Japan Archives - Page 42 of 58 - Tyrepress

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Yokohama Begins ‘Forever Forest’ Project

Yokohama Rubber’s inaugural “Yokohama Forever Forest” tree planting ceremony, held at is factory in Hiratsuka City, Japan, proved to be a highly successful introduction to the tyremaker’s long-term tree planting initiative. Around 3,500 local residents and Yokohama employees, with family members, attended the factory site on Sunday November 11 and planted about 27,000 seedlings. Yokohama reports that 54 varieties of tree were planted on the day, including tabu (persea), shii (castanopsis) and akagashi (quercus acuta).

15th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Yokohama Net Income Increases Almost 300% in Half-Year

The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. has announced that during the first half of the company’s current fiscal year, between April 1 and September 30, 2007, it recorded a 266.7 per cent increase in interim operating income over the same period of the previous year. Interim operating income at Yokohama totalled 12.1 billion yen (£51 million), and interim net income rose 287.6 per cent over the previous year to 13.0 billion yen (£54.8 million).

The company’s profitability increased greatly as sales growth outside Japan, especially in tyres, more than offset the continuing rise in raw material costs and an increase in logistics expenses. Also contributing to the surge in profitability were price increases for Yokohama’s tyre and diversified products and the weakening of the yen. Net income was aided by a tax benefit realised in connection with improved profitability in Yokohama’s North American subsidiaries, as well as from the upturn in operating profitability. Yokohama’s interim net sales increased 13.9 per cent to 253.3 billion yen (£1.1 billion).

9th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Toyo Shares Plunge Following Revelation of False Test Data

Share prices for Toyo Tire & Rubber plummeted following revelations that the company falsified data related to the fire resistance tests conducted on some of its building products. Stocks fell 21 per cent to 131 yen (£0.55), wiping out 27.4 billion yen (£104 million) in market value, the greatest single drop in more than three decades.

The company stated on November 5 that it had reported the issue to Japan’s Land, Infrastructure & Transport Ministry, and Toyo will now most likely have to expend about 4 billion yen (£16.8 million), the equivalent of approximately two-thirds of last year’s profit, rectifying shortcomings in wall and roof components.

8th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Yokohama Revises Earning Projections

The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., has upwardly revised its projections for consolidated earnings in the interim fiscal period from April 1 to September 30, 2007. These new projections, announced on October 26, call for the interim operating income to increase 3.5-fold over the same period of the previous year, to 11.5 billion yen (£49.1 million), and for interim net income to increase 3.7-fold, to 12.5 billion yen (£53.4 million). Yokohama’s revised projection for operating income is 27.8 per cent higher than the projection announced on August 9, and the revised projection for net income is 66.7 per cent higher. The company’s projection of a 13.3 per cent increase in net sales, to 252.0 billion yen (£1.08 billion), is unchanged from the earlier projection.

29th October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Report: Chinese PC Market Accelerates With Government Backing

According to a new analysis from Frost & Sullivan the Chinese passenger car sales volumes have jumped from about 1.2 million in 2001 to over 5.17 million in 2006. Moreover, China has overtaken Japan to be the second largest automotive consumer in the world in 2006. Reduced tariffs are expected enable foreign companies to slash the prices of their cars and compete with the products of domestic OEMs. Meanwhile, new rules on the qualification evaluation of car dealership will ensure the elimination of car dealers without authentic authorisation, aiding fair competition in the market.

“Policies have also been drafted to improve the quality of car parts and components to guarantee the safety of passengers,” says Frost & Sullivan Industry Manager Cecilia Yuan. “The move to promote the consumption of low-cylinder volume cars will not only improve their effect on the environment, but also raise the prices of luxury cars.”

22nd October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone to Attend 40th Tokyo Motor Show

The Tokyo Motor Show, acknowledged as one of the motoring world’s “big five” shows (along with Detroit, Geneva, Frankfurt and Paris) gets underway on October 24. The 2007 exhibition, the 40th Tokyo Show, runs until November 11 and has attracted numerous top name exhibitors, including Japan’s – and the world’s – largest producer of tyres.

Bridgestone will present a stand focusing on the theme of “The Environment and Safety”, and will introduce tyres and related activities supporting these concepts. The environmental emphasis will include a display of various eco-products, beginning with ECOPIA, an environmentally friendly fuel saving tyre, and NanoPro-Tech, a material technology that boosts environmental performance in tyres by reducing rolling resistance. NanoPro-Tech was first seen in the Blizzak Rev02 pcr studless tyre released in 2006, and is now one of Bridgestone’s core technologies. The company will also introduce a variety of its environmental activities using display panels.

18th October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Winter Tyres Get the Cold Shoulder in New Zealand

Public perception of cold weather tyres in New Zealand has been dealt another blow, with the country’s leading motor industry organisation, the Motor Trade Association, again calling for a ban to be placed upon the importation of cars fitted with cold weather tyres, more commonly known in New Zealand as snow tyres. The association has also proposed denying a warrant of fitness – the 6-monthly New Zealand equivalent to the MOT – to any vehicle fitted with cold weather tyres outside the cold season and away from “colder regions of the country.” Demands for such measures have been repeated throughout this year following the occurrence of two well-publicised fatal accidents involving vehicles fitted with a combination of summer and winter tyres, and this negative attention appears to have overshadowed the benefits that correctly fitted winter tyres may bring to motorists.

16th October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Winter Tyres Get the Cold Shoulder in New Zealand

Public perception of cold weather tyres in New Zealand has been dealt another blow, with the country’s leading motor industry organisation, the Motor Trade Association, again calling for a ban to be placed upon the importation of cars fitted with cold weather tyres, more commonly known in New Zealand as snow tyres. The association has also proposed denying a warrant of fitness to any vehicle fitted with cold weather tyres outside the cold season and away from “colder regions of the country.” Demands for such measures have been repeated throughout this year following the occurrence of two well-publicised fatal accidents involving vehicles fitted with a combination of summer and winter tyres, and this negative attention appears to have overshadowed the benefits that correctly fitted winter tyres may bring to motorists.

16th October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop Reach 50,000 Tyre Milestone at Bathurst 1000

Dunlop proudly supplied its 50,000th tyre to the V8 Supercar Championship Series at the most prestigious race on the Australian motorsport calendar. Dunlop reached their 50,000th tyre milestone after beating rival manufacturers to win its third consecutive contract to supply its highly-acclaimed control tyre to teams participating in the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series. Since 2002, Dunlop has been the sole tyre supplier to the Championship, providing and servicing more than 9,000 tyres per year.

10th October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Yokohama Points to New Winter Tyre Engineering Breakthrough

Did you know that it is actually more hazardous to drive on ice when the temperature is between -6 and 0 degrees Celcius than when temperatures are colder? Yokohama engineers at the company’s headquarters in Japan have proposed the concept that a “danger zone” exists when ice can be more slippery. According to the company, understanding what makes ice slippery was the first step in creating a new generation of winter tyres better able to deal with this dangerous condition.

Tyre engineers have long understood that the very act of driving a car on ice makes the ice more slippery. The weight of the car and the friction of the tyre rolling over the surface of the ice acts to melt the ice under the tyre. The layer of water between the ice and tyre acts like a lubricant, reducing the traction the tyre can achieve. The engineers at Yokohama Rubber Company Ltd. studied the phenomenon and discovered that the thin film of water created by the tyre actually grew when the temperature was between minus six and zero degrees.

10th October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Recycled Tyres to Help Protect Olympic Horses

A product produced by Hong-Kong tyre recycling company Jets Technics products will be used in The Hong Kong Jockey Club Parade Ring in Shatin Racecourse. Jets Technics, beat overseas rivals to win a major contract for the equestrian events at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. The company also makes flooring and wall tiling products that will line the stables and a clinic at the Olympic equestrian venue in Hong Kong to protect the valuable horses taking part in the event.

Jets Technics has been developing green technology in various markets for the past 27 years and sees the contract as “a significant coup.”

“There will be a good number of valuable horses coming for the 2008 Olympic Equestrian Event,” said John So Chi-chun, Assistant Director of Jets Technics. “To protect the horses’ hooves from being hurt, special materials need to be used in the walls and floorings of stables and the equestrian hospital.

9th October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Starts Run-Flat Mass Production in South Africa

Bridgestone Corporation has announced that Bridgestone South Africa (Pty) Ltd., has started the mass production and shipping of run-flat from its Brits, factory. Bridgestone South Africa Holdings (Pty) Ltd. is a holding company which is a subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation for South Africa. The factory will produce 205/55R16 Turanza ER300 tyres for use on new BMW 3 Series automobiles produced in South Africa.

The Brits Plant started operation in 1971 with the production of radial tyres for passenger cars, light trucks, and trucks and buses, predominantly supplying the South African market. With the start of run-flat production and shipping at the Brits Plant, Bridgestone Group now boasts a “quadripartite production system” of run-flat tyres spanning Japan, the United States, Poland and South Africa. A special ceremony was held at the Brits Plant on September 13 to celebrate the start of mass production and BMW approval.

8th October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Senior Management Changes at Bridgestone

On September 28 Bridgestone announced that its board of directors has approved the following proposals of the changes in member of the board and in corporate officers.

1. Changes in position and responsibilities of members of the board (effective October 16, 2007)
– Tatsuya Okajima
New position and responsibilities: Senior vice president, advisor to the president
Current position and responsibilities: senior vice president, chief compliance officer, responsible for original equipment tyre sales and quality management; concurrently chief risk-management officer

– Masaharu Oku
New position and responsibilities: Vice president & senior officer, advisor to the president. Oku has been seconded to Bridgestone Cycle Co., Ltd where he will serve as chairman.
Current position and responsibilities: vice president & senior officer, responsible for production technology

3rd October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Yokohama Tire Changes Executives

(Akron/Tire Review) Yokohama Tire Corp. has seen a number of its executives reassigned. Takao Oishi was named YTC executive vice president of operations, and is relocating from Yokohama Rubber Corp. in Japan. Kenichi Shirai was named chief advisor for strategic marketing, and is also coming from YRC headquarters in Japan. Also relocating to the US will be Iwao Shimomura, who was named YTC senior director of corporate quality assurance. At YTC, Satoshi Miyata was promoted to CFO and treasurer. He had been serving as YTC’s treasurer for the last four years.

As a result, three YTC executives returned to Yokohama’s Japan headquarters: Takaharu Fushimi was named YRC general manager of tyre overseas sales and marketing department No. 1; Tadayoshi Hiraga was named general manager of tyre overseas technical service department; and Takeshi Masatomo assumed the new title of manager of passenger car and light truck tyres product planning department.

2nd October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

US Trade Group to Visit Bridgestone HQ

The US state of Ohio is keen to let Bridgestone know that they are welcome in its part of the world. Lieutenant Governor of Ohio Lee Fisher is heading a delegation of almost 50 business and financial development leaders to Japan in order to foster relationships that will create new jobs and investment in the state.

The delegation’s itinerary includes a visit to the headquarters of the world’s largest tyre major. Bridgestone already has a strong presence in the city of Akron and adds much to the local economy. ”Anyone who is here already, we want to thank them for being here and assure them of the state’s commitment to them,” said Carin Rockind from Team NEO, one of the organisations participating in the visit. Rocksin added that if Bridgestone, or indeed any other company, is looking to expand their US presence, ”we want those new investments to come our way.”

10th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors