Automotive component and sealant manufacturer Dupont Performance Elastomers will reportedly retain their Rubbertown factory in Louisville, Kentucky until the end of the year. The company previously announced the facility would close by the end of March.
As Harvie Prema enters its third year under new ownership the company’s planned expansion continues with the employment of a new sales manager, Mark Prince. Prince joins Harvie bringing with him a vast level of experience from the Tyre industry. Additionally, new area salesmen Neil Clatworthy takes responsibility of Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Hampshire and Berkshire. Richard Stevenson will service the West Midlands, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire and Neil Bale will represent South London, East Sussex, West Sussex, Kent and Surrey.
UK based manufacturer of automotive and aerospace components, GKN, is taking its expansion within the Chinese market one step further following the acquisition of one of the country’s leading manufacturers of off-highway wheels. GKN has also announced details of a new investment and joint venture.
India’s largest tyremaker, MRF, recently outlined its plans for expansion at three of its factories. The expansion is estimated to cost somewhere between £58 and 70 million, and will be implemented over a period of two years.
Sibur tyres may soon be available at your local independent garage or tyre fitter. Russia’s largest tyremaker is preparing to launch its push into the UK market at the Brityrex International 2007 show in May.
With some 40 million tyres requiring disposal each year in the UK alone there is a pressing need to find alternative uses for waste rubber from old tyres, especially since the European Landfill Directive in came into effect in 2001.
For this reason the expansion of tyre reuse infrastructure is always newsworthy, and T&A were pleased to learn of the purchase of a secondary tyre shredder by Ling Demolition Service Ltd of Kent. This new machine will operate alongside another existing unit, and is capable of processing 250 tyres per hour.
Sources inform us that Finnish tyre manufacturer Nokian seems set to expand their distribution centre. The company’s Prague (Czech Republic) distribution centre, which already services a number of East European countries, will apparently see its role upgraded into a European-wide distribution centre. T&A has also been told that a re-organisation of the centre will accompany this expansion. Dieter Köppner, current Managing Director of Nuremburg based Nokian Reifen GmbH, Nokian’s German subsidiary, will be responsible for the new European Centre.
Taiwan’s leading tyre manufacturer, Cheng Shin Rubber Industrial Co, has announced plans to invest US$120 million in China during 2007. This investment will primarily take the form of expansion in production capacity.
(Akron/Tire Review) Continental Tire North America’s Canadian operations opened a new 100,000-square-foot distribution center in Mississauga, Ontario, just outside of Toronto. Continental Tire Canada new centre will service customers across Canada, the company said.
“This centre is the result of our continued growth in the Canadian marketplace.” said Guy Hardiman, CTCI’s national manager of consumer tyre sales and marketing. “It represents the importance of our market hare within the original equipment segment. This venture is especially important to ensure product is readily available for the Canadian marketplace, particularly for fitments unique to the Canadian market such as the Smart car.”
Soopa Toobs, a leading niche product supplier, reports that has widened it speciality offering. The tyre portfolio has been widened to include agricultural, industrial, lawncare, ATV and utility vehicle tyres, from such household names as Carlisle, Trelleborg, Goodyear, Dunlop, Eurogrip and others. The company also opened a new warehouse this year, which increases warehousing capacity by 300 per cent.
(Akron/Tire Review) Tenneco Inc. announced the third expansion of production capacity and an increase in application coverage for its Monroe Quick-Strut assembly, a fully assembled replacement strut for late-model passenger vehicles. Tenneco has added a third Quick-Strut assembly production cell to its ride-control manufacturing facility in Paragould, Ark., to accommodate increased demand.
Soopa Toobs says that it has had a busy year, characterised by stiff competition and a difficult marketplace. Despite this, the company has, over the past 18 months, taken on more warehouse and distribution staff and has now fully opened its new warehouse, which increases warehousing capacity by 300 per cent.
Kwik-Fit Fleet will have a new man at the wheel from 4 December 2006 when Mike Wise returns to the company to replace Nigel Davies, who is to become chief executive of London-based Pirtek Europe, the number one provider of hydraulic solutions. Mr Davies, who has spent almost 14 years with Britain’s largest independent fast-fit company, said he was sad to be leaving the company but the new job was an “opportunity I could not refuse.”
With the completion of expansion work at the Zeebrugge warehouse, Bridgestone has opened its new 87,500 square metre European Logistics Centre (ELC North). The 9 November inauguration was conducted by Mr Takashi Urano, chairman, CEO and president of Bridgestone Europe, Mr Yves Kerstens, vice president logistics and supply chain management, Bridgestone Europe and Mr Joachim Coens, chairman – managing director, Zeebrugge Port Authority.
The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., has announced that Yokohama Tyre Vietnam Inc., held the groundbreaking ceremony for its new industrial and mini-spare tyre plant at the planned construction site in the Vietnam/Singapore Industrial Park in Binh Duong Province, Vietnam, on 31 October 2006. A total of 90 people including those from Vietnam government offices, Japan-based manufacturers, banks and The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. participated in the ceremony. In his remarks, Tooru Kobayashi, director and corporate officer of The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., said:
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