The crisis in Ukraine has impacted upon Nokian Tyres’ business in multiple ways, and the company has now activated contingency plans to “mitigate the financial and operational impacts” upon business. At the same time, it has donated 100,000 euros to UNICEF to help children in the war zone.
In light of the Russia-Ukraine war, Nokian has established a crisis management team to safeguard staff and production at its Vsevolozhsk, Saint Petersburg, Russia tyre factory and is relocating the production of certain tyre lines to Finland and the US. Nokian employs 1,600 people in Russia. Net sales in the company’s Russia & Asia business unit amounted to 336 million euros in 2021.
Swedish tyre wholesaler is now the exclusive distributor of the Vredestein range of car, light commercial and classic tyres in Sweden and Finland. Apollo Tyres will end direct sales to retailers of these Vredestein tyre categories as of 1 March 2022 and instead actively support Amring in further building the brand’s market share in these two markets. Apollo Tyres Nordic AB will continue selling Apollo TBR and OHT products directly in all Nordic markets.
Nokian Tyres is launching an innovation challenge to change the future of driving. The “Fast Race, Big Change” challenge is an open competition inviting start-ups, businesses, students and academics to innovate for more sustainable tyres. The finalists will be offered the unique opportunity to pitch their idea at Nokian Tyres’ legendary – and rather dauntingly named – ‘White Hell’ tyre testing centre in Lapland, during one lap on a test track. The winner will have the chance to collaborate with the Nokian Tyres R&D experts to craft their idea into reality.
Round the clock, seven days a week production will soon be reality at the Nokian Tyres plant in Nokia, Finland. The tyre maker says the change to this format should “significantly” increase production capacity for passenger car tyres. Nokian is creating approximately 80 new jobs at the factory to accommodate this higher capacity.
Finland’s Nokian Tyres says that its large investment phase is now over and, following revisions to the company’s mid-term strategy, the goal is now to “fully benefit” from these investments. The company aims for organic growth ahead of the market and increasing market share in all key regions, with a target to achieve net sales of 2 billion euros in the mid-term.
Under a new ten-year agreement, Nordic energy company Gasum will supply renewable wind energy for the electricity Nokian Tyres uses in its factory in Finland as well as its Vianor operations within the country. Supply of power produced at a new wind farm in North Ostrobotnia will start in 2023.
After commencing tests of its tyres in Europe last year, Prinx Chengshan returns in 2021 to continue its testing programme. The Chinese tyre maker is utilising a number of sites, including Applus IDIADA in Spain and a facility in Ivalo, Finland, in order to test its winter, all-season and UHP summer tyres.
Trade association the Chemical Industry Federation of Finland has awarded Nokian Heavy Tyres Ltd during its annual Safety Awards ceremony, which took place yesterday. It honoured Nokian in the large companies category, acknowledging the tyre maker’s senior management for their strong commitment to improving safety.
Nokian Tyres is increasing production capacity for passenger car tyres at its factory in Finland approximately 30 per cent by adopting a four-shift production schedule. To accommodate this capacity increase, it will hire around 70 new workers for passenger car tyre production in Nokia, Finland. Recruiting begins immediately and four production shifts will be in action by the start of August at the latest.
Ahead of May’s introduction of the new-style European tyre label, Test World has begun ice grip testing for customers at its facility in Ivalo, Northern Finland. The existing 3PMSF ‘snowflake’ symbol indicates that a tyre is suitable for both Central Europe and Nordic countries, but Test World says that, in reality, the technical demands of these two markets are very different. Nordic winter conditions are typically far harsher than in Central Europe, with more snow and ice on the roads.
In addition to the flurry of research relating to tyre pyrolysis published at the end of 2020 and the start of this year, in February it emerged that another related study has been released. In his master’s thesis for Tampere University, Mikko Sirén explored the best technologies for turning scrap tyres into secondary raw material and value-added products. The research project started in May 2020 as an initiative of Black Donuts, the turn-key tyre industry consultants, who desired up-to-date research of the recycling of discarded tyres as part of their circular economy initiatives.
ToP Tunniste, which supplies RFID solutions to businesses including the tyre industry, has merged with Fentec Partners Ltd. The merger, which was completed on 31 December 2020 means the company is now known as Fentec Ltd, effective 1 January 2021.
This year the well-known Finland-based tyre testing centre Test World turns 30. What better way to celebrate than to redouble its efforts to become a comprehensive test centre for summer, winter and all-season tyres? Following the acquisition of Test World’s parent company Millbrook by UTAC CERAM, which was completed at the start of February 2021, key developments towards this goal include: the purchase of the world’s first all-electric winter tyre traction testing light truck and the addition of a new soon-to-be opened proving ground in Morocco. Tyres & Accessories me up Jukka Antila, Technical Director at Test World as well as Millbrook business development manager Andrew Kern in order to find out more.
At the start of this year, independent tyre distribution specialist Vimexa expanded its offices at the Technopolis facility near Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Managing director Rutger Veerman says more office space was needed to accommodate the “substantial” growth that Vimexa has enjoyed in Scandinavia and the Baltic region during the last three years.
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