Toyota Motor Europe has presented its Supplier Award for Superior Performance in Project Management for 2005 to the Continental Automotive Systems Division. In doing so, Toyota paid tribute to the supplier’s performance in the development, production preparation and delivery of the brake system of the new Yaris subcompact car. This was the first time that Toyota transferred the system responsibility for a complete brake system to Continental Automotive Systems.
(Akron/Tire Review) Feuding factions of the labour union representing workers at Bridgestone/Firestone’s tyre plant in Valencia, Venezuela, caused the three-day shutdown of the facility, according to a statement issued by the company.
While the TRA has done great things developing the tyre collection market in the UK, in the Philippines companies are taking steps to develop their own system. Tyre recycling is said to be “in its infancy” in the Phillipines, according to a Sun-Star newspaper report. And all parties involved, including the Board of Investments Office that recently received a grant from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), agree that more research is needed in this area. Currently old tyres are used in pot making, sandal production and as fuel for cement kilns.
Management company Tatneft-Neftekhim’s CEO Zagit Sharafeev announced that European tyre makers Michelin, Pirelli and Nokian have expressed their intention to invest 30 million euros in the expansion of agricultural machinery tyre production at Nizhnekamskshina. The investment will be in the form of technology transfers and equipment supplies. “In our view, Nizhnekamskshina should benefit from the cooperation with the global tyre majors,” Russian CentreInvest analysts reported. cja
A scheme to raise standards of car servicing and repair by testing the competence of technicians currently working in the retail motor industry has been launched.
Automotive Technician Accreditation (ATA) is a voluntary assessment system designed to appraise technical competence and in turn raise the professional status and credibility of skilled individuals whilst providing a benchmark for technician recruitment and career development. It is hoped that the initiative will improve consumer confidence in the retail motor sector.
The NTDA’s spring conference, held last month, highlighted the tyre industry’s desire to initiate a similar scheme and the Institute of the Motor Industry, IMI, offered its support in moving forward with the idea. The assessments would be based upon National Occupational Standards, and formed in cooperation with industry representatives to ensure that they are updated with changing technologies. The NTDA is currently looking to organise a seminar in July, which will be hosted by the IMI, and invites all interested parties to join the discussion.
In a slight diversification from its core wholesale business, Deldo is promoting its new “Count-Tronic” system. During the last year the company says it has been testing different tyre counting systems in cooperation with an external development company. According to the Belgian wholesaler, the results were clear and Deldo chose to use and license the Count-Tronic system.
The Count-Tronic is designed to count every load with an electronic eye, which is subsequently followed up with a computer. This data is then saved making it possible to produce a print-out for each load.
Deldo believes that this technological development means it can provide an improved service and that the chances of incorrectly counting loads is now “non-existent.” Deldo’s Phillip Delcroix told Tyres & Accessories that the counting system works “very well” and that as a result the company sees itself as “the benchmark in accurate loadings.” The company also reports that many of it clients and suppliers have become familiar with the system and are now also interested in buying it.
The BRMA and ITMA have joined together to set up a new federal body to represent the interests of both associations’ tyre manufacturing members. The new Tyre Industry Federation will come into force as of 1 January 2005 and will take the form of a limited company. The BRMA are describing the union as “formalising the already close working relationship that already exists between them.”
Following the news that Continental was going to sell its agricultural division to Czech Rubber Group (CSG), the company has issued a statement confirming that it will sell the agricultural wing. Continental would prefer the transaction to be seen as an exercise in cooperation between the two companies rather than a sale, but it is clear that this event is part of Continental’s ongoing strategy to focus on what is at the core of their business.
The CSG Group plan to integrate the ex-continental wing into its own tyre division.
Nokian Tyres plc and Matador AS are signing a contract manufacturing agreement. This transaction will mean that Matador will produce Nokian branded speed categories S, T, and H car summer tyres at its factory in Slovakia. The tyres will be sold in Eastern European markets. The production target for 2003 is 100 thousand Nokian tyres with initial sales taking place during the first quarter of the year. Volume manufacture will increase to 300 thousand tyres by the end of 2005. Through contract manufacturing Nokian will continue to ensure its growth potential in Eastern Europe. Production capacity at the company’s factory in Finland will be freed to produce ultra high performance tyres. The agreement will be valid until the end of 2005 and after that on a one-year basis.
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Gummiwerke Fulda has informed the third biggest cooperation in Germany, VRG, that it will terminate the contracts between the two of them. The tyre manufacturer is not satisfied with the situation, both in the past and at present, and believes that the relationship is not an equitable one, with VRG asking too much and offering too little.
At the beginning of October Dunlop GmbH (Hanau) invited trade journalists and vehicle manufacturers’ OE managers to a demonstration, “Dunlop ’99: Innovations in the Interest of Safety and Mobility” at Trier, or rather at the company’s own test track at Wittlich. The main aim of the event was to convince that it was high time to get rid of the spare wheel. People’s attitudes cannot be changed overnight; a lot of thinking is required about how to live in future without this “fifth wheel on the car” and yet remain mobile in a vehicle that has just had a puncture. Dunlop claims to have developed a “forward-looking safety and mobility concept”, consisting of several different components grouped together: a self-supporting tyre (“DSST” = Dunlop Self Supporting Technology), an integrated tyre pressure monitor called “Warnair”, and an equivalent system for the replacement market developed in cooperation with the Italian Alltech Car Security Systems company plus a tyre sealant “Fill & Go” on the basis of IMS (“Instant Mobility System”). In the next few years the company will introduce the practical application of each of these components on different vehicle models – Dunlop can already claim partial successes. For example, the increasing numbers of “IMS” applications have prompted the tyre manufacturer to speak of a “breakthrough”, but the company is realistic enough to know that in the case of the “DSST” tyre series a similar success can only be had through original equipment.
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