ZC Rubber’s new bike tyre factory in Anji, Zhejiang province, has commenced production. The Anji factory is associated with an investment of up to US$620 million and covers 860,000 square metres, focusing on the motorcycle tyres, e-bike tyres and inner tubes etc. Shen Jinrong, president of ZC Rubber, says that the factory‘s output value amounts to more than $1 billion.
Sentury Tire has selected a plot of land just outside LaGrange, Georgia as the location for its US$500 million US tyre factory, according to various local news sources. Reports in local US newspapers suggest that the decision was made on Thursday 1 September – at which point the choice was between the shortlist of the reportedly successful Georgia location and the Memphis Regional Megasite in Tennessee.
RMI Bodyshops (NAB & VBRA) is urging the government to review its recently released funding levels for the new trailblazer apprenticeships. Jason Moseley, RMI Bodyshops Director commented: “the new funding rates proposed fall concerningly short of those needed to deliver a robust and quality apprenticeship programme. The proposed rates do not cover the funding required for equipment, tools, products and teaching resource to deliver these programmes.
CEOs and experts from China’s leading companies gathered in Shanghai and Beijing to explore how smart manufacturing will deliver value to the manufacturing industry and support government initiatives including China Manufacturing 2025. Hosted by Rockwell Automation “The Connected Enterprise CEO Forum” was led by Rockwell Automation’s new president and CEO, Blake Moret. However the interesting point from a tyre industry perspective is that the firm revealed that it is helping any unnamed Chinese tyremaker construct a factory in the US.
In a recent op-ed Harjeev Kandhari, CEO of tyre company Zenises, reflected on possible changes in the way tyres are sold in the future. Kandhari’s first point is that the quality gap between brands that are long-established in the market (the so-called ‘legacy’ brands) and more recent introductions, such as Zenises’ own Z-Tyre, is shrinking fast. There has traditionally been a large difference in price between legacy and the newer tyres, but Kandhari believes that the small differences in performance and technology mean that this gap is no longer appropriate.
Goodyear (Thailand) Plc is set to invest 5.63 billion baht (US$162 million) over the next 10 years adding radial aircraft tyre production technology to its Pathum Thani province-based factory in order to meet growing demand in the Asia Pacific region. The first phase of the three-phase expansion is targeted to begin operations by 2018.
The Michelin Group has acquired Levorin, a Brazilian manufacturer of bicycle and motorcycle tyres.
Levorin is a family business which was founded in 1943 by Hercules Levorin. It specializes in the production of tyres for the commuter segment in Brazil. In 2015 Levorin had an annual turnover of 135 million euros and employs 2,000 people at its two plants in Sao Paulo and Manaus.
On the 4 July, as the USA began to celebrate its independence day, Continental AG’s UK subsidiary (Continental Tyre Group) announced it had bought Bandvulc (B.V. Environmental Ltd.), one of only two substantially sized independent retreaders left in the UK. Legally, the takeover establishes Bandvulc as a wholly owned subsidiary of Continental UK Group Holdings Limited. T&A understands Bandvulc’s existing management team are to continue to lead the business.
The Tanzanian government is set to build a new tyre plant. According to local news reports, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment Dr Adelhem Meru, told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) the new factory will be based on new technology.
Turkish joint venture tyre maker Brisa Bridgestone Sabancı Lastik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. – or Brisa, as it is more commonly known – intends to primarily utilise a US$150 million long-term loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and $160 million from a syndicated loan transaction arranged and coordinated by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) for the greenfield factory it is now building in Anatolia. A portion of the financing will also be directed towards the expansion of Brisa’s truck and bus tyre plant in Izmit.
Following yesterday’s confirmation that Triangle is going ahead with the initial public offering (IPO) on the Shanghai stock exchange the company planned last year, the company has revealed a number of other key details.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) approved Triangle Tires’ most recent initial public offering (IPO) bid. Qingdao, Shandong Province-based tyre manufacturer Triangle was one of 13 firms to receive a CSRC go-ahead on Friday 19 August. The IPO is set to take place in Shanghai. An official IPO announcement is expected in September.
Michelin Corporate Foundation has been announced as a corporate founding partner in the development of the V&A Museum of Design Dundee. The V&A Museum will be the first in the UK outside of London, and is part of a wider £1 billion regeneration scheme for the city. Due for completion in 2018, the foundation will support both its initial and ongoing development with a significant investment. A gallery within V&A Dundee will take on the Michelin name for a term of 25 years. Michelin has strong ties to Dundee; its tyre plant on Baldovie Road is the city’s largest employer. The French manufacturer committed to an investment of £52 million to modernise the plant in 2015, and was recently visited by the Queen.
Continental has opened its first training centre in the APAC region in Hefei, Anhui province in China. The facility is located in Anhui Province, in the Hefei Hi-tech Industry Development Zone, beside the company’s tyre plant and R&D test centre.
In addition to his tyre businesses, which come under the Zenises banner, Harjeev Kandhari has taken on an additional non-executive chairman role at Walpole Capital, a venture capital firm based in London.
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