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Fire Rages At Bridgestone Factory

More than 5,000 residents have been evacuated after a major fire broke out at the Bridgestone tyre factory in Kuroiso City, 150 km north of Tokyo. The plant is located in a residential area and evacuated residents were provided with food, water and accommodation while 60 fire engines and a fire-fighting helicopter attempted – so far unsuccessfully – to bring the blaze under control. The plant covers 510,000 square meteres, employs 850 workers and makes tyres for cars, trucks and monorails. The cause of the fire is not known, but there have been no serious injuries to date. At the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Bridgestone’s shares fell by one per cent.

8th September 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

“Tentative Agreement” Reached Between Goodyear And Unions

The long-running saga of discussions between Goodyear and the United Steel Workers of America took another turn when it was announced that the two sides had reached “a tentative agreement” on a new, three-year labour contract. The next step is for USWA’s 19,000 workers to vote to approve the deal. No details were given, but one unconfirmed press report said that the factory at Huntsville, Alabama, which produces Dunlop tyres, would close as part of the agreement, resulting in the loss of 1,000 jobs.

21st August 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Indian Firm To Double Carbon Black Output

Hi-Tech Carbon of India is set to double output of carbon black at its factory at Gummipoondi. An investment of Rs 80 crore (US$17.5 million) will see annual production increase to 80,000 tonnes by next March. Half the current production of 40,000 tonnes goes to export.

21st August 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

New Production Process From Kumho

Kumho is the latest tyre manufacturer to introduce a new method of tyre manufacture. Known as APU (Advanced Processing Units), the modular system is being incorporated in the new Kumho factory that is being built at Pyongtaek, Korea, close to some major car assembly plants. The new factory will be dedicated to tyre production for the OE market and the first module will start production in November this year. Further modules will come on stream at the rate of one per month until full capacity is reached in February 2004. This full capacity will be in excess of two million tyres a year.

20th August 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Announces Expansion Of Truck And Bus Tyre Production

Bridgestone Corporation has announced an expansion in truck and bus radial production at three plants in Japan and one in Thailand. In Japan, two billion Yen (US$16.86 m) will be spent to increase capacity to 1,300 tyres a day. The factory at Chonburi, Thailand, will begin production in the second half of next year, at a rate of 2,500 tyres daily, which will double by 2006. Total investment in the plant will reach 24 billion Yen ($202.3 m).

13th August 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Titan Idles Factory Due To Low Demand

Titan Tire will suspend production at its factory in Brownsville, Texas until market demand picks up. Production will continue at the plant in Des Moines, Iowa. A slump in the US agricultural and industrial tyre markets is blamed as the main cause, although US tyre manufacturers are under pressure from cheaper imported tyres. Titan currently has another factory standing idle – the former Fidelity Tire plant in Natchez.

30th July 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Pelmar Engineering Buys Most Of Traiskirchen Machinery

Machinery at the Semperit factory in Traiskirchen, Austria, was auctioned off recently, with most of it purchased by Israeli company Pelmar Engineering Ltd.; one of the world’s largest dealers in new and used tyre machinery. The auction raised around $2 million and, among the equipment acquired by Pelmar, were off the road curing presses and tyre building equipment. Traiskirchen will continue to supply the Continental group with custom compounds, rubberised steel cord and rubberised yarns, but tyres are no longer made at the plant.

9th July 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Car Manufacturers Urging Suppliers To Head East

In North America, Ford and GM are encouraging their suppliers to produce more parts in China, not only to support locally-made vehicles, but to enable them to match a “world price”, based on a Chinese price. The companies offer a deal where, if a supplier builds a factory in China, it can sell to Ford and GM factories in North America. GM Europe denied that it was pressurising suppliers to re-locate, although if a supplier asked GM how he could cut costs, he might be advised to move to China or Korea.

1st July 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Award For Pirelli

The new Pirelli North America Tyre factory at Rome, Georgia has been named as the recipient of the 2003 Robots & Vision User Recognition Award for its MIRS robotic tyre manufacturing process. Pirelli is the fourth winner of the award, which is presented every two years at the International Robots & Vision Show and Conference.

19th June 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Work Begins On Slovak Factory For PSA

The cornerstone has been laid for Peugeot Citroen’s new factory in Trnava, Slovakia. Vehicle production should begin in 2006, with an annual capacity of 300,000 units, employing 3,500 staff. The project represents an investment of 700 million Euros and is part of PSA’s strategy to move manufacturing closer to expanding markets. In March this year, PSA’s market share in the six Central European countries of Croatia, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia was 13.6 per cent, compared to five per cent five years earlier.

18th June 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Fuel Shortage Causes Tyre Maker To Close

Tyre production at the Dunlop Zimbabwe factory at Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, stopped for a week recently, due to a chronic shortage of coal. The plant uses around 50 tonnes of coal a day, sourced from Zimbabwe’s Wankie Colliery Company, which is itself suffering from a shortage of diesel. Production resumed when Dunlop bought coal from middlemen, but its poor quality led to machinery breakdowns. Dunlop Zimbabwe closed for almost a month earlier this year because of problems arising from price controls on tyres, re-opening only after being allowed to increase prices by 20 per cent.

10th June 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone To Build Auto Components Plant In China

Bridgestone is to build a factory in China’s Jiangsu Province to make anti-vibration products for automobiles, both for the domestic market and export. Total investment in the four hectare site will be US$ 16 million, with production planned to start late 2004 and reaching 150,000 units a month in 2005. The plant, which will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation, will operate as Bridgestone (Changzhou) Automotive Products Co. Ltd.

28th May 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Marangoni Meccanica; from retreading to new tyre technology

Visit almost any tyre retreading plant and there is a very strong chance that there will be at least one item of Marangoni tyre building equipment installed at the factory. Marangoni Meccanica is probably the best known retread equipment manufacturer in the world. This division of Marangoni is housed in the original Marangoni factory at Rovereto and grew out of the company’s need to produce equipment to help progress its own retreading operations.

16th May 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli Scorpion STR

Pirelli has ambitious plans to increase its presence on the US market, Dr. Francesco Gori told assembled journalists at a new tyre presentation in Georgia. Georgia had been chosen as it is the state where Pirelli’s latest MIRS factory has been built, and it is this technology that is at the heart of the new strategy.The new tyre being launched was the Scorpion STR, which is already homologated on vehicles such as the Ford Excursion and the Ford Super Duty F-250, and which is made in the MIRS factory. Dr. Gori said that $100 million had already been invested in Pirelli’s US operations and this would increase significantly over the next couple of years. Pirelli, he went on, plans “a dramatic increase in US growth”.The Scorpion STR combines Pirelli’s expertise in the areas of high performance and 4×4 tyres, to produce a product that can cope with the demands of modern-day vehicles. STR stands for Dynamic Stability, all weather Traction and load and speed Rating. Stability comes from the design and materials used; a dual ply radial carcass is flexible and resistant to give uniform support, improved comfort and better resistance to sidewall damage.

16th May 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Fiat’s 1Q Results

Fiat’s 1Q results were worse than forecast. Turnover for the Fiat Auto division was 4.9 bn Euros, against a forecast of 5.6 bn. Reasons given for this were de-stocking, a slower market and a flood at a Fiat factory, which led to lost production. Turnover at Iveco was down 5 p.c. and at Case New Holland, 18 p.c., virtually all due to currency factors.

15th May 2003/by Tyrepress Editors