Pirelli has opened a second tyre distribution centre in Canada. Located in Vancouver, the new facility will service customers in the country’s western region. The new facility will be managed by Schenker Distribution. According to Pirelli, its continuing growth in Canada, despite the automotive sector’s current downturn, necessitates an expansion of capacity at this time.
Michelin Tyre plc has announced the sale of its share in the Sapphire Energy Recover joint venture. The company, established in 2001 by Michelin together with cement and aggregate producer Lafarge, is now solely owned by Lafarge.
The decision to move Sapphire to sole ownership was made, says Michelin, once the business had successfully achieved its objective of developing a healthy and viable end-of-life process for used tyres. Sapphire provides the items to the cement industry as a waste-derived fuel, and the tyre maker adds that a sustainable market that benefits both tyre manufacturers and cement producers has now been created.
Barack Obama may have travelled on Goodyear truck tyres to his January 20 inauguration, but competitor Michelin was by no means left out in the cold during the day’s festivities. The manufacturer reports that NASA astronauts piloted their latest generation moon vehicle, the Small Pressurized Lunar Rover, in the Washington D.C. inaugural parade. The lunar rover rode from the US Capitol to the White House upon a specially engineered Michelin Tweel assembly.
“Michelin and NASA have a long history of successful collaboration. For more than 20 years, Michelin has supplied tyres for the space shuttle. Over the past three years, we have also worked with NASA to develop a revolutionary tire/wheel assembly for the next generation of lunar rovers,” said David Stafford, chief operating officer of Michelin Americas Research Company. “We are pleased that NASA, one of the world’s most demanding customers, has selected Michelin to accompany them as millions see this amazing vehicle showcased for the first time.”
Nokian Car and Van has responded to reduced demand with a raft of job cuts and temporary layoffs. The company has eliminated a total of 232 jobs, of which 106 are to be covered by pension arrangements. In addition, a further 440 people will be temporarily furloughed in 110 batches over a nine-week cycle, plus 62 more are to be laid off until further notice.
Continental AG, along with vehicle manufacturer Daimler, has received the ‘Gelben Engel’ – Yellow Angel – award from the German automobile association ADAC for the lithium-ion battery technology that is to feature as standard equipment in the Mercedes S400 BlueHYBRID from mid 2009. The companies received their Yellow Angel in the ‘Innovation and Environment’ category for the battery’s contribution in the fields of road safety, automotive safety and traffic-related environmental protection.
Due to declining demand for butyl rubber, Lanxess AG has elected to reduce production of the product at its Sarnia, Canada, and Zwijndrecht, Belgium facilities. In the coming months the factories belonging to the Butyl Rubber business unit will operate at reduced levels of capacity or will be temporarily shut down, perhaps for a duration of several weeks. Should shutdowns occur, the time will be used for routine maintenance work. About 360 employees in total will be affected by the measures. According to the company, in Canada a number of flexible working arrangements, such as a reduction of overtime and use of annual leave, will be used, while in Belgium employees will be placed on a short-time working arrangement.
The US market is a significant one for the automotive industry, and therefore annual the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit remains an important date in the motoring calendar. Prominently exhibiting at this year’s show is Michelin, and the president of the company’s worldwide passenger car and light truck tyre business, Florent Menegaux, has taken hold of the opportunity afforded by the Detroit show to discuss Michelin’s technological direction.
“Michelin’s approach to technology is to drive improvements in different areas of performance sometimes seen as incompatible,” said Menegaux during a NAIAS press conference. “The strength of Michelin’s capacity for innovation lies in the ability to produce tyres that deliver not only energy savings but also enhanced safety and long-lasting tread life, ensuring the consumer does not have to sacrifice key performance features for energy-efficiency.
US based aluminium wheel manufacturer Superior Industries International intends to close its factory in Van Nuys, California. In a statement published January 13, the company said the closure is taking place “in an effort to further reduce costs and more closely align its capacity with sharply lower demand for light vehicles.” Superior Industries added that its remaining five North American facilities and its Hungarian joint venture operation contain sufficient capacity to accommodate current and expected production requirements.
After five weeks of lock out conditions at the factory under lease to Apollo Tyres, plant management and union representatives appear to have made little or no progress in resolving their differences. A January 7 meeting conveyed by the labour minister of India’s Kerala state, PK Gurudasan, broke down when the two parties could not reach a consensus on the list of 12 items management views as essential for the factory’s ongoing viability. Union representatives agreed to consider just three, and said the remaining proposals would be discussed only after the lockout was lifted.
“For Mitas and its CGS TYRES subsidiaries, 2008 was a highly successful year,” comments Andrew Mabin, sales and marketing director at Mitas/CGS Tyres, summarising the past twelve months. Mabin, who took up his new post on 1 September, 2008, is responsible for global activities in Original Equipment and the replacement market. He succeeds Werner Flebbe, who retired in October of this year. Previously Mabin was head of the British subsidiary of Mitas.
CGS Tyres is the international distribution organisation and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mitas a.s. Mitas develops, produces and markets agricultural tyres internationally under its own brand name Mitas, as well as under the Continental, Semperit and Euzkadi brand names, which are under long-term licence. The company says that it is Europe’s second largest manufacturer of agricultural tyres.
The unions representing workers involved in the PTL factory lockout in India are said to have bolstered their resolve following the breakdown of their second discussion with company management. According to India’s Express News Service, union leaders are accusing the Apollo Tyres supplier of changing their demands each time employees agree to the previous set.
“The workers have already agreed to the conditions put forward by the management for capacity utilisation in the wake of recession,” said Premier Tyres Employees Union president K N Raveendranath. “But, the management is behaving with certain ulterior motive and putting forward fresh set of demands every time.
Apollo Tyres, the sole recipient of products manufactured by PTL Enterprises, has expressed its hope that unions will work with management to save the jobs of more than 1,000 employees at the company’s Kalamassery factory. A list of 12 items management consider inherent for the survival of the factory were on the agenda at a January 7 meeting convened by the Kerala state labour minister, Mr P K Gurudasan. Of these 12 items, reports Apollo Tyres, unions agreed to consider only three. The remainder, they said, would be discussed only after the lockout is lifted. This has, says Apollo, left management “completely disheartened”, as it says previous lockouts have also taken this route without resolution to a single pending request taking place. All 12 items, says the Indian manufacturer, relate to better manufacturing practices and the need to expand and modernise for higher efficiencies. Company management has also appealed to the Kerala State Government to play a positive role, which it says will result in better industrial standards, more employment and even higher Government revenues.
“In 2008 the Ultra High Performance tyre market experienced changes unlike any year before it and as a result will never be the same again,” that’s the assessment Sentaida USA general manager Don Mathis recently gave Tyres & Accessories. In other circumstances this may have sounded exaggerated, but with the Bank of England slashing interest rates to their lowest point in the institution’s 315-year history and US interest rates heading even lower, the unprecedented economic conditions seem to suggest the international tyre trade is also entering uncharted territory.
“UHP aftermarket sales have been the main and nearly only shining star in the tyre business for the last eight to 10 years. The margins and growth have surpassed nearly every other segment of the market,” Mathis explained. However, this year has also been unlike any other in the experienced sales manager’s 36 years in the tyre business. He believes the unique combination of surplus capacity in UHP factories mixed with the early year surge in raw material costs, mid-year surge in fuel cost, and the credit crunch halting new car sales and taking aftermarket wheel sales with them means the market has hit a watershed.
Battery manufacturer Johnson Controls has undertaken a four-year test to confirm that its PROmotive range of calcium-silver alloy premium quality truck batteries provides greater performance than traditional lead acid batteries.
The test programme involved commercial vehicles fitted with PROmotive and traditional batteries, operating in the harsh cold climate of northern Scandinavia and also in southern Europe. Demanding CV applications were chosen, ranging from typical delivery truck stop start and tail lift cycles giving little time for batteries to recharge, to long distance haulage with trucks equipped with numerous heavy power consumers.
Dunlop says that business is booming at its Fort Dunlop motorsport factory. Currently the plant is turning out 200,000 bespoke racing car and motorcycle tyres per annum, and victories achieved on the factory’s tyres, including last year’s Le Man and Isle of Man TT, mean that the 300 staff at Fort Dunlop are being kept very busy indeed.
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