Manufacturing Archives - Page 150 of 257 - Tyrepress

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.

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UniWheels – Now Number Three in Europe

The early 2008 acquisition of the ATS-Group’s European interests by the UniWheels group has led to the emergence of an aluminium wheel business that ranks number three in the European market. Subsequent to the purchase, which followed the insolvency of ATS Beteiligungs in July 2007, UniWheels has assumed the number three market position in Europe behind Ronal and Borbet (who produce approximately 12 million wheels per annum each) and ahead of Hayes Lemmerz and Turkish supplier CMS.

23rd March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

NZ Wholesaler/Retailer Changes Name

One of New Zealand’s leading tyre marketers, wholesalers and retailers has announced a new name and corporate identity designed to represent the current and future direction of the business. From today, Goodyear & Dunlop Tyres (NZ) is the new trading name of South Pacific Tyres (NZ), the company that is custodian of the Goodyear and Dunlop brands, as well as the Goodyear Auto Service Centre, Beaurepaires and Frank Allen Tyres branded retail stores.

Goodyear & Dunlop Tyres managing director and CEO Judith Swales stated, “Goodyear and Dunlop are the two of the world’s leading tyre brands, so we are very pleased and proud that they form the basis of our new trading name and corporate identity. The Goodyear & Dunlop Tyres name better reflects Goodyear’s ownership of our business whilst acknowledging the heritage and legacy that is synonymous with the Dunlop brand in New Zealand and Australia.”

23rd March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Hungarian Manufacturers Scale Back Production

Tyre manufacturers in Hungary are reducing production due to a drop in demand, reports the business daily Világgazdaság. Hankook Tyre’s facility in Dunaújváros is operating at about 90 per cent capacity in the first half of the year, managing director Lee Sang Il informed the paper. The plant’s 1,200 workers will turn out about 5 million tyres in 2009. In 2008, the plant produced 4 million tyres, though it did not reach capacity until October. Hankook is also delaying the completion of an expansion at the facility until 2011. The first phase of the project, which will cost a total of 500 million euros, is already more than 60 per cent completed. When the capacity expansion is completed, the plant will raise staff numbers to over 1,500.

23rd March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

New Range Of Wheels From Wolfrace

Wolfrace has launched a new wheel range – called GB3 – with a new wheel called Racer. Available in three sizes (7.0×16″, 7.5×17″ and 8.0×18″), Racer is a black, 10-spoke design and five of these spokes, along with the rim, are machined and then finished with a durable lacquer.

The GB3 range will consist of five wheels and Wolfrace is offering a three-year warranty on four of these and the fifth, which is a chrome wheel, will be covered by a two-year warranty. This extended warranty has been made possible, says Wolfrace, by a combination of uncompromising quality control standards and up-to-the-minute manufacturing techniques, achieving German TÜV certification in the process.

20th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Dunlop Dons Red for Comic Relief

Friday 13 March saw Goodyear employees and visitors to the company’s West Midlands sites show support for Comic Relief and Red Nose Day by donning red clothes and participating in a range of money-raising activities. The tyre maker not only hosted a dress down day, cake sales, competitions and raffles; a visit from business forum Vistage.

Consisting of a group of specially selected chief executives who share experience and knowledge in order to develop their own and members businesses, Vistage members were showcasing best practice information, including a focus on the Goodyear Dunlop’s successful Dunlop Motorsport operations. Delegates took an exclusive tour of Dunlop Motorsport’s Birmingham factory, seeing at first hand the manufacturing process and business methods used to produce the segment’s championship winning car and motorbike tyres for series such as the British Touring Car Championship, Le Mans and Motor GP.

17th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

GKN Rim Aims to Make Tyre Changing Easier, Wheels Lighter

GKN Wheels Division, part of the GKN OffHighway division has pledged to make “tyre-fitting easier and bring efficiency benefits for manufacturers of off-highway vehicles” through simplifying tyre changing. The company is one of the world’s leading provider of wheels for off-highway vehicles in the construction, industrial and agricultural sectors, with seven global manufacturing plants in the UK, USA, Denmark, Italy and China.

Steve Cragg, design and development director at GKN Wheels says, “We have an established track record of successfully delivering innovative solutions to wheel manufacture and design that improve cost and performance; the new rim design reinforces this capability in the marketplace.

“In recent years, increased use of low pressure tyres, which are reinforced with stiff beading, has made it even more difficult and time-consuming to fit or remove tyres without risking some damage.”

16th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Chinese Tyre Manufacturers are Going Green

Domestic Chinese tyre manufacturers are taking step to produce more environmentally friendly tyres, according to a China Economic report. “The occurrence of [the radial] in 1946 reduced the tyre’s rolling resistance by 20 per cent and the ‘green’ tyre emerging in the 1990s further reduced the rolling resistance,” Head of Rubber Tyre Expert Group of Planning and Economic Committee of China Rubber Industry Association Chen Zhihong said, adding: “although it just begins, the ‘green’ tyre represents the trend of further energy saving and emission reduction via tyre.”

According to Chen Zhihong’s analysis the main way to reduce the rolling resistance is to use SSBR in combination with “mainly white carbon” fillers. In this scenario the “green” tyre can reduce the rolling resistance by about 26 per cent, save fuel by between 3 and 8 per cent without losing out on other performance characteristics such as noise and wet grip. Nevertheless, the “green” tyre is currently said to mainly be used by top-grade automobiles in China “as a result of its high cost.”

16th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Stamford Tyres 3Q2009 Sales Down 6.6%

Stamford Tyres Corporation has reported double digit falls in both third quarter revenues (S$62.9 million, £29.2 million – down 21 per cent) and period gross profits (S$15.8 million, £7.34 million – down 16.6 per cent). The biggest quarterly fall was in the company’s net profits after tax, which fell to just S$100,000 (£46,426), down 94.9 per cent compared with the same period in the company’s 2008 financial year. Stamford puts the marked drops it experienced down to the “deteriorating business environment resulting from the global economic crisis.” Nevertheless the company evidently did turn a profit and continues to record healthy gross profit margins in excess of 20 per cent (2009:25.1 – 2008:23.8).

For the nine months ended 31 January 2009 revenue was S$227.6 million (£105.6 million), down 6.6 per cent compared to the same period in 2008. Gross profit for the first three quarters of the 2009 fiscal year was S$54.6 million (£25.3 million), comparable to what was achieved at the same point in 2008 (down 1.8 per cent to be precise). However, according to the company “most key territories in Stamford Tyres’ marketing network continued to perform satisfactorily.”

13th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

ETRMA: Rules Sets Tyre Safety at ‘Unprecedented Levels’

European tyre manufacturing body, ETRMA, has welcomed the approval of new requirements for the general safety of motor vehicles in yesterday’s first-reading agreement by the European Parliament. According to the association, the new type approval requirements recognise the importance of an integrated approach to tyre performance for consumers by considering both safety and environmental performance in the same act. “The implementation of this legislation will be challenging, but the tyre industry is ready to meet the challenge in light of the consumers and citizens interests,” said ETRMA president Francesco Gori. The challenge will be for the 27 enforcement Authorities to ensure consistent and effective market surveillance.

From ETRMA’s point of view the new regulation is about “environmental and safety objectives with challenging targets, while providing visibility and regulatory certainty for the next 10 years. It is about a single regulation, directly applicable in all the Member States, creating a level playing field in the EU.”

12th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

EU Adopts Noise, Rolling Resistance, Wet Grip and Labelling rules

The EU has rubber-stamped the tyre noise, rolling resistance, wet grip and labelling regulations that have been the subject of public discussion since the beginning of 2008. Despite complaints from some leading premium tyre manufacturers that the balance of improvements demanded is simply unworkable in the timeframe given, the commission said it should assess the feasibility of “strengthening the requirements for wet grip for tyres, and if appropriate, propose an amendment to this Regulation.” The decisions follow the EU’s adoption of a report which includes calls for tyre rolling resistance, noise and safety regulations as part of “a simpler, standardised system for the type-approval of motor vehicles.” The new regulation will reportedly apply from 1 November 2011, a year earlier than the commission proposed.

Some of the rules on tyre standards have also been revised. Measures to regulate tyre rolling resistance and monitor inflation pressures appear to have been made stricter. The rule also makes the installation of tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) compulsory on new private cars. MEPs did not vote to extend this TPMS requirement to trucks, but they did beef up the rules on the effectiveness and reliability of such systems, without preferring either direct or indirect pressure monitoring technology.

11th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Trelleborg to Distribute GPX Galaxy Tyres in Europe

Galaxy-branded farm, forestry, agri-industrial and and OTR will be distributed exclusively by Trelleborg Wheel Systems following an agreement between the companies to form a strategic alliance. The agreement will be effective from 1 April, and covers 25 European countries: Albania, Belgium, Belarus, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Germany, Georgia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherland, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and Ukraine.

The range of Galaxy-branded pneumatic products covered by the agreement includes tyres for diverse and demanding applications such as: agricultural radial and bias, skid steer, forestry, lawn and garden, OTR, backhoe and telescopic handlers, as well as other agricultural and industrial segments. GPX will continue to market its range of Forklift Industrial, Inter-Modal port and full range of solid tyres independently.

11th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Maxxis, Grouptyre Unveil New Dealer Support Programme

An all-expenses-paid trip to Thailand – including a trip to a tyre making plant – is one of the prizes up for grabs for Maxxis’ Grouptyre dealers in the UK as the manufacturer and its exclusive distributor unveil their new incentive programme called Maxxis Rewards. The top ten retailers – based on the volume of Maxxis car, van and 4×4 tyres they purchase during the promotional period of 1 January to 30 September, 2009 – will win a seven-day holiday in Thailand. Flat screen TVs, DVD recorders and digital cameras are among the prizes up for grabs in a series of quarterly draws, while dealers can also pick up Argos vouchers and Maxxis branded merchandise.

“Through the Maxxis Rewards programme we want to help retailers gain a better understanding of Maxxis and our aims both here in the UK and the 200 countries in which the brand is sold,” says Maxxis International UK managing director Derek McMartin. “Since retailers will be able to see for themselves the state of the art production facilities involved in manufacturing a million tyres and tubes a day and the scale of our operation, the trip to our Thailand factory will give them a real insight into the brand and their role in its future development.”

10th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

ArvinMeritor Joint Venture Company to Close Canada Plant

Meritor Suspension Systems Company (MSSC) – a joint venture between ArvinMeritor and Mitsubishi Steel Manufacturing – has announced plans to close its coil spring operations in Ontario, Canada. The company met with officials from the Canadian Auto Workers union on March 5 to discuss the closure plans and their impact on the plant’s 165 strong workforce.

“We are experiencing unprecedented economic pressure within the global automotive industry,” said Gerald Anderson, president and general manager, MSSC. “This closure reflects actions we are taking to reduce fixed costs in response to significantly lower vehicle production volumes.”

9th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Two Charged With Stealing Tyre Secrets From Goodyear

Two employees of a US company with links to a Chinese tyre manufacturer has been arrested and charged with conspiring to steal trade secrets from Goodyear Tire & Rubber. Clark Alan Roberts, 46, and Sean Edward Howley, 38, both engineers for Tennessee based Wyko Tire Technology, were arraigned before a federal magistrate in Knoxville, Tennessee on March 6, after being named in a 12-count indictment.

9th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Pelmar Group Expects ‘Increased Sales in 2009/10

Despite the current economic crisis Pelmar Group, the pre-owned tyre manufacturing equipment supplier, is reportedly expecting increased sales in the next two years. “More and more tyre and rubber plants worldwide are turning to buy used and reconditioned machinery, due to low capital investments caused by the global economic crisis,” company representatives told Tyres & Accessories. The 42 year old company (which employs 150 workers) reported a 25 per cent increase of sales in the fourth quarter of 2008 and first quarter of 2009. According to company literature, Pelmar Engineering Ltd. is a world leading supplier of refurbished, pre-owned and new machinery to the tire and rubber industry.

9th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors