China Archives - Page 200 of 240 - Tyrepress

Now one of the largest tyre-producing countries in the world, China has an indisputable influence on the direction of global tyre trade. The home of both fast-growing up-and-coming brands as well as a burgeoning domestic market, this tag chronicles China’s involvement with the tyre business.

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Michelin China Launches Road safety Initiative

In keeping with the company’s global policy of promoting road safety, Michelin has launched a major campaign in China, a move the company views as important in light of the country’s rapidly expanding motorway network. Michelin’s Chinese campaign is based on two initiatives:

The first of these is a short television programme called the Michelin Safety Club. Company mascot Bibendum takes on the role of presenter for this show, offering information and advice on road safety. This four-minute presentation will be broadcast on various TV channels in six Chinese provinces during automotive news programs, reaching an estimated target audience of about 5 million people.

Complementing the television campaign is a 58-page booklet, the Michelin Safety Brochure. With a print run of 50 000 copies, this brochure will provide a variety of information and advice on road safety. It will be distributed to Michelin China personnel, to students of driving schools in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenyang, as well as to consumers through Michelin brand distributors in China.

8th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Performance Fibers Announces China Expansion

In order to meet ever growing radial production in the Asia region, polyester fibre manufacturer Performance Fibers has taken the decision to expand the capacity of its tyre cord fabric facility in Kaiping, China by 30 per cent. The company will install new equipment and machinery, which should be operational at full capacity by the third quarter of 2007.

This most recent investment is the latest in a series of planned expansions at the Kaiping, including a greenfield expansion completed in 2006 to expand production of the company’s patented Dimensionally Stable Polyester high performance fibre and fabrics. These expansions have more than tripled capacity since early 2004, “This latest investment shows our ongoing commitment to meeting the strong demands of the Asian tyre market that continues to experience double-digit growth,” said Greg Rogowski, president and CEO of Performance Fibers. “As we have previously announced, additional expansions are planned into the future.”

5th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyre Manufacture in SA – Will it Have a Future?

(SA Treads – South Africa) The South African business sector is applauded the world over for its unflinching work ethic, its determination to succeed against all odds and its uncanny ability to come up with creative solutions whenever the occasion demands it. Nowhere is this more evident perhaps than in the tyre manufacturing segment. Rocketing oil prices, unstable currency, raw material shortages and subsequent price hikes, not to mention the seemingly relentless infiltration of foreign makes landing at suspiciously rock-bottom prices, have all taken their toll on our four domestically-based tyre makers. How are they meeting these challenges? Is tyre manufacturing in this country sustainable or can it expect to meet a similar fate to that of nations like Australia which has seen the demise of local industry in favour of low-cost imports?

4th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

India & China Fuelling Increased Carbon Black Demand

According to the US market research organisation the Freedonia Group, worldwide demand for carbon black is forecast to rise by 4.2 per cent per annum, reaching an annual consumption of 11 million tonnes in 2011. Consumption is predicted to particularly grow in the Asia-Pacific region, thanks to the continuing expansion of China and India’s automotive and tyre industries. These two countries also saw the largest increases in new carbon black capacity between 2001 and 2006. In contrast, Freedonia states that it expects demand in developed regions to “post below-average gains through 2011, with the large US and Japanese markets holding particularly weak prospects.”

Two-thirds of this anticipated demand will come from the tyre industry, which is expected to account for 7.1 million tonnes by 2011. And with little construction of new carbon black production facilities, utilisation rates in developed markets is predicted to remain at 95 per cent or higher.

4th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

MG Rolls Off Production Line at Longbridge

The 130 or so workers who were able to return to work at Longbridge may have found it a relief, but market watchers and union representatives are similarly sceptical about the long-term prospects for Nanjing Automobile-produced MGs in Birmingham. Nanjing has not confirmed how much of the new (bright orange) MG was actually built in Britain. According to reports, its engine was definitely made in China. Nanjing originally said it plans to build 15,000 cars a year at Longbridge in the “first phase.” This compares with 200,000 MGs that the corporation is planning to build at its plant in China. And as long as production remains at 15 per cent of its pre-closure levels the prospects for factory suppliers remain similarly uncertain.

31st May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

‘The Acid Test is Quality’

When Peter Gaster is not acting as NTDA chairman, the other hat he wears is as group managing director of Kings Road Tyres (for details of his first speech in this role see this month’s TAFF awards coverage). On this occasion the conversation focused largely on KRT’s product range, the recent influx of OTR products and why many manufacturers failed to turn out at this year’s event.

With more tyres than any other stand at the show, Kings Road Tyres’ Brityrex exhibit marked itself apart from the rest. The majority of what was on show came from the company’s wide range of quality private and exclusive brand commercial vehicle tyres, but KRT also had selections from its passenger 4×4 ranges (including Cooper products) on show.

31st May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Buy-Out Points to Far Eastern Expansion for Dunlop Aircraft Tyres

Private equity business ABN Amro Capital, part of Dutch group ABN Amro, has acquired a 74.6 per cent stake in Dunlop Aircraft Tyres. Royal Bank of Scotland will provide senior debt facilities, according to local news sources. Growth plans are now envisaged with expansion planned both in the US, where where Dunlop Aircraft has some retreading business, and particularly in the Far East, where a new satellite operation is envisaged.

China is seen as the most likely site fro any such satellite operation, but the exact location of that has yet to be decided. However, the proposals are expected to come to fruition in the next 12 to 18 months.

31st May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Solideal Factory in China achieves ISO 9001 Certification

Solideal is pleased to announce that Solideal Rubber Products (Qingdao) Co. Ltd has achieved the ISO 9001: 2000 Quality management certification from Lloyds Shanghai on April 25th 2007. After one year working on the project, the factory was audited by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance and has officially been granted the certification for quality management, aligning itself on all the other Solideal factories worldwide.

Since 1996, Solideal has strived to achieve and maintain ISO certification for its factories and research and development facilities. Through its global network of manufacturing, distribution and service centers, the Solideal group supports the Forklift and Tire dealers throughout the world. The Solideal group employs over 7000 people in 20 countries.

30th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Not a Good Week….

A truck driver in China’s Sichuan Province is a strong contender for the distinction of being China’s unluckiest person this year. On May 23 the body of 47-year-old Hu Gonggui was found lying next to his truck, which was parked in the verge of a highway in southwest China. After examining the circumstances surrounding Mr. Hu’s death, police concluded that he had stopped to examine the tyres on his truck – laden with at least 55 tons of coal, more than four times the recommended limit – when a tyre exploded in his face, causing serious head injuries.

And while being killed by a tyre exploding at the very moment you choose to stand in front of it seems unlucky enough, Mr. Hu’s misfortune continued even after his demise. On May 26 his family was informed that Mr. Hu’s body was mistaken by the funeral home for that of another road accident victim, and wrongly cremated. The son of Qi Chaogang, the man mistaken for Hu, doubted the appearance of his father’s body, but was informed by an employee of the funeral home that it was normal for the appearance of a body to differ a little after experiencing a severe vehicle accident, so the cremation proceeded as planned.

Mr. Hu’s family received 20,000 yuan (£1,300) in compensation from the funeral home.

29th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Techking Launches New Company Website

OTR radial manufacturer Techking Tires Limited launched a brand new company website – www.techkingtires.com – at the start of May. The new site provides a much broader range of information than the site it replaces and includes news and product database sections, with Techking’s R&D department uploading new product information to the site on a regular bases. The site also provides customers with an easier way of contacting Techking online.

Tony Jiang, Techking R&D manager, is in charge of the website. “We will update the website from time to time and we welcome the inputs from all our industry friends, including company employees, company business partners and even our counterparts,” he said. “We have membership for the website. The members can have access to the classified information of the company.”

Techking is placing great confidence in the new website, and company president Tech Wang has stated: “We are dedicated to radial OTR tyres only, aiming to be the most professional OTR solution provider. We hope the new website can become a platform for sharing information with our industry friends. We registered the domain name in China. We are going to do the same overseas. We [have] put a lot of effort in[to] building and maintaining this new website. We will treat it like our baby.”

29th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Hankook Marks China Milestone

Mid-May saw Hankook Tire reach an important milestone, with the company celebrating the 10th anniversary of the opening of its Huai’an factory in China’s Jiangsu Province. Government officials, including Mr. Ding Jieming, Part Secretary of Huaian government, Jiangsu province and Mr. fan Jinglong, Mayor of Huaian joined senior Hankook officials including company CEO Mr. Seung Hwa Suh in commemorating the occasion.

“Hankook Tire has experienced rapid growth,” stated Seung Hwa Suh during the ceremony. “We have recently celebrated the No. 100 million tyre off the production line and have sustained the top position in China’s market, which has helped Hankook Tire to build a solid foundation for ranking the 7th in the global market, and to lay down a solid foundation for the further high speed growth in China market.” Since first establishing a Chinese market presence in 1996 the company has established two factories, in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province and Huai’an Jiangsu Province. Production capacity at these two plants now stands at 28 million tyres per year.

24th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Sibur-Russian Tyres Looks for PCR Production Partner

Be in no doubt – Russian manufacturer Sibur-Russian Tyres has set its sights on the global market. And with annual sales of around $800 million and debts of only $100 million, the company has a good credit rating and is willing to go to great lengths in order to achieve this end. The plan, which is already underway, is to enact a radical restructuring programme that will see Sibur-Russian Tyres focus on high value business (like its currently strong truck tyre operation), and offer itself up to premium international manufacturers as a minority shareholder in a new Greenfield passenger car tyre production joint venture. In an interview with Tyres & Accessories during Brityrex International ‘07, Sibur-Russian Tyres business development director Igor Karavaev explained just how his company planned to achieve this; and what lessons they have learnt from certain other Russian tyre businesses.

23rd May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Kumho Breaks Ground at New China Site

The groundbreaking ceremony for Kumho Tires’ fourth factory in China – and the first not to be engaged in the manufacture of passenger car tyres – was held in Nanjing on May 16 in the presence of more than three hundred company executives and distinguished guests. The company will invest around £50 million in the construction of this latest facility, which when completed in the second half of 2008 will specialise in the production of truck and bus radials. Annual production is planned at 300,000 units.

At the ceremony, Kumho chief executive Park SamKu stated “I am very glad to build this bus and truck tyre factory at Nanjing, an important place for us to further our growth in the Chinese market.” He added that Kumho intends to place a greater emphasis on dealings between the company’s Korean headquarters and its operations in China. Furthermore, Kumho Tires is planning, in the company’s own words, to “aggressively pursue the Chinese tyre market through an export markets diversification strategy.”

23rd May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Treadsetters and UK Tyre Group Partner in Durun Joint Venture

Telford-based wholesaler, Treadsetters, has partnered with UK Tyre Group to import and distribute Durun brand passenger car and UHP tyres. Following negotiations with Durun’s Chinese manufacturer (Shandong Yongtai Chemical Group) at the end of 2006, Treadsetters began importing the tyres at the beginning of 2007. Then, during Brityrex week at the beginning of May, the two parties announced that they are going to pool resources by effectively selecting Durun as a UK Tyre Group exclusive house brand. Treadsetters will continue to hold the exclusive rights to distribute Durun tyres in the UK, the Republic of Ireland and South Africa.

22nd May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper Names Ron Shield as Interim VP, Asian Operations

Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. has named Ron Shield as interim vice president and general manager for the company’s Asian Operations. A 20-year employee, Shield joined the company’s Avon Tyre organization as a tyre consultant with responsibility for establishing a Pakistan operation. Through the years Shield held various management positions including business development director, with responsibilities for logistics, supply chain, international business development, information technology and new product introduction. In 2001, he was named vice president, European Operations, and managing director for Cooper Tire Europe, with responsibility for the entire European operation.

“Ron Shield’s success in Europe, as well as his extensive international experience, make him well-qualified to manage and continue the success of our Asian footprint,” said Hal Miller, president, International Tire Division.

22nd May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors