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Konstrukta Celebrates 15 Years in Tyre Machinery Manufacturing

International News, News, Product News

The Konstrukta Group has recently restructured organisationally from being one entity into five separate divisions in fields as diverse as explosives, mechanisation and automation, rubber and tyre manufacturing machinery and economics. Based in Trencin, Slovak Republic, the company has invested 1.6 million US dollars in the upgrading and development of its R&D centre for rubber technology. “The current pattern of consistent growth within rubber related industries demanded that we give ourselves every opportunity to make sure we were in a position to increase our market share,” said Jan Dugacek, managing director of the tyre machinery division.

The tyre division provides research, development, production and supplies of technological equipment for the tyre industry – extrusion lines for inner liner production, steel cord and textile cord cutting lines, auxiliary equipment and spare parts. The extrusion lines are designed for production of tyre components including treads and sidewalls for the manufacture of car, light truck, truck, bus agricultural and OTR tyres.

24th October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Quarter Results Reflect Tough Times for Industry

Upon reporting Apollo Tyres’ second quarter 2008 results, a quarter in which consolidated net profit dropped 74 per cent on the previous year, company chairman Onkar S Kanwar stated that, despite difficult times, Apollo retains a positive outlook for the future. “It has been a testing quarter for the company and us as an industry, but I do believe that the worst might be behind us and it’s time to plan for the future,” he said. “The positive that I take from here is a consistent growth in sales, especially in South Africa, where we are able to now reap the benefits of our manufacturing and marketing excellence with a near 30 per cent sales growth this quarter.”

23rd October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

For Yinbao Tyre, imitation is the highest form of flattery

International News, News

Western European manufacturers’ complaints that their products have been copied in the Far East are well reported. However, Shandong Yinbao Group is one of a select few Chinese tyre manufacturers that have suffered product piracy too.

According to international marketing manager Gavin Liu, the Shouguang-based Yinbao Group recently discovered that its growing off-the-road (OTR) product range was being copied, with the pirates making use of the company’s Goodtyre name: “We have found some faked tyres recently in the market copying the Goodtyre brand name of OTR products – which is both damaging and illegal.” Fighting back in a letter to customers, Yinbao representatives wrote: “Companies and people who undermine the interests of clients and reputation of our group will be investigated for legal responsibility according to law.”

23rd October 2008/by Chris

Indian Production Rises as Exports Fall in August

Indian tyre manufacturers have seen production across all segments rise five per cent (6,990,767) on August 2007 (6,674,269), while the numbers for the first five months of the new financial year yielded an eight per cent gain on the average monthly production (7,059,732) against the same period in 2007, say figures released by the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association. The same could not be said for exports, where the cross-segment figure for August ’08 dropped considerably by 12 per cent from 535,325 to 473,444.

A particular highlight of the collected statistics is the action of the Tractor segment in August. Exports fell by 71 and 41 per cent respectively in front and rear categories compared to the monthly figures for 2007, though at the same time production in these sections rose 18 and 103 per cent. As these proportions suggest, the numbers for rear Tractor tyre production are particularly striking, going from 100,676 to 204,118 for August YOY. In terms of average monthly production between April and August 2008, front and rear Tractor tyres have increased in numbers by 10 and 30 per cent compared to the same five months in 2007. Looking at export figures, these segments have also witnessed an average month-on-month decrease of 41 and 17 per cent respectively in the same period.

20th October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Seeks Extension on Anti-Dumping Duty to Radials

Apollo Tyres is said be calling upon the Indian government to impose anti-dumping duty upon cheap imported Chinese radials, as these products are hurting consumers. The Press Trust of India news agency has reported Apollo vice-chairman and joint managing director Neeraj Kanwar as saying “what China is doing is coming and dumping huge quantities of tyres because they have capacities lying idle, because they are not being able to export properly to America.

17th October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo – We Want to Do Something for Indian Tennis

Apollo Tyres continues to refute suggestions that the company is trying to control tennis in India. According to the Times of India, the company made this point clear on October 14 while stating again it would not give out details of spending on the ‘Mission 2018’ tennis project.

In September the All India Tennis Association (AITA) accused Apollo of launching a misleading advertising campaign, and it asked the company to be more ‘transparent’. The Association demanded information on how much Apollo had so far spent on the programme.

14th October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Costs, Prices Continue to Rise for Apollo

Onkar Kanwar, the managing director and chairman of India’s Apollo Tyres, has stated to news sources that the company expects to make another price increase in Q3 of the company’s current financial year (1 April 2008 – 31 March 2009), based on the continuing rise of costs.

“The cost is up and we have to push up the prices,” Onkar Kanwar told journalists, responding, “It is possible,” when asked whether prices will go up in Q3.

In Friday trading the company topped the Bombay Stock Exchange bulk deals table when Kotak Mahindra UK Ac Sandstone Capital India Master Fund bought 8,405,530 shares at 33.25 rupees a share and Morgan Stanley Mauritius Company sold 8,405,530 shares at 33.25 rupees a share.

13th October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Expects Continued Sales Growth

Despite the possibility of a price increase between October and December this year (see ‘Costs, Prices Continue to Rise for Apollo’ – www.tyrepress.com), Apollo Tyres’ chairman, Onkar Kanwar has stated that Apollo will continue to see “15-20 per cent” annual sales growth, while “Volume growth will continue at the same level” over the next six months.

Kanwar also told news sources that the company’s planned 320 million US dollar investment in production capacity expansion in India and South Africa is on schedule and has not been changed in light of the worldwide financial climate. “I am very optimistic,” he told journalists. “There might be some slight slowdown temporarily, but starting first quarter (April-June 2009) it should start moving up.”

13th October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Cheaper Rubber Doesn’t Equal Cheaper Tyres – Indian Manufacturers

Despite the prices for natural rubber in India dropping more than 32 per cent in the last two months, tyre manufacturers in this country appear reluctant to follow suit with their own prices. The price of natural rubber fell below the Rs 100 ( ) a kilogram mark on October 7, the first time it has done so this year after rising to a high of Rs 140 ( ) per kilogram in August. The fall in the price is attributed to a decline in crude oil prices and a slide in international rates for latex. Further decreases in the price of natural rubber are also expected in India, the result of peak production season supply and diminished purchasing from industrial users.

10th October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Continental Sponsors Paul Merton TV Series

Continental Tyres are sponsoring Channel 5’s new Paul Merton in India series, which started on 8 October. Following on from the successful series on China, Paul tours India exploring many areas and aspects of the country’s culture. Media agency PHWT worked with Continental to create a number of sponsorship idents that will run throughout each programme in the series. These focus solely on the Continental tyre which rolls across the screen creating a continuous orange line. The tyre always stays in a straight line, whilst the line constantly changes shape to form iconic landmarks from across the globe.

10th October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

The Quiet Achiever

Yokohama Tire admits that an OTR division is typically not the highest profile area in a tyre company’s hierarchy – yet it’s one of the most profitable. While they produce and sell the world’s largest and heaviest tyres, it is the consumer and, to a lesser extent, commercial divisions that receive most of the limelight. To set the record straight, Yokohama Tire USA has interviewed two key members of its OTR division, director of OTR sales Gary Nash and national sales manager Nelson Richards. The two men discuss the inner workings of Yokohama’s OTR department, the marketplace and the future of OTR.

6th October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Phillips Carbon Black Commissions New Power Plant

Phillips Carbon Black has invested in a means of converting excess gas into energy and financial savings. The India based company has announced the commissioning of its 30 MW co-generation power plant Durgapur, in the state of West Bengal. The Rs 1 billion (£11.6 million) facility, which utilising the waste gas produced during the process to generate power, was commissioned on September 29.

3rd October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Says Cost Saving Plans On Target

On October 1 Michelin stated it remains on target to reach its “Horizon 2010” strategic plan of becoming more competitive. The cost saving programmes it has implemented have reduced costs by 500 million euros since 2006, approximately a third of its 2010 goal.

“The group is on target to meet the 2010 cost-reduction objectives it announced two years ago,” the company announced. Michelin intends to reach an overall savings target of between 1.5 and 1.7 billion euros.

2nd October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Tennis Programme Not Just for Brand Awareness, says Apollo

In light of accusations that its programme to nurture up and coming tennis talent is little more than another means by which to promote brand awareness, Apollo Tyres has reiterated that its ‘Apollo Tyres Mission 2018’ scheme is a “programme to identify, nurture and create world-class tennis players in India who will challenge, perform and win on the world stage, with at least one becoming a Singles
Grand Slam champion by the year 2018.”

The All India Tennis Association (AITA), however, views the Apollo programme differently. According to AITA secretary Anil Khanna, the company is doing little in the name of tennis development and is instead using the programme as an opportunity to promote its own brand. In a letter to Apollo Tyres the AITA asked the company to be “transparent” and reveal how much it has to date spent on Apollo Tyres Mission 2018, a scheme the tyre maker claims to have earmarked Rs 1 billion (£11.6 million) for. Apollo says it is unable to provide details of any money so far spent.

30th September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Possible Site for New Ceat Plant Named

According to an unnamed government official, India’s Ceat Ltd is considering the northeastern state of Gujarat as the location for its new LCV and truck radial facility. The Thaindian news reports the source as saying the company will invest RS 5 billion (£57.76 million) in building the facility, however Ceat has not confirmed any such detail.

29th September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors