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.
Hino Motors Manufacturing USA Inc. has presented Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company with its Quality Excellence Award for commercial tyres on Hino medium-duty trucks.
Hino Motors said the award was given to Goodyear for “outstanding product quality.” Goodyear supplies Hino Motors, a Toyota Group Company, with a variety of truck tyres, including Unisteel G149 RSA RH and G182 RSD regional-service tyres.
Yokohama Tire Corporation have announced that increases in U.S. consumer prices will come into effect on 1st July 2008 due to the rising costs of energy and raw materials.
In addition, consumers can expect to see in-line adjustments announced at a later date, while commercial Light Truck, Medium Truck and OTR (off-the-road) tyre prices will not be affected.
4,000 tyre manufacturing workers have responded to ICEM’s (International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions) Turkish trade union call to strike, after last-minute proposals by the employers’ association failed to avoid the action taking place.
The four manufacturing works affected by the strike action, in the Turkish cities of Izmit and Adapazari, are operated by Goodyear, Bridgestone and Pirelli. News sources state that the companies are resisting demands for three bi-yearly salary increases at the rate of Turkish inflation, following an initial wage increase of 12%.
The Pirelli Group is to increase truck and bus tyre production capacity in Egypt by 50 per cent through the investment of $65 million dollars in its Alexandria TBR plant. The announcement was made by the Chairman of Pirelli & C. SpA, Marco Tronchetti Provera, to Egyptian Trade and Industry Minister, Mohamed Rashid, on the occasion of the Italian-Egyptian inter-governmental meeting taking place in Rome. The new investment will allow the factory in Alexandria to increase its annual production to 1 million pieces and become the largest site for manufacturing radial tyres for industrial vehicles in the MEA (Middle East and Africa) area.
According to an official statement on the matter, the growth of production capacity will be focused on “the most advanced product and process technologies able to express maximum performance both in terms of the needs of emerging markets and with respect to the requirements of the main customers in Continental Europe.”
A sharp drop in the amount US motorists are driving, coupled with continued raw material price pressures has led financial analysts to lower US manufacturers earning predictions. Estimated vehicle miles travelled on all US roads declined 4.3 per cent year-on-year in March, according to the US Federal Highway Administration. The drop is apparently the steepest in the history of the data. This coupled with concerns about the effect of increasing raw material costs led Detusche Bank analysts to write: “In the near term, the combination of hyper-inflating raw material costs and weak demand will present major challenges for the tyre industry.”
“While we continue to see robust pricing behaviour within the industry, with price increases of “up to 8 per cent” having been recently announced by Goodyear (effective June 1) and Cooper Tire…we note that pricing may not completely offset raw material cost inflation in every quarter.”
A new manufacturing facility in Asia and increased capacity in North America have been announced by Toyo Tire & Rubber in order to reinforce its tyre business’s global supply system. This measure is being undertaken as part of its Medium-Term Business Plan 2008, a three-year business plan that will be in operation through to the year ending March 31, 2011.
Toyo believes that simply boosting production at existing plants is not sufficient to meet anticipated growth in global demand. Therefore the company has drawn up a shortlist of potential locations for a new tyre production plant in Asia, which will serve as an export centre for the global market. This facility is scheduled to be ready during the 2010 fiscal year and will be built at a total investment of around 24 billion yen (£115.6 million). Planned production will mainly concentrate on passenger car tyres and by March 2012 annual output at the site is expected to reach 4 million units.
Klarius Group, a market-leading supplier of aftermarket exhausts and catalytic converters, filters and shock absorbers, reports that it has strengthened its management team with the appointment of Paul Hannah as Business Development Director. A qualified mechanical engineer, Paul Hannah’s appointment is being seen as a strategic appointment for the business, which acquired ArvinMeritor LVA in 2007, as it continues to build its presence as the market leader.
Paul Hannah has a wealth of experience in the engineering, aerospace and automotive sectors gained over 20 years of international sales and marketing success in Renold plc and Edbro plc. As an advocate of lean manufacturing, he has helped to build sales teams across export markets such as Far East Asia, Russia, the USA and Europe in his previous roles.
After nearly a decade of decline, Continental Tire North America finally got into the black in 2007, success driven by a new focus on products, delivery and dealer relations. At its recent Gold Dealer meeting, held during a Caribbean cruise, Continental Tire North America outlined its expansion plans for the program. Andreas Gerstenberger, executive vice president of sales and marketing for CTNA’s consumer tyre group, sat down with Tire Review to discuss the company’s turnaround and future growth plans.
Since Continental bought out General in 1987, there have been numerous management changes. Now things seem to be clicking. What do you have in place now that you didn’t have before?
“The first thing that’s important, if you want to have stability in a team, is figuring out together what your strategy is in a given market. For a long time it wasn’t completely clear within the Continental group what the position of Continental Tire/General Tire should be in the US market.
Yokohama Tire Corp. and Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. have reached a final settlement agreement with Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co. Ltd. pertaining to design patent infringement, with Hangzhou agreeing to destroy the manufacturing moulds and remaining inventory of its Westlake H280 tyres. In September 2006, Yokohama Tire Corp. and its parent company initiated legal proceedings against China’s Hangzhou alleging, among other claims, a violation of Yokohama’s tyre tread design patent which protects some of its best-selling lines, including the Geolandar A/T+II.
The Mai Group has announced the acquisition of a manufacturing plant and the related technology owned by Shandong Province, China based Jinyu Radial OTR tyres. The Italian company, founded in 1953 as a retreading business, has named the newly acquired manufacturing company “Mai (Shandong) Radial Tyre Co., Ltd.” and described the China facility as a ‘technically advanced radial tyre manufacturing plant with a highly skilled workforce.’ Mai Group also operates a new tyre factory in Turkey, opened in 2005. The Maitech tyre brand is produced at this facility.
Apollo Tyres has opened its first full-service branded commercial vehicle tyre outlet in India. Located in Salem, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, the new outlet is called Apollo Trust, and is the first of a number of outlets that will be established in large trucking halt points outside city limits and along India’s national highways. Apollo reports the Salem centre is equipped with the latest commercial vehicle wheel aligning, tyre balancing and nitrogen gas inflation equipment and staffed with highly trained employees. Therefore, the company adds, Apollo Trust is best positioned to cater to the unique and demanding needs of India’s commercial vehicle operators and drivers, who currently utilise both cross ply and radial tyres.
Plans are underway to gradually increase the Apollo Trust network to five locations in the next few months, offering tyres and tyre-related services, alongside the sale of retreaded tyres and retreading materials. Apollo Tyres states in a press release it felt the need to introduce such service-oriented outlets to “assist customers move up the value proposition, enabling them to chose the appropriate application for their vehicles and operational needs through informed decision making.”
At the end of May Eliokem increased its prices for products made in its Valia (India) plant by up to 13 per cent. The Valia plant specializes in emulsion polymerization of polymers and latices for both the rubber and latex industries. The products are marketed under trademarks such as Chemigum NBR Polymers in Latex, Powder and Bale forms; and Pliolite HSR High Styrene Butadiene Rubber Masterbatches.
“With the strong polymer demand globally and crude oil record highs, all major monomers and notably Butadiene used in rubber manufacturing are continuing to increase further, as are the costs of energy, chemicals, transportation and labour. Therefore, further price adjustments in June and in the third quarter cannot be ruled out”, said Jacques Collonge, CEO Eliokem.
Prices for passenger car, light commercial, truck and bus tyre products sold by Toyo Tire U.S.A are set to increase by up to eight per cent. These increases take effect as of July 1.
“Rapidly escalating petroleum costs have affected both the cost of manufacturing and the transportation of both materials and products,” said Steve Weinger, senior vice president, sales & marketing, Toyo Tire U.S.A. Corp. “Toyo continues to do everything in our power to keep increases minimal while still providing a premium product for our valued customer.”
Yokohama Rubber Co., has made a monetary donation of 10 million yen to the Chinese Red Cross Society in order to help sufferers of the recent Situan Province earthquake and contribute to the reconstruction of the affected area. In addition, the company’s Chinese subsidiaries have given 500,000 Yuan (approx. 7.5 million yen) plus 140,110 Yuan (approx. 2.1 million yen), a voluntary donation from employees of the subsidiaries, through Chinese Red Cross Society. In China, the Yokohama Rubber Group operates a total of 7 companies including a business management company and tyre manufacturing and sales companies.
45 years since Pirelli took over the German Veith Group, the German branch of the Italian tyre manufacturer last year reported sales of 850 million euros. Now, in the words of Pirelli CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera, the German operation is on course to break through the billion euro barrier by 2010. Thanks to investments in the order of 190 million euros over the last four years, income has increased 30 per cent.
During a press conference held at its factory in Breuberg, Germany, the Pirelli Group outlined its industrial activities and plans for tyre business expansion in this particular market, one the company sees as key for its growth strategies. The May 26 press conference was attended by numerous company representatives, including Tronchetti Provera, Pirelli Tyre CEO Francesco Gori and the CEO of Pirelli Deutschland, Guglielmo Fiocchi.
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