Federal Corporation shipped 1.7 million tyres in the first quarter of 2006 – the largest quarterly total in the company’s 52-year history. The figure reflects increased production at Federal’s Taiwanese and Chinese bases. In March alone the company delivered 670,000 tyres.
KYB has added another original equipment contract to its already-lengthy list – the company is the world’s largest supplier of original equipment shock absorbers – by supplying shocks for the new Nissan Note. The Note is a mini people carrier, manufactured at Nissan’s factory in Sunderland, and is fitted with KYB gas struts in the front and gas twin tube shock absorbers in the rear.
Union members at the Charlotte factory of Continental Tire North America Inc. have authorised the group’s leaders to call a strike, Mark Cieslikowski, president of the plant’s United Steelworkers Local 850, was reported as saying in the Charlotte Observer. But union leaders have “a long way to go” before calling a strike, as they are still trying to negotiate a new labour contract with the company’s managers, Cieslikowski said.
It seems that the announcement by Kumho that it is to spend US$155 million on building a factory at Binh Duong in Vietnam (30th April) is only part of the whole story.
Amtel-Vredestein NV has announced that it has selected Oracle E-Business Suite for its corporate information system at a press conference held in Moscow at Oracle’s APPS FORUM 2006. Based on Oracle’s E-Business Suite platform, the new system will help to enable centralized and effective financial and logistics management, strict cost allocation and price control at all stages of production.
A small Airblast modular blast room has provided D&S Factors with a self-contained blast cleaning facility for preparing tractor wheels. As well as stocking new and reconditioned standard products from leading agricultural wheel OE companies, D&S also manufactures its own range of special products such as rowcrop wheels, wide flotation wheels and grassland wheels for use on golf courses, parks etc.
Due to an increasing demand for its products, D&S Factors began restructuring its manufacturing factory at Donington, near Spalding. As part of this development a great deal of thought was given to the installation of a new surface preparation facility. “We have always known that the efficient surface preparation of wheels prior to painting is vital to ensure a quality end product,” said manager, David Tasker. “We used to do our blast cleaning in a home-made room – a rubber lined shed really – using a small open nozzle blast machine.”
Hyundai is to build a plant in the Czech Republic, investing 1 billion euros in a factory with the capacity to produce 300,000 units annually. The factory is expected to start production of the B segment Getz in the fouth quarter of 2008. The announcement follows the news that Kia’s Slovakia plant will be production later this year.
A plane carrying 14 people crashed into the side of a tyre factory in the southern Ecuadorean city of Cuenca, killing five aboard and injuring nine, according to local authorities.
“The plane crashed against a tyre factory in an industrial park near the airport,” Red Cross spokesman Galo Verdugo told The Associated Press. The aircraft was reportedly carrying 12 passengers with two crewmembers from Cuenca to Macas in Ecuador’s southeastern jungle.
Chris Franklin is taking Beissbarth technology down to the trackside to help car enthusiasts get the best from their cars. Using a Beissbarth ML Easy 8 – the Microline 8 toe sensor microprocessor alignment computer – linked to a laptop, Chris has been offering owners wheel alignment and corner weight assessments during race-track days.
In the USA, Hayes Lemmerz is to close its cast aluminium wheel factory at Huntington, Indiana by the end of its financial year’s second quarter. Closure of the plant, which employs 185 people, is part of Hayes Lemmerz’s on-going programme of rationalisation.
At the beginning of March 2006 Amsterdam-based Granuband BV Finalised its takeover of Dash Recycled Rubber Inc. (DRRI) in Macon, Missouri, USA. The new company will be named Granuband Macon, LLC. The company will continue the same activities with the personnel who are already employed at DRRI. Following the takeover Granuband will increase production to 24 hours a day. The Missouri factory will produce several sizes of rubber for use things like artificial pitches and as rubber mulch.
The new partnership between Aston Martin and Pirelli got off to the best possible start in qualifying for the 54th annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, the opening round of the 2006 American Le Mans Series. In typical Floridian hot afternoon conditions, the two Astons scorched around the track to take first and second grid positions ahead of the two factory Corvettes. Pedro Lamy in car #009 set a new GT1 class qualifying lap record of 1.55.286.
Radik Ilyasov, CEO of Russian tyre maker Nizhnekamskshina, has described the company’s plans to build a $180 million new truck tyre manufacturing plant. Iiyasov told CentreInvest analysts that the company will build the plant by 2009 and it will be capable of producing 600,000 radial tyres a year. The project will involve foreign participation, either through a JV or via a licensing arrangement. In line with this, Nizhnekamskshina intends to complete its reconstruction of a $180 million rubber mixing line by 2007.
Cooper Tire & Rubber Europe suffered a minor fire over the weekend of 4 and 5 March. Five firefighters were taken to hospital as a precaution after the fire at the company’s Melksham production facility. Cooper’s Sarah McRoberts told Tyres & Accessories that the fire was successfully contained by the factory’s sprinkler system. Despite more than 35 firefighters attending there were no serious injuries and business is reported to have been unaffected. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
(Akron/Tire Review) Bridgestone New Zealand is celebrating the production of the 35 millionth tire at its Christchurch, New Zealand, plant, which opened in 1947. Employing 300 people in a seven-day-a-week business, the factory contributes an estimated $23.8 million a year to Christchurch’s economy, said John Staples, the general sales manager for Bridgestone New Zealand. The plant was originally built by the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. as one of eight manufacturing facilities the company then had outside of the U.S. The factory now has the capacity to produce 5,000 tires a day, and exports 40% of its output, Staples said. “Our relationship with all the communities we are part of is very important to us, and the Christchurch community in particular with the presence of our factory,” Staples said.
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