Pirelli has been nominated the world leader in the ATX Auto Components sector of the Dow Jones Sustainability World and Dow Jones Sustainability Europe indices, with a score of 85 points compared with a sector average of 51 points. It is the seventh consecutive year that Pirelli has topped the tyre sector in this respect.
The 1,000 or so employees at Lanxess’ global headquarters have completed the shift from the German town of Leverkusen to Cologne. The headquarters team now resides at the ‘Lanxess Tower’ at Kennedyplatz number 1 in the city’s Deutz district. For the first time, all of the company’s central management functions are united under the one roof.
Although it retains a positive view of long-term developments, Germany’s Lanxess AG has admitted its current performance falls short of the company’s own expectations. Board of Management chairman Axel Heitmann spoke frankly upon the release of the specialty chemicals firm’s second quarter 2013 results – figures that include a 95 per cent year-on-year drop in net income.
The seat left vacant on Lanxess AG’s Supervisory Board by the recent death of Ulrich Middelmann has been filled by Claudia Nemat. Announcing Nemat’s appointment, which takes immediate effect, Board head Rolf Stomberg said “We welcome Claudia Nemat in her new role and look forward to working closely together with a well-renowned expert for the high-tech industry and corporate leadership.”
In June 2013 almost all tyre segments outperformed the same period last year, according to sales data released by European industry body ETRMA on 16 July. Winter tyres were said to be the exception to this rule, but no further details have yet been given. One perhaps surprising observation is that markets with weaker economies in Southern Europe are actually performing better than the more established DACH or Scandinavian regions “In southern Europe, the consumer cannot delay any longer change of tyres. We seem to have reached the bottom”, ETRMA secretary general, Fazilet Cinaralp commented. However as good as bottoming out may be for future prospects of an upturn, in the short term is said to be bad news for input suppliers.
Less than a month after inaugurating its 100,000 tonne per annum butyl rubber plant in Singapore and six weeks after launching a new curing bladder facility in Brazil, Lanxess has celebrated the opening of another production site that will serve the tyre and automotive industries. The company’s first facility in Russia, a polymer-bound rubber additives plant operated by its Rhein Chemie subsidiary, officially opened on 4 July, creating around 40 jobs; a second facility at the plant site in Lipetsk, which will produce bladders for use in tyre production, will open in 2016.
Over the next week, Tyrepress.com and the daily Tyrepress.com newsletter will present each of the five voting categories of the NTDA Tyre & Fast Fit Awards, featuring profiles of each company's bid for 2013 glory. The voting process for the TAFF Awards has already begun and ends on 27 September. The big difference this year is that voting is only via the NTDA website (www.ntda.co.uk/TAFF) and not by post, as in previous years. For the second year running, the TAFF Awards are sponsored by speciality chemicals company Lanxess.
Prices for Lanxess’ Vulkanox (antidegradant) and Vulkacit (accelerator) rubber chemicals, two products used in tyre manufacture, will increase as of 1 July. Lanxess says the new pricing is required to offset higher production costs. The price increases will range between 0.05 Euro/kg and 0.20 Euro/kg (0.10 US$ and 0.30 US$), depending on the product and region.
The National Tyre Distributors Association has unveiled its 2013 shortlist for each of the five balloted categories in the Tyre & Fast Fit Awards. The Association also called for nominations for the Innovation Award and for the Tyre Centre of the Year Award, entering its third year as part of the annual British tyre industry Oscars. Voting this year will be 100 per cent online, with NTDA members and non-members alike eligible to vote. The Awards are sponsored by speciality chemicals group Lanxess for the second successive year, and the media partner is Tyres & Accessories magazine.
At an official ceremony on 4 June, attended by around 400 guests, German specialty chemicals firm Lanxess inaugurated its new butyl rubber plant on Singapore’s Jurong Island. Built at a cost of 400 million euros, the facility is the company’s largest ever single investment and is described as being the “most modern of its kind in Asia.” The 100,000 tonne per annum plant will produce premium halobutyl rubber and regular butyl rubber.
Lanxess’ Rhein Chemie business unit has opened a new production facility at its Porto Feliz site in Brazil. The facility produces ‘Rhenoshape’ high-performance curing bladders for use in tyre manufacture and has an annual capacity of approximately 170,000 bladders. Rhein Chemie says the plant employs state-of-the-art production technology incorporating the latest developments in bladder technology. The new plant will be joined by a further new facility next year; this will manufacture ‘Rhenogran’ pre-dispersed polymer-bound rubber additives and have an annual capacity of 1,800 tonnes. Altogether, Lanxess is investing around 10 million euros at the Porto Feliz site and creating up to 60 new jobs.
Dr. Ron Commander, head of Lanxess’ Butyl Rubber business unit, will retire at the end of this year. Before this takes effect, the 62-year old will spend his final six months or so with the specialty chemicals company in a new, Canada-based role. Commander’s new position will take effect on 1 July, and on that date he will be succeeded as head of the Butyl Rubber business unit by Dr. Guenther Weymans, who is currently head of Lanxess’ Keltan Elastomers business unit.
In the introduction to Lanxess AG’s 2012 annual report, Board of Management chairman Axel Heitmann comments that “when Lanxess became an independent company eight years ago, few people believed it would have a successful future. That’s why I can look back on the 2012 fiscal year with particular pride. There is hardly any other year in our history that demonstrates more clearly just how successful we have become since 2005, despite many predictions to the contrary.”
Based on the results of a feasibility study, German chemicals firm Lanxess has opted to convert its Triunfo factory in southern Brazil from the manufacture of emulsion styrene butadiene rubber (E-SBR), as used in standard tyres, to solution styrene butadiene rubber (S-SBR), which is used in used in high-performance, green tyres. Lanxess notes that it is the first company to carry out such a conversion.
The results of a study involving questionnaires and face-to-face interviews with more than 70 experts from 32 tyre makers, including all top 20 suppliers, show 85 per cent of the companies questioned expect the new EU tyre labelling regulation will significantly impact their daily businesses. Most of those questioned also view the regulation as an opportunity rather than a burden.
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