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Micheldever Opens Middlesex Logistics Centre

Micheldever Tyres Services (MTS) has opened a new distribution centre in Middlesex, North West London. The new site situated in Greenford, Middlesex, will have a storage capacity of over 100,000 tyres, which will according to the company “carry a huge range of patterns and sizes of tyres in all brands to ensure maximum possible availability for the increasingly important same day delivery service.”

MTS wholesale director Alan Baldwin described the opening of the company’s latest warehouse as “Micheldever’s greatest leap forward in customer service since we opened our Halifax warehouse,” adding:

10th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

HiQ Presents Strong Turnover Growth in 2010 Year to Date

Speaking at HiQ’s franchisee conference, Juergen Titz presented strong turnover and gross profit figures in 2010, suggesting that the network’s “shift from an account driven chain to a retail driven chain since 2008” is bearing fruit. In 2009, turnover was up 11.8 per cent, though the real story is in the breakdown: retail turnover was 21.7 per cent up, while local and national account business was down 6.6 per cent. In 2010 year to date figures, Titz said the company had seen fleet business “picking up”, amassing a 4.7 per cent increase in quarter one and an 11.8 per cent jump in March versus March 2009.

5th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Sold – American Tire Distributors Changing Hands for $1.3 Billion

North America’s largest independent tyre distributor has changed hands for approximately US$1.3 billion. In a deal announced on April 21, Equity firm Texas Pacific Group (TPG Capital) has purchased American Tire Distributors from Investcorp, Berkshire Partners and Greenbriar Equity Group, who acquired the distributor for $500 million in 2005. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2010. Pursuant to the acquisition, American Tire will suspend its planned public offering and listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

23rd April 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Hankook China Plant to Have 10M Unit Capacity

Plans for Hankook Tire to build a new factory in China were outlined on April 22; representatives of the South Korean manufacturer said the construction of a new facility there will aid Hankook’s efforts to consolidate its status as the leading international tyre manufacturer in China. The company also intends to increase its sales there by 15 per cent to US$1.21 billion this year.

22nd April 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

HiQ Discussing Expansion Plans at Franchise Conference

HiQ’s fourth annual franchise conference is taking place over the next two days at Albrighton Hall, Shrewsbury. All of HiQ’s franchisees will join retail director Juergen Titz and members of the brand’s lead team on Tuesday and Wednesday (20 and 21) to discuss performance and growth opportunities. HiQ also promises “the network’s most exciting announcement of the year;” a high profile PR campaign with the help of an exclusive ambassador. This is the first time the conference is taking place over two days; an innovation that will “allow HiQ to discuss its plans to increase the network to 185 points of sale by the end of the year, while revealing footfall and turnover figures,” the network states.

19th April 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin to Close Kansas Aircraft Tyre Retreading Plant

The tyre maker giveth, the tyre maker taketh away….On April 14, Michelin North America announced it will add retreading operations to its aircraft tyre factory in Norwood, North Carolina. The official press release, however, did not mention that the expansion of Norwood operations was taking place parallel to plans to end operations at its existing aircraft tyre retreading facility in Kansas City.

16th April 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Aircraft Tyre Retreading Added to Michelin Norwood Operations

The retreading of aircraft tyres is scheduled to commence at Michelin North America’s Norwood, North Carolina plant during the second half of the year. The addition of a retreading capability to the Norwood site, which currently employs 320 people in the production of new aviation tyres, will cost the company US$11.3 million, and the project will create 74 new jobs over an 18 month period. Hiring for some of the new posts at Norwood will begin in late April, and Michelin anticipates that 50 of the jobs will be filled by the end of 2010.

13th April 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Prepares for Shanghai’s “High Lateral Forces”

Bridgestone is readying itself for the Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit on 16-18 April, in what the company’s Motorsport division director calls “a very important location” due to the rapid expansion of the country’s automotive market. In this respect, Hiroshi Yasukawa continues, “it is good for Bridgestone to have a highly visible event like the Chinese Grand Prix to promote our technology here. In China we have tyre production, natural and synthetic rubber and steel cord facilities, a technical centre and proving ground, as well as a number of plants for our diversified products.”

9th April 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Growing Demand Prompts Early Start of Bridgestone Kitakyushu Expansion

The second phase of expansion planned for Bridgestone’s Kitakyushu factory in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan has begun three months ahead of schedule. In October 2007 Bridgestone Corporation announced a July 2010 date for the next stage of work on the facility, which has been producing large and ultra-large off-the-road radial tyres for construction and mining vehicles since June 2009. Increasing global demand for these large and ultra-large ORR tyres, however, has now seen preparations for second phase expansion plans accelerated and the start of work brought forward to April.

6th April 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Ag Plant Expansion Work Starts

Expansion work has begun at Bridgestone Americas’ farm tyre plant in Des Moines, Iowa, reports Tire Review. New tyre building and curing equipment will be installed as part of the $77 million project, according to the Des Moines Register. The expansion will also add about 50 jobs to the 1,400-employee plant. To accommodate the equipment, designed to build larger agricultural tyres, portions of the 65-year-old plant’s roof are being raised some 10 feet.

29th March 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Cam Systems Moves to Address Tyre Industry Training Dearth

Cam Systems has said that it wants to increase training and personal development in the tyre and fast fit industry. The IT applications provider, whose Cameo suite is used by over 2,000 tyre business employees is responding to a report by Profit From Training, an organisation set up in 1996 to provide training to the tyre and fast fit industry, which has observed a decrease in industry training over the past two years – at approximately 12 per cent in year one and a further 16 per cent in year two. In previous years, training had gone up on average by 6-8 per cent each year.

17th March 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

European Zeetex Dealers Visits Thailand with S&H Tyres

European dealers of Zeetex brand automotive parts have returned from an all-inclusive trip to Thailand organised by Simon Klapwijk on behalf of S&H Tyres, on which the group visited the factory that produces Zeetex batteries and spent a day at the test track, sampling the new Zeetex HP102 tyre. During a welcome dinner, Klapwijk explained the marketing concept and the expansion of the size range for 2010 in both passenger car and truck and bus segments, opening the European Zeetex Convention 2010.

16th March 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyremax Puts Cameo into New Premises

Tyremax has expanded its business with the addition of two new sites in Finchley and Chigwell, bringing the total number of sites to three in North and East London. As a result, it will be extending its contract with Cam Systems to introduce the Cameo platform into the new locations.

11th March 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Toyo US Capacity Expansion May Get Underway in Summer

Following the 2009 completion of an expansion project that doubled Toyo Tire North America Manufacturing’s White, Georgia facility’s physical size to approximately 160,000 square metres, the plant is operating at an annual capacity of 2.5 million tyres. However Toyo says that plans are already in place to install new machinery and expand production capabilities as early as this summer. Output is projected to reach four million tyres by 2012, and Toyo has indicated it will increase the plant’s workforce to accommodate this higher level of production.

9th March 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Metro Tyres Expanding Capacity to Meet Growing Two-Wheeler Demand

India’s Metro Tyres is reportedly increasing its annual motorcycle tyre production capacity to 1.8 million units. According to the Press Trust of India, the company will invest Rs 500 million (₤7.2 million) in its Ludhiana, Punjab state plant, where capacity for tyres manufactured as part of a technical collaboration with Continental AG is currently 600,000 tyres per year. Expansion work is anticipated to be completed by April.

5th March 2010/by Tyrepress Editors