The name Bob Jane has been one of the most recognisable in the Australian tyre trade for several decades. Now the 82 year old former racing driver and founder of the Bob Jane T-Marts fast fit chain faces restrictions on using the name he was born with.
The 20th Taiwan Excellence Award was held recently; the aim of the event is to enhance the brand image and reputation of Taiwanese firms and products in the wider, global business arena, showcasing product and technological innovation.
Federal Tire was one of those companies honoured for its innovative products. The awards are made, based on four criteria, namely R&D, design, quality and marketing and a product has to score well in every category in order to advance to the next stage of judgment.
Despite numerous reports that both sides were headed to a meeting with a federal mediator next week, it appears now that there will be no further negotiations between Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. and locked out USW workers at the tyre-maker’s Findlay, Ohio, plant, Tire Review reports. After both sides clearly stated that they would return to the bargaining table after the holidays and that a session with the mediator had been scheduled for 12 January, that supposed meeting was suddenly called off yesterday, with Cooper claiming that no such meeting was even scheduled.
Federal Tyres Australia has announced that it is the co-naming right sponsor of Miss Summernats in 2012, held at the annual Street Machine Summernats Car Festival. The Miss Summernats competition is one of Australia’s richest motorsports beauty contests, with $2,000 prizes up for grabs and an exclusive photo shoot for Zoo. “Federal Tyres Australia is thrilled to support Summernats 25 as naming sponsor for Miss Summernats,” said Mick Hart, sales and marketing coordinator at Federal Tyres Australia.
Tire Review reports that the Christmas and New Year's holidays brought no relief to the dispute between Cooper Tire & Rubber and its union-represented workers at its Findlay plant. Some 1,050 union workers remained locked out through the holidays, and Tire Review indicates the two sides will take their stalemate to a federal mediator this week.
At the end of 2011 Rhineland became the first German federal state (after Baden-Württemberg in 2010) to carry out investigations into the content of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in motor vehicle tyres. The results were published on 12 December 2011. Two of the 19 tyres tested exceeded the limit and show that extender oils were used which do not meet the EU requirements. The offending types of tyres were reportedly removed from the market as a result of not meeting the legal requirements.
Workers at Cooper Tire & Rubber’s Findlay plant may still be locked out but at Cooper’s facility in Tupelo, Mississippi, employees reached one million man-hours without a lost-time incident during the course of this week. The achievement marks the second time Cooper's Tupelo employees reached the million-hour mark; in September 2010 they also passed a million hours without a lost-time case.
According to local newspaper The Courier, negotiations to end the lockout at Cooper Tire & Rubber’s Findlay plant in the US will resume on 13 December. As was the case for the previous, failed talks, the next round of negotiations will include a federal mediator. Whether these fresh talks will deliver results is far from certain, however – neither party has voiced a willingness to compromise its existing bargaining position.
On 5 June 2012 Peer Steinbrück, former German federal minister of finance, will open the popular Reifen 2012 organised by Messe Essen. Once again Bundesverband Reifenhandel und Vulkaniseur-Handwerk e.V. (BRV, the German tyre dealers vulcanisers association) will be the show’s “ideal partner.” Both parties will thus emphasise the significance of Reifen. Show organisers Messe Essen have billed the 2012 event as “the number-one worldwide meeting place of the tyre sector.”
European supplies of Federal Tyres’ Formoza AZ01 are expected to begin in December when long-time Federal customer, Van den Ban Autobanden, receives the first Europe-bound container load. Federal reports the Netherlands-based wholesaler’s first order of size 225/50R17 98W XL and 225/55R17 101W XL Formoza AZ01 tyres has been dispatched from its Jiangxii plant in Nanchang, China.
Negotiations on a new labour agreement for unionised workers at Cooper Tire & Rubber’s Findlay, Ohio factory failed to reach a satisfactory conclusion before the existing agreement’s expiry on October 31, and local newspaper The Courier says talks between the tyre maker and United Steelworkers representatives are still ongoing.
Federal fit its Couragia Mud Terrain tyres and branded livery to its sole sales distributer’s Jimmy Jeep in the recent Castrol 4×4 Jamboree in Zimbabwe. The event was held at the 4×4 Club site at Donnybrook, and “trail junky” Clarry Viljoen, sales manager from Taita Trading, ran the company’s Mud Terrain tyre to cope with tough conditions that varied between sand, dirt, hills and mud.
SA Tyres and manufacturer Federal have hosted a riding experience for its clients and salesmen at Gerotek Testing Facility near Johannesburg, where business partners participating in the 2011 One Day Test Drive programme from all over the country. The event was designed to give dealers the opportunity to see how Federal tyres are evaluated in a test in hazardous driving conditions.
Maurice Taylor, chairman and CEO of Titan International has sought to add clarity to forecasts of what is happening in the agriculture, construction and mining markets by pointing out that the firm expects to receive three-digit millions of dollars worth of orders: “I’ve had a number of shareholders and analysts call and e-mail asking what’s going on in the farm, construction and mining markets…The majority of these e-mails show concern as to why there’s not more positive guidance going out from the big boys in equipment manufacturing for 2012…”, he explained, adding:
Taiwan manufacturer has thanked its distributors for running a “successful” inaugural Federal Month promotion in North America. Its distributor, Tire Dealer’s Warehouse, launched a month long promotion titled “Fly away with Federal”, where both customers and TDW sales team members were competing to earn Federal Fun bucks or Southwest Airlines travel vouchers. The manufacturer incentivised the TDW team in addition to customer rebates, which the manufacturer says led to sales targets being exceeded.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
