Whether its raw materials, machinery, research and development or the latest manufacturing trends, this tag provides up-to-the-minute insights into the upstream part of the tyre industry.
Following a recent acquisition, Reclaim Industries Ltd has become Australia’s largest tyre recycler. The publicly traded tyre recycler and rubber manufacturing company purchased the Sydney based Renaza tyre processing plant for AU$621,000 from the bankrupted ReVived Rubber Technologies and Renaza Resources – an acquisition that comes at a time when Reclaim is seeing business increase 27 per cent over the 2009 financial year.
TTC stands for Technical Tire Consulting, a team of specialists with many years’ experience in the field of tyre manufacturing and familiarity with the latest technologies. During their time in the business the consultants have been responsible for building world class manufacturing facilities, such as those producing drop centre tyres, and have knowledge of all aspects of the business at their fingertips.
In preparation for the closure of its Opelika, Alabama factory at the end of October, Michelin North America's BFGoodrich Tire Manufacturing has announced the layoffs of approximately 350 production employees, effective October 2. According to Lynn Mann, MNA director of external communications, the layoffs are part of the company’s “rampdown activities”.
When Hankook executives announced details of their plans to expand production at the company’s Dunaujvaros, Hungary factory earlier in September, the Financial Times reported that either an Indian or Malaysian plant are next on the list. In answer to Tyres & Accessories/tyrepress.com questions, Calvin Pak, Hankook team manager corporate communications, explained that these countries are indeed being considered, but that sites in Mexico and Brazil are also being looked into. Acquisitions of existing plants or companies are also said to be an option. However, no final decisions have yet been made.
Nexen Tire is planning to invest 1 trillion won (£526 million; 572 million euros; $829 million) in a new factory in South Korea. The move is seen as a way of ramping up production in anticipation of a 6 per cent annual growth of global tyre demand. The new plant, which will be located in Gyeongnam Province, southeast of Seoul, would be the world's largest to produce tyres for passenger vehicles and light trucks, according to the company. The investment, which is scheduled to be made by 2017, will double the company’s existing annual output from its other China and South Korea plants to 60 million units and place it among the world's top 10 tyre makers, the company said in a statement.
Nexen shares rose 1.35 per cent to 6,020 won by 0248 GMT 28 September 2009 following the news.
In mid-September Pirelli demonstrated its commitment to reducing vehicle emissions in China through the signing of two agreements. On September 15 the Italian firm, along with the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea and China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection signed a protocol agreement on the distribution of diesel vehicle emission reduction technologies in China. Pirelli also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Hixih Group to set up a filter manufacturing plant in Shandong Province.
Yokohama Rubber has established a tyre mould manufacturing and sales company through its acquisition of Hashiba Tire Mold’s tyre mould manufacturing business in July. The aim of setting up this new company, Yokohama comments, is to further reduce costs through increasing the self-supply ratio within the Yokohama Rubber group.
Kumho Petrochemical intends to construct a facility for the production of rubber accelerator in southwest China. The company announced on September 23 that it will spend 44 billion won (£22.4 million) to build the plant by the first quarter of 2011. The Chongqing plant is expected to annually produce 22,000 tonnes of rubber accelerator, a substance used during the vulcanisation process.
In remarks before the 28th Conference on Tire Science and Technology, Goodyear chairman and CEO Robert J. Keegan told attendees that a commitment to rapid innovation, aimed at addressing specific consumer needs, provides a significant “competitive advantage.” Furthermore, in today’s fast paced and economically challenging environment, such a commitment is “critical to a company’s very survival.”
Cooper Tire & Rubber has embarked on a number of measures to boost its competitive edge in the North American market. As part of this the company intends to expand its Tupelo, Mississippi facility, and the groundbreaking ceremony for this project took place on September 22. According to Cooper, the US$7 million expansion work will increase the size of the 1.6 million square foot facility by an additional 32,000 square feet and include the installation of mixing equipment.
According to rubber recycler Magnum D’Or Resources and Sekhar Research Innovations, September has been a truly historic month. Magnum SRI has for some time performed laboratory trials to convert its activated compound into a high recycled content “custom compound” that is tailored for blending with various high end applications, and on September 19 Magnum SRI announced it has now successfully produced the custom compound on a commercial production scale using a Banbury mixer at the Malaysian Rubber Research Institute facility in Sungai Buloh. This effectively replicates, explained Magnum, the production parameters and process flow it indents to implement in its Magog, Canada facility and subsequently its plant in Colorado.
Workers at the Nokian Tyres factory in the company’s Finnish hometown are scheduled to stage a one-day walkout on September 23. According to Petri Sorvali, chief shop steward at the factory, the walkout will be held in protest against the company's restructuring programme.
The United Steelworkers (USW) announced on September 19 that a new four-year agreement covering some 10,300 USW members at seven Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company plants has been ratified by secret ballot referendum vote, and comes into effect on September 21.
Tire Review – Doran Manufacturing and DriverTech have reached a collaborative development agreement to integrate the Doran 360 TPMS with DriverTech’s Windows-based onboard computing and mobile communications system for Class 7-8 trucks. The companies said that integrating the tire pressure monitoring capability into the DriverTech TruckPC, tyre pressures for tractors and trailers can now be monitored in both the truck cab and at fleet headquarters in real-time. “We are excited to offer the capability to communicate tire pressure information and critical low pressure warnings to both the driver and fleet managers,” said Doran General Manager Jim Samocki. “We are proud to be working with a high-caliber company like DriverTech, to expand their capabilities into tyre pressure monitoring.”
Tire Review/Reuters – Trade measures of the type imposed by the United States on Chinese tires run the risk of spilling over and slowing economic recovery, a senior World Trade Organization (WTO) official said on Thursday. The tyre trade dispute blew up between the United States and China after Washington imposed additional duties on Chinese-made tyres last Friday, accusing Beijing of flooding the US market.
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