Tyre, rubber, plastics and composites specialist Smithers Rapra has announced that its operation in Suzhou, China has been certified to test to the United Nation’s Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) R117 standard by TÜV NORD. The company says adding the ECE R117 standard test capabilities for rolling resistance and road noise will support international tyre makers with testing systems that ensure the highest product integrity.
In order to strengthen its Japanese-market retreading activities and meet an anticipated increase in demand for retreaded tyres, on 1 January 2014 Yokohama Rubber integrated its two domestic retreading businesses into a single entity. The new Japanese retreading company is called Yokohama Tire Retread Co., Ltd. and sees Sanyo Retread Co., Ltd. merged into the larger Yokohama Tire East Japan Retread Co., Ltd. operation. Atao Kishi, former head of Yokohama Rubber’s commercial tyre development division, has been named the new operation’s president.
In response the demands of a more diversified market, the Remog group reports that it has implemented “major changes” designed to help the company adapt and take up the challenges before it.
The headline news is the incorporation of BF, which is already part of the group into Remog S.p.A’s operations. However the company made it clear that the continuity of the distribution of both lines of products branded Remog and BF will remain.
US-headquartered OTR tyre specialist Eurotire reports that its OTR radial facility in Drobeta Turnu Severin, Romania has been granted several management systems certifications through IQNet and CISQ/RINA.
Michelin has been awarded ISO 9001:2008 certification for its Tyreplus and Michelin Truck Service Centre (MTSC) networks across India. With this certification, Michelin becomes the largest certified tyre service network in the country; the company presently operates 23 Tyreplus and 13 MTSC outlets within India.
The adoption of a single worldwide RFID standard will accelerate the development of this technology. As a long-time supporter of unified RFID standards, Michelin has decided to lead by example and has announced it will no longer charge royalties on any of its patents that overlap the adoption of such standards. The French manufacturer will apply this to globally recognised single core tyre standards that include: AIAG B11, JAIF B21, ISO- 17367, TMC RP 247, and GS1-EPC TDS 1.5.
The results of a study carried out by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University indicate that two changes through the life of a tyre – tread rubber hardness and tread wear – have a counterbalancing effect on each other. Wing-tat Hung, Yat-ken Lam and Chung-fai Ng, from the university’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Randolph Chi-kin Leung from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, presented the findings of their study ‘the impacts of tyre hardness and tread depth on tyre/road noise’ at this week’s ICSV 20 congress in Thailand.
Remog Spa invested in a new, larger show stand for the Autopromotec 2013 exhibition, the company said it had arranged the new stand in order to meet customers and demonstrate the latest balancing weights to any interested parties.
According to the company, the main innovation brought to this event were the 60 gram zinc and steel adhesive weights, which come in different colours in order to serve the nascent market for coloured alloy wheels that has long been established in countries such as Germany and the Netherlands and which is now spreading in other countries.
Netherlands-headquartered OTR, industrial and truck tyre company Magna Tyres Group has been awarded ISO 9001:2008 certification for its quality management system. Official certification audits at the Magna Tyres headquarters in Waalwijk were completed in March 2013.
Starco’s new plant in Sri Lanka has now been manufacturing the company’s Tusker and Unicorn fork lift tyre ranges for a year, and the Danish firm says its entry into regular production completes an endeavour that required several years of investment and commitment.
Dutch tyre company Bandenmarkt Tyres & Wheels held a ceremony with representatives of official certification agency DNV in January to confirm the award of Certificate ISO 9001:2008. The award caps a year of working on the documentation system for quality, according to the management team, which made the decision to formalise all working processes in a quality system in January 2012.
Four years after trialling its first Montracon trailer with Michelin X One MaxiTrailer tyres, Nestlé Customer Logistics reports that 25 per cent of its 200-strong tri-axle ‘Cooliner’ fleet is operating on the uniquely sized 455/45 R22.5 tyres. Nestlé Customer Logistics’ fleet operates on trunking routes between its production facility in York – which makes 6 million Kit-Kats a day – and distribution hubs throughout the UK. Moving forward, engineering manager Ralph Defty specifies the Michelin tyre on all new standard length trailers joining the fleet.
Remy Automotive UK Ltd has introduced 25 new steering pumps and five new steering racks for popular vehicle applications to its range of parts, which now totals well over 2,000, covering more than 20,000 car applications. These are said to be the first of many new steering references which Remy plans to develop during the course of this year.
ATS Euromaster has reported that it beat its own roadside assistance records for the fourth year running in 2012. 2012 data shows ATS Euromaster’s customer response team and mobile fitting fleet cut the average time from receiving a customer call to arrival on the scene to one hour, five minutes and six seconds. That’s a drop of 17 minutes and 45 seconds from the 2009 times, which ATS technicians have reduced every year since. The data also shows ATS Euromaster is averaging a total time from receiving a customer’s call to completing the job at the roadside of one hour, 51 minutes and 29 seconds. That’s a saving of 14 minutes and 54 seconds on the 2009 times, which again, ATS technicians have slashed every year since.
Following a three-year independent audit, ATS Euromaster has been granted ISO 9001: 2008 status. Obtaining the quality management systems accreditation involved an audit by Lloyds Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) on more than 100 ATS Euromaster outlets and across the company’s head office. The fast fit company says the audit “evaluated everything from senior management strategy planning to implementation of the plans in centres and head office departments.” It also assessed the subsequent impact on a cross-section of customers.
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