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Dunlop India Test Marketing Sumitomo PCR Tyres

Dunlop India has reportedly begun the test marketing of passenger car radials produced by Sumitomo. These tyres will be sold in India under the Dunlop brand name.

The company’s plans to import passenger car radials is in addition to its TBR and OTR tyre imports, a current necessity for Dunlop. “We are facing technical problems in stabilising the production at Sahagunj beyond 50 tonnes a day,” commented Ruia Group chairman Pawan Kumar Ruia. “Until the problem is over, we cannot go for the slated capacity expansion.

21st August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Superior Industries to Close Factory, Cut 29% of US Workforce

Aluminium wheel manufacturer Superior Industries International has announced the closure of its factory in Pittsburg, Kansas. This decision was taken during its recent review of strategic initiatives to reduce costs and balance its manufacturing capacity in light of reduced demand for SUVs and light trucks.

The closure will take place on December 19 and 600 jobs will be lost as a result. Superior Industries expects to incur severance and related costs of approximately US$1.8 million in the next six months from August 2008. Asset impairment charges related to closing the facility have yet to be determined, but will be recorded in the financial quarter ending September 30. As of July 27, 2008, the net book value of manufacturing equipment at the Pittsburg location was approximately $13.2 million.

20th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Seeks Government Help Over Lockout

Management at Apollo Tyres, who instigated a lockout at the company’s factory in Kerala, India, are now seeking local government intervention. According to local media sources, the lockout was declared at 1am on August 16 in response to a strike by workers that began two days earlier.

“We feel it is only the labour ministry in the state that can intervene and settle the issue, because even after making an additional capital investment of Rs 150 million (£1.86 million) three months ago, production has not gone up,” an Apollo Tyres official told the Indo-Asian News Service, requesting anonymity.

19th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Ruia Outlines Dunlop India Plans at AGM

Dunlop India is planning to build a ten megawatt captive power plant at its manufacturing unit at Shahgunj in West Bengal. Pawan Kumar Ruia, chairman of Dunlop parent company the Ruia Group, Pawan Kumar Ruia, announced during the company’s annual general meeting that this Rs 500 million (£6.2 million) facility would be built during the next one to one and a half years.

The group has just begun work on a six megawatt captive power plant at a manufacturing site belonging to Falcon Tyres, a company acquired at the same time as Dunlop India in 2005, and as the company’s own requirements here are only 3.5 megawatts, it will sell the surplus electricity. The Shahgunj unit’s captive need is five megawatts.

19th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Lanxess to Move Group Headquarters

Specialty chemicals company Lanxess AG plans to move its headquarters from Leverkusen to Cologne, Germany, with the relocation process to be completed by 2011. Lanxess reports it will now begin discussions with the city of Cologne to identify possible sites.

“Lanxess is today a well-positioned and globally successful enterprise,” explained Axel C. Heitmann, chairman of the Lanxess Board of Management. “If we are to continue efficiently steering and supporting our growth course in the future, we need a Group headquarters building that provides us with optimal conditions.

18th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Tyres unit shut down

A lock-out was declared at Apollo Tyres’ facility in Kerala on August 16, reportedly due to a lack of production and strike action from a portion of the workforce. According to a company spokesman, the lock out began in the morning. The factory had recently undergone a £1.86 million overhaul to increase capacity from 280 to 318 tonnes, however the strike meant that the company could not implement an increase to the new full capacity.

18th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Amidst Rumors, Double Coin Chairman Ousted

Fan Xian has been replaced as chairman of Double Coin Holdings, one of China’s largest tyremakers and parent of China Manufacturers Alliance in the US. There have been a number of unconfirmed reports out of China that Fan had been “detained” and is under investigation by the government for unspecified reasons.

Liu Xunfeng was appointed to replace Fan, effective August 6, by the Shanghai Huayi Group, a government body that owns a 60 per cent share of Double Coin Holdings. Fan also served as vice president of Shanghai Huayi Group, and was replaced in that capacity, as well. Yue Chun Chen, general manager of Double Coin and president of its Shanghai radial truck tyre plant, will continue to manage the day-to-day affairs of the company and its global tire subsidiaries.

14th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Max-imum Benefit

In early August Goodyear was host to more than 50 representatives from DAF Trucks along with fleet customers, presenting a workshop to show the benefits of specifying the latest DAF truck models with the new Goodyear Max Technology tyres. Included in the event, held at Goodyear’s European Technical Centre in Luxembourg, was a visit to the company’s truck tyre production facility in Wittlich, Germany and its Luxembourg Mounting Facility (LMC), where tyres earmarked for OE manufacturers are fitted to wheels before shipment to truck manufacturers.

13th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

A Driving Force

As managing director of Malaysia’s Goodway, Alison Wong (Wong Ping Kiong) was seen as instrumental to many of the company’s successes. 2008 sees her assume the role of Chief Operating Officer

Sales at Goodway Integrated Industries have been healthy these last few years, to say the least. In 2007, the company reported turnover of RM209 million (42.2 million euros), 70 per cent of which was derived from its rubber compound products and the remainder from retreading operations. Goodway attributes a proportion of its good fortune during the last few years to its then managing director, Alison Wong, whom the company has called “a driving force behind Goodway’s many successes.”

13th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Asia Sales Make Up for US Decline, Says Lanxess

Global number two producer of butyl rubber for use in tyres, Lanxess AG, believes the decline in demand from US tyre manufacturers will more than be compensated for by sales in China and India. CFO Matthias Zachert informed Bloomberg that the company’s experience in the US, where rising fuel prices are prompting motorists to drive less and therefore require fewer tyres, is a ‘relatively moderate decline.’

“The growth rates you have in India and China are, in absolute terms, clearly outpacing whatever little percentage you are going to lose on miles being driven,” he said.

8th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli JV Factory to Supply AvtoVAZ

The announced joint venture tyre plant to be established by Pirelli and Russian Technologies will have an initial capacity of 4.2 million tyres, states Pirelli – and sources indicate that a large chunk of production will be supplied to Russian carmaker AvtoVAZ. The facility, to be built in a new industrial estate in northwest Togliatti, in Russia’s Samara region, will be located near the giant AvtoVAZ factory, which is majority controlled by Russian Technologies. The regional government plans to make the industrial estate a special economic zone, in which investors are granted tax concessions.

7th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

ExxonMobil Expands Halobutyl Capacity to Meet Tyre Demand

A major capacity expansion at ExxonMobil Chemical’s halobutyl manufacturing facility in Texas, USA has recently been completed, the company announced. The capacity expansion was carried out, says ExxonMobil Chemical, in keeping with its commitment to help meet growing demand for halobutyl rubber. By adding equipment and modifying existing facilities, the Baytown plant has increased its capacity to produce Bromobutyl rubber (brominated butyl rubber) by 60 per cent.

6th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Ceat Chooses Consultancy Over Strategic Partner

Ceat Limited is reportedly no longer seeking a strategic partner for its planned radial facility in Baroda, India, and is instead receiving technological assistance and know-how from a US based consultancy firm. The tyremaker has sought a partner for assistance in setting up a more than Rs 6 billion (£72.6 million) truck and bus radial factory for more than a year, and in February Sales and Marketing vice-president Arnab Banerjee felt confident enough on the likelihood of this to say that Ceat “should be able to finalise the partners soon.”

6th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Salil Gupta New Apollo Tyres CFO

Apollo Tyres’ announced expansion plans have been augmented by the appointment of a new chief financial officer. Mr. Salil Gupta, formerly group CFO at Dentsu India, will in his new role oversee the organisation’s finance, taxation and accounts functions – Apollo states that his primary objective is to contribute to the organisation’s financial health and stability, ensuring full compliance with statutory guidelines and the company’s corporate governance policies. His responsibilities also include an advisory role to the company’s legal and secretarial functions.

5th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Zeus Acquires Liebherr Site

Zeus recently acquired the current offices and workshop complex of Liebherr’s Dortmund plant and equipment services facility. According to company representatives, the move is designed to further Zeus’ global strategic growth programme for large earthmoving, OTR and general industrial tyre filling and puncture proofing solutions.

The new site is located adjacent to Zeus’s main manufacturing plant in Dortmund, Germany. Once the new complex is refurbished and fully equipped, it will add an extra 7,000 square metres of office space, laboratory, manufacturing, distribution and servicing facilities.

4th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors