Two agreements have been signed by Nokian and Michelin concerning the off-take manufacture of Nokian brand agricultural, industrial and truck tyres at Michelin’s Polish factory. The agreements will last for three years and will be renewed annually thereafter. Sales of agricultural and industrial tyres will start this year and truck tyres early in 2001.
The Nissan factory in Barcelona is not working to capacity and is the obvious candidate for joint production work in similarly built Renault models, according to a statement at the Detroit Motor Show by Carlos Ghosn, ex-Michelin manager, now responsible for the integration of Nissan with Renault. Vehicle suppliers hope to profit from the new arrangements, as Ghosn announced a significant reduction in their numbers. For instance, Hayes Lemmerz supplies nearly all the aluminium wheels to Nissan Europe and is now making big strides with Renault as well.
In only two years Bridgestone/Firestone has built a new factory producing tyres for passenger cars, light trucks, pickups and off-road vehicles near Aiken (South Carolina). It is said that the tyre manufacturer invested $US 435 million for this plant.
The Semperit factory at Traiskirchen is facing a cut in car tyre production from the current 2.9 million to 1.4 million units next year. That will put a big question mark over the efficiency of the plant. The works council fears erosion and medium-term closure; well above 100, if not up to 250 jobs will have to go. The threatened workforce is determined to fight this unequal treatment with all the means at its disposal and, if necessary, to create a “sea of troubles” in public. Whether that can put right the many shortcomings of the past we shall have to wait and see. Cross-border solidarity between fellow workforces is not apparent.
Pirelli has released first details of a new manufacturing system, called MIRS (Modular Integrated Robotised System). The company is investing 250 million Euros over the next five years. A MIRS plant that can produce one million tyres a year would employ 104 people in five shifts, would occupy 3,500 sq. m. and the investment cost (excluding the building itself) would be around 45 million Euros. According to Pirelli, MIRS reduces the steps of the tyre building process from the previous 14 to only three. Instead of passing the tyres “from hand to hand” in the production process, the MIRS work is done by robots. Tyre type and size are fed into the computer at the beginning of production, the rest is done by the computer alone, without human interference. MIRS is therefore a kind of mini-factory with an extremely high degree of flexibility. The factory can be built anywhere where there is a market. The technology, which Pirelli does not disclose and is not prepared to share with a competitor, not even under licence, was developed by Pirelli’s research and development department in co-operation with Italian universities and the Ministry of Research and Science. A pilot plant will start work in the Bicocca factory near Milan at the end of June 2000. The Italiens claim a manufacturing cost reduction of 25 p.c. for the MIRS method compared with the traditional way, and Pirelli boss Tronchetti Provera plans to manufacture three million tyres by the new method by the year 2003, or 15 p.c. of its high and ultra-high performance tyres. If all goes to plan, it will be possible to produce five million “MIRS tyres” within five years.
Talking to the German newspaper Handelsblatt, Hankook President Choong-Hwan said that the Korean tyre manufacturer wants to strengthen its market position in Europe. Having already expanded with two factories in China, Hankook plans to produce tyres in the EU as well. This will be achieved either by building a new factory or acquiring existing facilities.
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