Following the opening of a 600,000 square foot warehouse in Miami, Florida-based wholesaling operation Tire Group International (TGI) is setting its sights on greater international business. TGI has expanded 750 per cent since its foundation in 1992. In addition to its Miami, Florida and Leon, Mexico warehousing space, the company maintains warehousing capacity in Laredo Texas and Hamburg, Germany.
Talking with Hercules vice president and general manager for eastern hemisphere, Vincent Lewis, reveals that the company’s main news is from the product development department. Firstly the company has launched a new Ironman range of tyres. Available as commercial light vehicle, 4×4 and passenger car radials, the Ironman PCR range is subdivided according to speeding rating. As a result the Type-H line consists of twenty-two 60 to 75 series products in 13 to 16-inch diameters; five 13 to 14-inch 70-series sizes in the Type-T line; and two 15-inch 50 series products in the Type-V offering. The new brand also offers a number of 12 to 15-inch van products and five 15 to 16-inch Radial A/T 4×4/SUV sizes.
The Hercules Tire & Rubber Company (Hercules), the marketer and distributor of private label and branded tyres, announced that it is acquiring Tire Distributor Inc., USA (TDI), a tyre wholesaler headquartered near Miami, Florida. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. “We are very pleased to bring TDI and its management team and employees into the Hercules family,” said Larry Seawell, president and chief executive officer of Hercules. Seawell added, “We had targeted the Southeast region for expansion given the opportunities for growth in that market, and it was important for us to find a strong operating platform in Florida that would allow us to expand our sales and distribution capabilities throughout the Southeast and into Latin America.”
Yokohoma has announced plans to build a light truck and motorcycle tyre plant in Vietnam over the coming 13 months. According to analysts reports, the plant is expected to come on-line by June 2007, with annual capacity of 3,100 metric tonnes of mixed rubber.
Goodyear Dunlop Europe has named Mark Brickhill as general manager of its UK operation, based in TyreFort, Birmingham. Brickhill will report to Arthur de Bok, President of Goodyear Dunlop Europe with the appointment taking effect on 1 June. Brickhill replaces Dick Johnson who is retiring after 41 years’ service, the past two as UK general manager.
(Akron/Tire Review) Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s Philippines business will add 50 more dealers and introduce new products in the region, according to the Philippine newspaper Manila Bulletin.
Tire Group International, Inc. describes itself as “a premier tyre distributor”, and is the largest Hispanic-owned tyre distributor in the US, serving all of Latin America, Central America, and the Caribbean, as well as the rest of the world. In addition to its Miami facilities, there are distribution centres in Mexico and Puerto Rico to better serve clients.
Stephanie Tires, Corp. a company established since 1989 in Miami, Florida, USA will commence its operations in Europe starting in June of the present year. Stephanie Tires, Corp. is currently conducting business from its headquarters located in Miami to its markets in Latin America and the Caribbean.
(Akron/Tire Review) Pirelli SpA’s new $50 million truck tyre plant in Gravatai, Brazil, has been officially opened. Located inside Pirelli’s motorcycle tyre development and production facility, the new plant covers 573,000 square metres and will produce some 12,000 tonnes of tyres per year at full capacity. Some 80 per cent of the new plant’s truck tyre production will be for the Brazilian market, and the other 20 per cent will be exported primarily to other Latin America countries, according to Pirelli.
Dunlop is working with young engineers to bring Formula racing car BMM02 into reality. The team consists of 20 postgraduate Automotive and Motorsport engineers from Brunel University West London, with the common goal of designing and manufacturing a formula-style racing car for the Formula Student Competition 2006.
Speciality tyre manufacturer, GPX International Tire Corporation, has become the first tyre manufacturer to open a mixing warehouse facility in China’s newest free trade zone. The new 140,000 square foot facility (13,000 square metres) is designed to support international trade and is strategically located in North East China’s Tanggu Port. Tanggu is the largest man-made port in China and provides GPX with close access to global shipping lanes. The mixing warehouse is critical in further developing leading-edge solutions for GPX customers around the world. GPX says it expects to start offering tyres through its new mixing facility in the first quarter of 2006.
Goodyear has reported a fourth quarter net loss of $51 million for 2005, compared with the previous year period’s net income of $125 million. This year’s lower result was put down to losses caused by the sale of the company’s farm tyre unit. Despite the losses the company recorded sales of $4.9 billion in the fourth quarter and a full-year sales record of $19.7 billion. According to the company, sales benefited from improved pricing and product mix and higher volume in the international tyre businesses, while the effect of currency translation reduced sales by approximately $107 million in the quarter.
Bekaert has acquired Delta Wire Corporation for an enterprise value of US$10 million. With almost 100 employees, Delta Wire Corporation, located in Clarksdale (Mississippi), is a major supplier of bead wire for tyre reinforcement, as well as of a wide range of specialized wire products for the North American market.
Hankook Tire Co Ltd expects a difficult global market this year due to higher raw material costs and oversupply, a senior company executive told Reuters.
Hankook, which exports up to 70 per cent of what it produces, has also been under pressure from a softer euro against the dollar, which cuts profits for exporters to the region.
Rubbersolutions Pty Ltd has announced the “signing and receipt of deposit” for six tyre recycling plants in Mexico with Recycling Planet. All tyre-recycling facilities will incorporate new grinding technology aimed at reducing whole tyres to -80-mesh powder as well as the Patent Pending Tread Stripping machinery recently introduced by Rubbersolutions. This includes the revolutionary new mining tyre tread stripper/cutter.
At a recent launch representatives of all major Mexican political parties are reported to have supported the move. Recycling Planet managing director, Mr Alberto Frost commented that the company had conducted “worldwide explorations into tyre recycling equipment and were happy to announce that Rubbersolutions technology had proven to be the most acceptable.” Mr Frost also announced a programme of rapid expansion of tyre recycling facilities throughout Latin America.
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