dundee Expansion Gets Underway

Work has begun on Michelin’s £1.2 million extension of production facilities at its car tyre plant in Dundee, the Evening Telegraph and Post has reported. The project represents the first phase of a planned £4 million investment programme aimed at increasing the daily output of tyres from the Baldovie complex by 20 per cent by 2007. The new facility is due to become operational in October.

15th March 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Performance Fibers to Build Second Plant in China

Performance Fibers will build a second polyester fibre and fabric plant in Kaiping, China, to meet demand from the country’s growing automotive market. The new plant will double the company’s dimensionally stable polyester capacity in China, where it is the industry leader. This is the company’s second expansion at the Kaiping facility in two years, having doubled capacity of the original plant with the addition of new production lines in early 2005.

11th March 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Trelleborg Inaugurates Wuxi, China Plant

The Trelleborg Group has inaugurated its newly constructed Chinese plant Wuxi , part of expansive Shanghai region. The Wuxi plant, which has approximately 300 employees, will produce antivibration systems and other vehicle components. The plant replaces an earlier Trelleborg facility in Wuxi and represents a doubling of production capacity. According to a company statement, the new facility has a total area of nearly 20,000 square metres and has been designed according to strictest environmental considerations. Trelleborg Automotive has also recently opened a technical centre in Shanghai.

“This is another stage in strengthening our leading position in China,” says George Caplea, president of the Trelleborg Automotive business area. “We now have a best-in-class facility with enough capacity to meet growing demand, while we are also able to offer very favourable technical-development capacity, benefiting both domestic and international customers.”

11th March 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Time for Goodyear to Set Foot in Russia?

Speculation that the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co will enter the Russian tyre market with a big investment is starting to become more concrete. Reports by a Russian analyst explain that the American tyre giant has shown the “most interest” on the subject of a partial takeover of joint-stock company, Nizhnekamskshina.

9th March 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Boosts Earthmover Tyre Production

Groupe Michelin has announced that it will increase earthmover tyre production capacity in both its Lexington, South Carolina, and Vitoria, Spain, plants. The capacity boost results from “unprecedented growth of the surface mining industry worldwide,” according to Michelin. The expansion plans complete production enhancements started by the manufacturer in 2003 and 2004.

8th March 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Denies Trenco Interest

Michelin will not buy the whole Trenco Egyptian conglomerate, as some new sources had reported. According to an article in French newspaper, Les Echos, Michelin was likely to buy the conglomerate for $10 million, despite its daily losses of $40,000 and debts of $200 million. Deutsche Bank analysts contacted Michelin and report that the company denied being interested in the whole conglomerate, but only in the Nisr tyre brand. Nisr is much smaller in comparison, producing only 30,000 tyres each year. Egypt is the 5th largest North African market with an annual volume of 3 million passenger tyres and 700,000 truck tyres. This is an attractive market for Michelin which aims to expand its production capacity in this region, the analysts believe.

3rd March 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Invests

Bridgestone has announced that it will invest 227 billion yen (£1.13 billion) in its global tyre manufacturing business between 2003 and 2007. In the announcement the company explained that is has been operating a kind of five-year investment plan, in order to meet growth in demand. According to a Deutsche Bank report, the company is to invest 88 billion yen (£438 million) in addressing the shift in demand towards high-performance tyres and tyres of large rim sizes.

To meet the increase in demand for passenger car tyres in emerging markets, Bridgestone is investing 49 billion yen (£244 million) in the expansion of its production capacity in Asia and Latin America. The company is also planning to put 50 billion yen (£249 million) towards serving the growing demand for truck and bus tyres and tyres for construction equipment. In addition the company is planning to have spent another 40 billion yen (£199 million) on raw material production expansion by the end of its investment programme.

28th February 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Sumitomo and Hwa Fong Team Up

Duro brand tyre maker Hwa Fong Rubber Industrial has received an order from Sumitomo Rubber for 750,000 ATV tyres annually, according to reports out of Taiwan. Hwa Fong Rubber Industrial’s plant in Thailand will reportedly produce the tyres, writes Tire Review.

Hwa Fong Chairman Steven Chang said the order is a “major achievement” for the company’s ATV tyre business. Deliveries are set to begin in April. Chang said the order is so large that Hwa Fong is investing $13 million to $16 million to add capacity at the Thailand plant.

18th February 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

MEMA Reports Steel Cost Crisis

A new research report by the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA) suggests that government intervention in the US steel market has caused a cost crisis that is hurting automotive and heavy-duty suppliers across the country, reports Tire Review. The MEMA report says that the result has been “unprecedented bankruptcies and job losses.”

The MEMA study, available online at www.mema.org, was written by economists Brian Becker and Kevin Hassett. The pair found that the steel crisis “triggered distortions in the steel market that have contributed to decreased availability, poorer quality and delayed deliveries of steel,” according to MEMA.

18th February 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli Shares Market Insights, 2005 Outlook

In a recent Tire Review interview, Guy Mannino, president and CEO of Pirelli Tire North America, spoke of the “pretty great year” his company had in 2004. He and Peter Tyson, vice president of advertising, public relations and motorsports, presented Tire Review with an exclusive look at its overall strategy for 2005.

17th February 2005/by Tyrepress Editors