Continental has begun hiring employees for its HPTC (High Performance Technology Center), the “factory within a factory” built over the past year at its Korbach plant in Germany. Although construction work is not yet complete, the tyre maker expects to fill 24 job vacancies by the end of this year.
Last year Michelin made news when it bought out the parent company of Germany’s largest wholesaler, Ihle Baden-Baden AG, and now the French tyre maker has increased its wholesale presence in Germany with the 100 per cent acquisition of Meyer Lissendorf, a wholesaler with a strong car tyre focus. Michelin has not disclosed the purchase price.
Bridgestone has handed responsibility for its consumer segment public relations and the organisation of related events in the German, Austrian and Swiss markets to Hamburg-based company P.U.N.K.T PR. The firm has previously worked with the tyre maker and will now deal with both the Bridgestone and Firestone brands.
The organiser of Automechanika Frankfurt reports that 65 per cent of exhibition space for next year’s event has already been booked. To date, more than 1,700 exhibitors from 59 countries have registered for the show, which takes place between 13 and 17 September 2016.
Continental says it will publicly display its new ultra high performance summer tyre for the first time at September’s IAA Cars exhibition in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The tyre maker isn’t giving much away, however it shares that the SportContact 6 will provide “maximum grip, maximum control, and maximum stability” at speeds of up to 350 km/h.
Retreading specialist Marangoni intends to integrate the distribution of all product lines within its German operation, and to help achieve this goal Christoph Frost has joined the management of Marangoni Retreading Systems Deutschland GmbH as managing director, sales and marketing D-A-CH. He began in this role on 1 July and as such takes on responsibility for distribution of pre-cure retreading materials in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Frost retains his existing positions as managing director of Wenzel Industrie GmbH and of recently-acquired OTR tyre retreader Recamax Reifen GmbH.
Vipal representatives gave a presentation on reusing raw materials, especially considering the technology used by the company in this respect during the recent International Rubber Conference 2015 in Nuremberg, Germany.
Maxam showed its new solid tyre range at June’s Recycling Aktiv show at Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden airport in June. It was the first time Maxam has taken part in Recycling Aktiv.
Last time, more than 10,000 visitors attended the show and, for the 2015 event, there were over 200 names on the exhibitor list. Live demonstrations form an integral part of the show, including a working scrap metal yard. The Maxam stand was manned by personnel from Interpneu; the company’s dealer in Germany, backed up by members of the senior management team from Maxam in Luxembourg. These included Kevin Buckley, sales manager, Europe; Stefan Blindenberg, business development manager, France & Benelux and Peter Kraus, bdm, Germany, Austria & Switzerland. One visitor to the stand was so impressed with the appearance of the tyres and the breadth of the range that he immediately invited Peter Kraus to his company to talk business.
Harry Dahl has been named Goodyear Dunlop’s director of sales and operations for the tyre maker’s consumer replacement business in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He begins in this newly-created role on 1 August and will be responsible for sales planning and management within the company’s DACH region, reporting to Goodyear Dunlop DACH group managing director Jürgen Titz.
Falken Tyre Europe has entered into sponsorship agreement with German football club FC Ingolstadt 04. The team has been promoted to the premier Bundesliga league for the 2015/2016 season after winning the country’s second-division league last year, and Falken says the new two-season partnership will serve as the “spearhead of a strategic sales sponsoring programme in the football sector” that will see it participate in further advertising and hospitality campaigns with European clubs.
There’s been no happy ending in the insolvency proceedings related to German retreader Respa. Our sister publication Neue Reifenzeitung reports insolvency administrator Elisabeth Roggenhofer as confirming the permanent closure of the Respa retreading operation in Passau. The 19 employees at the Respa GmbH retreading facility have received their notice of termination.
Michelin communications head, Michael Küster will take on additional responsibility for commercial vehicle tyres and the Travel Publishing Group public relations on 1 July. Küster was previously head of product and motorsport communications with responsibility for Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH region). Nina Grigoleit, who previously supervised these areas, will take on other duties within the company.
As of 17 July, Frank J. Delesen will replace Daniele Deambrogio as CEO of Pirelli’s German operation and as chairman of the management board at Pirelli Deutschland GmbH. Deambrogio, previously country manager for Germany and commercial director responsible for the Central European market, was officially named to these roles last December as part of a push to more closely integrate Pirelli’s German business into the company.
For a number of years, Continental’s Tire division has collaborated with the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME) in Münster, Germany and the University of Münster’s Institute for Plant Biology and Biotechnology (IBBP) to develop rubber from dandelions that is suitable for series tyre production. The scientists heading the ‘Rubin – Industrial Emergence of Natural Rubber from Dandelion’ project have now been awarded the Joseph von Fraunhofer Prize for their research into Russian dandelion and the development of prototype passenger car tyres that used dandelion-derived rubber. The award was presented yesterday in Wiesbaden, Germany, to IME’s Professor Dr Dirk Prüfer, IBBP’s Dr Christian Schulze Gronover and Continental’s Dr Carla Recker.
In March 2015, industrial tyre manufacturer Magna Tyres announced that Reifen Helm would complement existing wholesaler Interpneu by distributing the Magna and MTP tyre brands in northern Germany, and last month it shared news that Reifen Lorenz had taken on that role in parts of central and southern Germany. This morning the company shared that, effective June, Reifen Müller KG will also serve as a partner for Magna and OTP in central and southern Germany.
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