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Bridgestone European Technical Centre to produce GP2 Tyres

Bridgestone Corporation, sole tyre supplier for both Formula 1 and the GP2 Series, has decided to base GP2 Series tyre production and quality control at its Technical Centre Europe (TCE), on the edge of Rome. The output will be warehoused in the UK, at the Bridgestone Motorsport facility in Langley.

Until now, all GP2 race tyre development and production has been centred in Tokyo. Although, for the time being, design and development will continue to be carried out in Japan, the rationale for the new arrangement is twofold. Firstly, the addition of a second manufacturing site provides a safeguard against the risk of supply bottlenecks in this highly demanding environment. Secondly, GP2 race tyres supplied from Europe for European races will incur lower transport mileage costs and will have a lower environmental impact.

12th July 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

New Online Tyre Retail Portal Launched

A new online tyre retail website has rolled onto the information superhighway. Tyres-betterdeals.co.uk is one of the most recent creations of the betterdeals.co.uk network. According to the company, tyres-betterdeals.com forms an example of the network’s innovative consumer orientation. It is interesting to point out that all the tyre selections Tyres & Accessories made while browsing the site pointed straight to mytyres.co.uk, Delticom AG’s tyre retail front-end.

Active since the end of 2003, betterdeals.co.uk publicizes news on the Internet, serving markets that are as different as Italy, Spain, and France on the one hand and Germany, Holland, and the UK on the other. Resulting in 35 launches of new Internet portals in 2007 alone, betterdeals.co.uk is created and managed by Go Advertising Limited in Dublin, Ireland.

9th July 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

TecCom Reports 35 per cent Increase in Aftermarket Orders

In the last 12 months the number of queries and orders submitted to the TecCom automotive aftermarket platform was up by around 35 per cent, reaching almost 5.5 million transactions every month. In the same period of time the number of registered dealers around the world increased from 7,200 to more than 8,300. “The most significant increases were recorded in new markets such as Turkey, Russia and China. In some cases growth even topped 100 per cent on the back of new partnerships being established”, explains Jürgen Buchert, CEO of TecCom GmbH.

TecCom recorded gains of more than 30 per cent in France and the Netherlands. Growth in the Netherlands was mainly attributable to the acquisition of the local platform Auto-XS, while French gains can be traced back to good cooperation with GOLDA. In the G/S/A (Germany, Switzerland/Austria) region TecCom saw the number of registered dealers and business relations head north by about 20 percent. David Winter, TecCom’s Sales Manager International, is satisfied: “We made considerable gains in all markets last year. We are particularly happy to have generated growth on the back of cooperations with key buying organisations in Great Britain – IFA (Independent Motor Factors Association), GAU (Group Auto Union) and UKPA (UK Parts Alliance). The developments seen in the past months have shown that there is only one direction for our growth to head: up.”

5th July 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Dunlop Increases Truck Tyre Production

Goodyear Dunlop is to increase truck tyre production output at its Luxembourg factory to 6000 units a day. Speaking at the launch of Goodyear Max Technology at the company’s Mireval test centre in the south of France, European truck tyre operations managing director, Henry Johnson, told Tyres & Accessories that the move mean the Luxembourg plant is running at maximum capacity, up 10 per cent from its previous operating capacity. The announcement answers suggestions of a CV tyre supply and demand gap from some market analysts. Johnson played down those suggestions saying: “It won’t have a dramatic effect on business” as companies like Goodyear would adjust production allowing supply to even out.

Nevertheless, Johnson gave details of a two-phase capacity increase programme that begins with increased production at Luxembourg. This will be followed by further capacity increases after 6-9 months. A second phase of expansion is expected in 18 months time. The news follows earlier announcements that Goodyear would invest an additional $20 million in capacity increases at it Polish production plant.

5th July 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Early Reports in Error, Bridgestone Employee Injured

(Akron/Tire Review) Early reports about a fatal helicopter crash after last weekend’s Formula 1 race in France were apparently in error as the Bridgestone Corp. employee riding in the aircraft reportedly survived the crash. Three passengers did die in the helicopter crash, which occurred Saturday evening near the Magny Cours circuit. The Bridgestone employee was among two passengers who were injured.

In a statement issued by Bridgestone, which apparently also thought its employee had perished, said: “The Bridgestone employee and a relative survived the crash. Bridgestone wishes to express its sadness and concern at this difficult time.”

4th July 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Its All in the e-Bit

Delticom AG’s full-year 2006 and first quarter results must have been music to the ears of investors who put money into the company during last October’s IPO at the Frankfurt stock exchange. The company reported group revenues totalling 173.1 million euros for the 2006 financial year, up 34 per cent year-on-year. It also proved that online businesses can really be profitable, reporting a 78.9 per cent year-on-year increase in pre-tax profits (EBIT) to 10.2 million euros. In fact the company’s e-Commerce segment was said to be its strongest driver. Here revenues grew 42.2 per cent to 155.2 million euros. Consolidated net income increased 90.9 per cent to 6.3 million euros from 3.3 million in 2005.

22nd June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Recalls Motorcycle Tyres

Michelin is recalling 120/70 ZR 17 front Pilot Power 2CT and Pilot Power front motorcycle tyres with “Made in France” markings. According to the company examination of these tyres showed a possible defect in the tread due to a “manufacturing irregularity.” Some 68,000 tyres are expected to be involved in the recall. No cases of pressure loss have been reported and no accidents have occurred.

The tyres in question can be identified by the following sidewall markings: a “Made in France” label; DOT 6UCW 980T or DOT 6UCW 979T. These tyres will no longer be sold by dealers. A special telephone number for consumers has been set up to provide customers with information about the campaign. The telephone numbers are: UK: 0800 454 774; Republic of Ireland: 0044 (0)1782 401535.

18th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Watts Becomes Certified Toyota Supplier

Watts Industrial Tyres was recently names as one of 20 select suppliers who achieved “Certified” status at Toyota’s annual supplier meeting in Ancenis near Nantes, France. In addition the company was one of only 13 suppliers presented with a special award for delivering 100 per cent of product to line on time over the assessed 12-month period.

Toyota Industrial Equipment S.A. (TIE SA) has grown substantially since the factory was built in Ancenis, near Nantes, on the West coast of France, and produced its first forklifts in 1996. TIE introduced its Certification process in 2004, with scores awarded to its suppliers for their performance in four key categories, quality, cost, delivery and environmental management. Watts Industrial Tyres achieved an overall score of 94 per cent for 2006 with Toyota awarding “Certified” status to those suppliers who achieve 90% or higher.

15th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Leaseplan Award Customer Service Prize to Kwik-Fit

Kwik-Fit Fleet, Britain’s leading fast-fit provider, has been named Management Partner of the Year in the annual customer service awards from vehicle management company LeasePlan UK. The award from LeasePlan, which operates more than 129,000 vehicles in the UK, is the fourth fleet award won in 2007 by Britain’s largest independent fast-fit company. Kwik-Fit Fleet has already won a hat-trick of titles recognising innovation and first-class customer service delivery from industry publications, Fleet News, BusinessCar and Van Fleet World.

Graham Rixon, operations director at vehicle management company LeasePlan UK, said: “There was a lot of competition for the Management Partner of the Year award, so it was by no means a straightforward decision. Throughout the year, however, the Kwik-Fit team showed an incredible amount of dedication and have become a true and trusted partner in many areas of our business. Kwik-Fit Fleet carries out over 7,000 jobs every month for us and has one of the lowest customer query ratios across our entire business – an achievement in itself.

15th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Team Hankook Comes 3rd/4th at Nürburgring 24 Hour Race

Team “Hankook H&R Special Springs” from Alzen Motorsport, driving a Porsche Cayman-based Racing-Coupé, finished 4th out of 230 cars (157 finishers) at the 24-hour race at Nürburgring (Germany) in front of 200,000 spectators. At the event, a major fixture on the international motor racing calendar and one that is watched closely by the global automotive industry, Hankook Tire hosted more than 200 partners and guests from all over Europe in its lounge. They were welcomed by the Hankook Group’s CTO & CPO, Hwi-Joong Kim. He was accompanied by Hankook’s CMO Hyun-Shick Cho, the CSO & CFO Hyun-Bum Cho, along with the head of the European Hankook operations, Seung-Do Jin, to celebrate the upcoming opening of its new, 500 million euros production facility in Hungary, Hankook’s first in Europe, later this month.

13th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin’s Future Productivity Gains Will Be ‘Huge’

Analysts are predicting huge productivity gains after Michelin announced the restructuring of its Japanese plant, involving the lay-off of 550 people (following Canada, Nigeria and France last year). More cuts are expected in the next quarters, with annual restructuring charges to involve approximately 1,500 people per annum. This is in addition to the attrition of approximately 4,000 people per annum (of which less than 50 per cent being replaced). Thus, the net reduction of the workforce will reach approx 4,000 people per annum (5,500 gross).

“This will lead to significant Labour cost savings. We expect the group’s labour cost sales ratio to reach 22 per cent by 2010 (ie closing the gap with peer group) or equivalent to an improvement of almost 200 basis points per annum. Management targets a 30 per cent productivity gain by 2010, of which only one third will come from the volume effect,” the Deutsche Bank analysts explained. While Michelin had a labour cost/sales ratio of 29 per cent last year, Pirelli’s and Continental’s labour cost/sales ratio were 21 per cent, according to Deutsche Bank.

13th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Kubica Visits Bridgestone Poznan Tyre Plant

Employees at Bridgestone’s Poznan production plant in Poland enjoyed a day with BMW Sauber F1 driver Robert Kubica, who took time away from the track to pay them a visit. Poland’s star driver, who is currently nursing a leg injury after a horror crash at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, toured the factory and saw how tyres are made before choosing Poland’s winner of the Bridgestone “dreams at heArt” children’s drawing competition.

He turned a few heads on the way, chatting to staff on the production line and signing autographs for a lucky few of his enormous fan club in Poland. The Kubica visit was part of official celebrations for the completion of the final expansion phase at the Poznan plant, raising daily production capacity to 22,000 tyres. The increased output will help meet growing demand across Europe for Bridgestone’s high-performance passenger car tyres.

12th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Omega 3000 Extruder

Marangoni Retreading Systems has presented the Omega 3000, the latest version of its extruder for high quality hot retreading. Over the last few years the hot retreaded tyre market has become increasingly focused on the quality of the end product. In the building of retreaded tyres with hot retreading technology, quality is obtained by using compounds that are increasingly similar to new tyres and by applying the materials with precision, in terms of both quantity and distribution.
That’s why medium-sized retreading firms (producing 60-80 tyres per day) require a machine able to extrude “difficult” compounds, which is rapid, dependable, accurate and can be used on a wide range of tyre sizes.
Marangoni Tread introduced a modern extruder, the Omega, designed for the hot retreading market in 2003. Since then, the Omega has been continually updated in order to meet the needs of retreading firms and has become well established on the main European markets: France, Spain, UK and Italy.

Marangoni Tread has now produced the Omega 3000, considerably improved in many ways with respect to the first version. Updates include:
– Precision: the previous circumference and tyre profile measuring device has been replaced with a laser technology instrument.
– Rapid and simple use: software improvements have made it possible to increase process automation and to make machine operation more user friendly;
– Extrudable tyre size range: the previous 15-24 inch range has been widened to the new 13-25 inch range;
– Throughput: even when extruding “difficult” compounds, there is no reduction in machine throughput.

1st June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Far Reaching Consequences

Following negotiations that lasted some three years, on December 18, 2006 the Council of the European Union unanimously adopted the REACH (registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals) Regulation. With the stated key objectives of REACH being the registration of chemical substances and to transfer a measure of responsibility for the safe use and handling of chemicals and hazardous substances from EU member states to those companies producing and importing such substances, this is a piece of legislation that the tyre industry cannot ignore. And it comes into effect on June 1.

As a tyre wears the chemicals contained within are released back into the environment, and while research indicates that the pollution created by tyre wear particles accounts only a small proportion of traffic pollution, there are numerous substances involved. According to the 2006 annual report released by the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA), the European tyre and rubber industry utilises approximately 4,000 raw materials, of which 90 per cent are preparations. Therefore it is perhaps not surprising that the report also indicates the industry has been identified as belonging amongst the five downstream users to be most heavily affected by the REACH provisions.

31st May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Exclusive Tyre Partner for Kia Cee’d

Michelin has been chosen has the exclusive tyre supplier for the Kia cee’d. Two Michelin tyres have been chosen for fitment to the cee’d range: the latest-generation Michelin Energy for 15 and 16 inch wheels; and the multi-award winning Michelin Primacy HP for 17 inch wheels.

Speaking at the car’s international launch near Rome, Michael Lugert, Kia’s Vehicle Evaluation Manager explained how the R&D process began: “Very early in the car’s evolution, Kia decided to fit Michelin tyres exclusively so we could fine-tune the new model’s ride and handling characteristics very precisely. In addition, this collaboration included creating tyres that improve fuel consumption and reduce CO2 emissions – without reducing grip.”

25th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors