As reported yesterday, wage negotiations between management at Hankook Tire’s factory in Rácalmás, Hungary and the union representing plant workers have reached a stalemate. Today, the Federation of Chemical Workers of Hungary (VDSZ) announced the start of an indefinite strike at the factory.
The trade union representing workers at Hankook Tire’s factory in Hungary warns further strikes will take place unless pay rise demands are met. In a statement, the Federation of Chemical Workers of Hungary (VDSZ) warns that strikes could occur as soon as today.
Vredestein has produced a promotional video focused on the role of farmers, their connection to the soil, and the hard work they do every day. Made by award-winning Amsterdam-based studio Sounds Like Film and the result of nine months of filming, the video is part of Vredestein’s Live the Land campaign for its agricultural tyre portfolio.
Hungary has bestowed the Officers Cross (Civilian Division) of the ‘Order of Merit’ upon Onkar S Kanwar, chairman of Apollo Tyres Ltd. This award was conferred in recognition of Kanwar’s work towards strengthening Hungarian-Indian economic relations through the company’s investment in Hungary.
Production of truck tyres for the European market has commenced at the Apollo Tyres plant in Gyöngyöshalász, Hungary. The tyre maker shares that the first examples of these tyres, Apollo EnduRace RT HD trailer tyres in size 385/65 R22.5, have been shipped to a transport company in Belgium. British customers will receive their Apollo tyres through Treadsetters, who earlier this year was chosen to sell and distribute the Apollo truck and bus tyre range across England, Scotland and Wales.
Bridgestone intends to invest a further HUF 9.2 billion (£25.3 million) in its Tatabánya tyre factory in Hungary. According to information published by Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the investment will cover the construction of a 10,000 square metre warehouse and also facilitate an expansion of production capacity, as announced last year, to 7.2 million tyres per annum by 2020. Hungary’s government will contribute HUF 826 million (£2.3 million) towards the project.
During a conference call held this month, the chief financial officer of Apollo Tyres Ltd. confirmed that passenger car tyre production at the Apollo Vredestein plant in Enschede, the Netherlands would be reduced as capacity for these products grows in the company’s new, more cost-competitive facility in Gyöngyöshalász, Hungary. However, this trend shouldn’t be seen as a transfer of capacity, as the plan for Enschede going forwards is for its continued utilisation, with greater emphasis placed upon other segments.
Deepening it’s connect further with Hungary, Apollo Tyres has partnered with DVTK – a local top flight football and sports club. Apollo is now looking at leveraging DVTK’s “passionate and massive fan base” to raise awareness of its brand among potential customers, business partners and consumer audiences in Hungary.
With an investment of approximately 290 million euros, Hankook Tire is adding a truck tyre production unit to its factory in Rácalmás, Hungary. Work on this expansion project – the fourth since the plant opened in 2007 – will begin in June, with production expected to commence in June 2020. The truck tyre production unit will have the capacity to make 550,000 tyres a year, and its opening will create around 150 new jobs.
Following the start of production at its Gyöngyöshalász plant in Hungary last quarter, Apollo Tyres is on its way to almost doubling European passenger car tyre production capacity over the coming year and a half. Speaking with analysts and investors last week after the release of Apollo’s FY2018 financial results, chief financial officer Gaurav Kumar confirmed that the facility in Hungary is expected to reach a daily capacity of 16,000 car tyres by the second half of FY2019 – in other words, sometime between September next year and the end of March 2019. This will give Apollo Tyres a total daily capacity of up to 35,000 passenger car tyres at its two European plants – and more than a third of output in Gyöngyöshalász may be earmarked for OEM customers.
Kwik Fit has begun automotive repairs and servicing at its 10th location in Hungary, with the addition of a new centre in Kecskemét.
The opening ceremony for the centre was performed by Olympic medal winning wrestler Norbert Növényi and István Bogasov, Kecskemét city councillor, who joined centre owner Gyorgy Meszaros to mark the start of operations. Gyorgy Meszaros is running the Kecskemét centre under a franchise agreement with Kwik Fit Hungary. Meszaros has operated a car dealership on the site since 2003 and saw a Kwik Fit franchise as a way to offer customers a full range of automotive maintenance and repair services under an internationally respected brand.
Pirelli has announced that it will bring the P Zero Red supersoft, Yellow soft, and White medium compounds to the eleventh round of the 2017 Formula One season at the Hungaroring (28-30 July).
The opening of Apollo Tyres’ Gyöngyöshalász plant, 100km east of Budapest, marks a significant event for both the company’s global aspirations and the Indian tyre industry – the 72 hectare greenfield factory, begun in April 2015, is the first inaugurated by an Indian tyre company to come online outside the domestic market. The importance was reflected in the event itself, with some of the plant’s cavernous warehousing housing around 1,300 guests, among whose number was the prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, who declared Apollo’s sixth global tyre manufacturing plant – its second in Europe after the existing Netherlands facility acquired alongside Vredestein – open on 7 April.
Seong Hak Hwang has taken over from Sang Il Lee as managing director of Hankook Tire Hungary following the latter’s retirement on 1 January.
Examation, a new tyre manufacturing system from Bridgestone Corporation that combines technologies from the company’s BIRD production system with artificial intelligence, will be introduced into Bridgestone’s Tatabánya car tyre factory in Hungary this year. Following the system’s set-up in Hungary, Bridgestone will then introduce Examation in its new plant in Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, which is expected to commence production in the final quarter of 2016.
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