When it comes to choosing that next set of wheels, following fashion could cost car owners dearly, warn valuations experts from HPI. Although the fashion conscience driver may be tempted by the latest ‘in vogue’ exterior bodywork shades, this could impact the value of the vehicle when the time comes to part company. To keep sellers in the pink and to avoid leaving prospective buyers green around the gills, HPI offers some words of wisdom.
Local yob youths in malicious tyre shredding frenzy? Nope. Teenage punks slash defenceless parked cars in drug-crazed rampage? Not even close. Forget the community rag hyperbole, tyre terror recently took on a very different shape and form…
In the German city of Kaiserslautern, an 89-year-old woman has been told to take up knitting as a means of avoiding prosecution for slashing more than 50 tyres. This news was delivered by prosecutor Helmet Bleh, the man faced with the unenviable task of presenting the case against the senior slasher. “We’ll drop the case if she knits a few pullovers,” Bleh said sagely. “We can’t send her to prison, and she doesn’t have the money to pay a fine.”
There’s no denying Michelin makes a good tyre, but unfortunately they don’t taste so good. So it’s just as well the tyre major has released the 2009 Michelin’s Eating Out in Pubs guide. Launched on September 3 and priced at £14.99, this is a publication worth studying before deciding upon a place to whet your palate.
Danish company Re-Solution claims to have developing a gadget that could save retreaders as much as 1 euro per casing. BGuide is a high-precision measuring instrument designed to calculate the precise distance from the tyre’s surface to the steel belt, even when the tyre is rotating.
With 30 measured values per second and a resolution of 0.1mm, the BGuide can give 100 per cent coverage of the tyre’s surface in five seconds, providing a continuous digital readout. As well as revealing any concealed damage or separations, the equipment allows retreaders to optimise their buffing and thus save both time and cushion gum. By “fine tuning” the applied layer of cushion gum by a mere 0.2mm, says Re-Solution, the retreader will save 180 grams on a 315/80 R22.5 casing. This equates to 1.05 euros per casing, which means that, if you process 12,000 casings a year, your annual savings would be 12,600 euros, the company maintains.
Carlisle based recycler Envirotyre Limited has been issued a £20,000 fine for allowing the tyres stored at its premises grow to become what has been described as a ‘tyre mountain.’ The company pleaded guilty to nine offences related to the unlicensed storage and treatment of waste at its site. Commenting on the case, officials from the Environment Agency said that Envirotyre has displayed a blatant disregard for the regulatory controls put in place to protect the environment.
Goodyear Canada was fined CA$55,000 on April 11 after pleading guilty in connection with a workplace injury that occurred in 2006. Justice Katrina Mulligan heard in the Ontario Court of Justice that the injured employee was working at Goodyear’s Bowmanville facility on November 8, 2006, when the incident occurred. The employee was working on a machine making conveyor belts when he walked into the path of an electronic beam guard that stops the machine’s operation. However, the electronic beam guard failed to prevent the machine from being restarted by an automatic start button. The worker pressed the button and the worker’s arm was drawn into the machine at a pinch point and broken.
Martin Krämer, currently head of the Lanxess Group Function Treasury, is to be the specialty chemicals group’s new CFO for Greater China. Krämer, aged 41, will begin the Shanghai based position on April 1, 2008. In this function, which in future will also include responsibility for Hong Kong, Krämer will continue to report to Lanxess CFO Matthias Zachert. The successor to Krämer as head of the Group Function Treasury, effective March 1, 2008 is Christoph Koch, currently head of the Corporate Finance department within this Group Function. The present CFO in China, Marc Horn, is returning to Group headquarters in Leverkusen to take up new duties.
Less than a year after committing itself to developing giant 63-inch radial tyres, Titan Tire has manufactured the company’s first prototype specimen at its Ohio facility. Production examples are expected to be ready for shipping to mines within 60 to 90 days.
“This project has been an unbelievable experience for a large group of Titan employees – starting with myself,” said Titan chairman and CEO Maurice M. Taylor Jr. “I know a lot of people think I’m a little different, and that’s fine, but I’m very lucky to have a great team. Titan has some of the best employees in this business and they proved it today by producing this tyre in seven months, starting from scratch. A site that used to be a soybean field is now the beginning of a state-of-the-art giant tyre facility. In addition to developing this 63-inch tyre, Titan has also filed for a patent on the new construction used in this design that will improve tyres and lower cost to manufacture.”
The Environment Agency (EA) and Norwich city council officials are investigating at least six tyre fly-tipping incidents so far this year, two of which involved more than 200 tyres. An EA spokeswoman said told local reporters: “We have been notified of several incidents of dumped tyres. There have been at least three locations, two of which have seen in excess of 200 tyres dumped…If we can locate the people responsible the maximum fine is £50,000.
“We are working through the Norfolk Waste Enforcement Group, involving local authorities and emergency services, to try and find out where these tyres have come from and trace who is responsible for them.”
Norwich City Hall has also reported a rise in tyre dumping in the city, and urged witnesses to any incidents to come forward.
Maywood Equipment Group have taken another large stand at The Commercial Motor Show which takes place at The NEC between 15 and 17 April inclusive. Maywood have now supported this show for eight consecutive years. Trevor Homewood, managing director explains: “This exhibition gives us the opportunity to actually show the customer our products rather than trying to convince them from a brochure or from our web site. Whilst both these ways are fine this does give us that one chance in the year to install large commercial lifts for fleet operators to examine and see the true quality for themselves. Any operator considering a new lift or building a new workshop should come to this show and definitely visit our stand!”
The chemical company Rhodia plans to construct a second facility for the production of high performance silica in China. This plant will be located in the city of Qingdao, where Rhodia already operates a silica facility. The new operation will focus on producing high performance silica notably used in low rolling resistance tyres. A modular design will be employed in the plant’s construction, enabling it to be easily expanded to support the rapidly growing market for this commodity, and Rhodia reports that a number of its existing major customers are supporting the project.
“This investment will allow Rhodia to respond to rapidly growing demand in the Asian region,” said Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, CEO of Rhodia, adding “this move fits perfectly within our strategy to develop businesses in which we have a strong and sustainable leadership position and prioritise investment in China.” President of Rhodia’s Silcea enterprise, Eric Noyrez, commented that “With this new facility, Silcea will reinforce its worldwide leadership in the production of high performance silica while demonstrating its commitment to respond to increasing customer demand for products which are more environmentally sustainable.”
Engineered rubber powder manufacturer Lehigh Technologies, Inc., has announced the results of studies that show its flagship product, PolyDyne rubber powder, can be used as a chemically functioning element in the manufacture of new tyres. This takes the use of rubber powder in tyres beyond its existing role as a mere static filler and enables the product to add value to the finished tyre.
The research was carried out by the Department of Chemistry at South Carolina’s Clemson University. “There has been some question in terms of the extended use of ultra-fine rubber powder and its realistic functionality in new products,” said Dennis W. Smith, Professor of Chemistry at Clemson University. “Our study illustrates that used tyre rubber powder prepared by the Lehigh process is in fact unique and does offer a value-added reactivity and functionalisation. Breakthrough results from electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR) measurements indicate that the Lehigh process provides a significant increase in free radicals, which can bond to matrix resins or other application-specific substrates, extending the powder’s usefulness beyond that of an added filler. With this study, tyre manufacturers worldwide have a viable alternative ingredient that can be used to make ‘green’ tyres, while at the same time enhancing the performance of the tyre. We’re confident that tire manufacturers will see the environmental and economical benefits that PolyDyne powder brings to the table.”
(Akron/Tire Review) Avoiding a formal hearing before the National Labor Relations Board, USW Local 2 (Akron) reached a settlement in the complaint made by former union members who claimed they were fined and harassed after crossing picket lines during the 86-day USW strike against Goodyear.
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which represented the three former union workers, said the settlement was reached last week.
The former union members claimed they were fined $620 each and subjected to harassment at their homes and on the job. USW Local 2 claimed it had the right to fine the members for quitting the union during a strike, but denied the harassment claims.
The settlement calls for Local 2 to post a document in the Akron Goodyear plant telling union members to refrain from ”threatening bargaining unit employees with internal union fines and termination,” and to not attempt to intimidate employees at their homes or otherwise attempt to coerce them. The union will also drop all internal charges against the three workers and expunge their union records.
While the settlement states that the agreement ”does not constitute an admission that the Charged Party violated the National Relations Act,” it does allow the three workers to pursue civil action against the union.
Former United Steelworkers union members who crossed picket lines during last year’s Goodyear strike in the US have filed a complaint against the union with the National Labor Relations Board. The ex-union members claim that the union’s Local 2 fined each of the workers US$620 while also continuing to collect union dues from their pay despite the termination of their union membership.
The tyre makers state their return to work was necessary for them to continue supporting their families, but according to the complaint, the Local 2 then held an internal trial committee and imposed the fine on each employee who had returned. Since that time, the complainants add, the union “has been interfering with, restraining and coercing employees.”
The illegal tyre dumper who received Scotland’s first environmental antisocial behaviour order last year has found himself in trouble again….and this time he may be headed to prison to atone for his deeds.
On April 23 Joseph Abate had guilty pleas lodged in his absence to illegally dumping hundreds of used car tyres. Abate was charged with disposing of tyres without a licence at a number of sites in the Glasgow area between November 2004 and March 2006.
Abate, a former Glasgow City Council employee, was convicted on similar charges last year. During those court proceedings he was described as a serial offender who caused “immense environmental damage.” This time around he faces up to six months in prison or a £20,000 fine.
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