Manufacturing Archives - Page 176 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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AV Birla Signing Land Deal for Mexico Carbon Black Plant

India’s Aditya Birla group is reported to be in the process of signing a land deal with the port authority of Altamira, in eastern Mexico. The purpose of the deal is to facilitate the establishment of a US$150 million carbon black facility. “We may sign the agreement next week,” commented AV Birla Group regional joint president Surendra Goyal. “The $150 million project will be completed in two years.”

According to Goyal, the region near the port, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas was, selected as an entry point to the US, where naptha is cheaper. The Mexican carbon black facility will add to the company’s global capacity of around 790,000 tonnes per annum, an amount that makes the company the world’s fourth largest producer. In total the Aditya Birla group plans to invest about US$600 million to increase its carbon black manufacturing capacities in India and globally. Goyal, who heads the group’s operations in Latin America and Egypt, said the company also intends to set up a facility in Oman.

2nd May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Amtel-Vredestein 2007 Financial Highlights Reveal Sales Growth

Full year 2007 financial highlights for Amtel-Vredestein have been made public and show a 22 per cent increase in net sales to US$997.4 million. This sales growth, says the company, can be primarily attributed to increased production and growing demand for Amtel-Vredestein tyres in both the OE and replacement tyres markets, as well as higher sales of the Company’s AV-TO unit due to the acquisitions of the autoparts and tyre wholesale businesses Pigma and Megashina in 2006, and the increased number of retail stores in the latest consolidated results.

Sales from the company’s Russian manufacturing operations, excluding the AV-TO unit, grew 14 per cent in the 2007 financial year, to $442 million, and sales from the European Vredestein Banden B.V. operations grew 18 per cent to $403 million. The company reports that its core passenger car tyre business is driving much of this growth: Net revenue from passenger car tyres grew 21 per cent to $615.8 million, and represented 62 per cent of total sales during the period. The company reports peak demand for its Vredestein and Amtel brands plus additional sales volume via its retail and wholesale channels.

2nd May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Vipal Invests US$40 million in Mexico Retread Material Factory

Vipal has chosen Mexico as the site of its first production facility outside its Brazilian home market. The company, which has a stated aim of becoming a top three player in the retreading material supply market, will invest US$40 million in constructing a pre-cured tread production plant in the Mexican state of Aguascalientes. The factory is expected to be operational in the middle of 2009, with an annual mixing capacity of 14.4 thousand metric tonnes.

2nd May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Hankook Sales Reach $1 Billion in Q1 2008

Hankook has reported year on year sales growth of 18.4 per cent during the first quarter of 2008, delivering the company its first-ever quarterly sales exceeding US$1 billion. The company attained sales of KRW997.3 billion ($1.041 billion). Sales figures for the three-month period included an impressive upsurge in worldwide UHP sector sales of more than 40 per cent and sales to OE manufacturers growing by 15.7 per cent.

Sales to Europe grew by 25.5 per cent year-on-year, boosted by a massive 183 increase in year-on-year sales to the Russian market. Sales to North America also recorded an 18.1 per cent year-on-year increase. In addition, sales to Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Middle East increased year-on-year by 22.5 per cent.

1st May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Excellence Award Acknowledges Bridgestone Firestone OTR in US

The quality of Bridgestone Firestone OTR tyres produced in the US, and the company’s delivery of such products, has been acknowledged by construction and mining equipment manufacturer Caterpillar. The company has awarded the Bridgestone Firestone Off Road Tire Company (BFOR), a division of Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, (BFNT), one of its annual supplier quality excellence awards – a distinction given to those suppliers deemed to meet the highest standards of quality for Caterpillar components.

The particular award given to BFOR was the 2007 “Supplier Quality Excellence” award. Shawn Rasey, vice president, BFOR, and Greg Halford, manager of the company’s Bloomington facility, accepted the award on behalf of BFOR during a recognition ceremony held on April 15, in Bloomington, Illinois.

29th April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli Earns Fifth RMA Award

Pirelli Tire North America received an industry award for achieving significant improvements in worker health and safety over the last year – its fifth such award in the last five years, according to the company.

The Rubber Manufacturers Association presented its Safety and Health Improvement Program award at the organisation’s annual meeting in St. Augustine, Florida on April 13. The award was created to encourage and reward member companies for safety and health advancements made in the workplace, Pirelli said.

28th April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone & Firestone Prices to Rise in North America

Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire and Bridgestone Firestone Canada have announced price increases for Bridgestone and Firestone brand tyre lines, as well as all associate brand tyres. The announced increases of up to 10 per cent apply to passenger car, light truck, truck and bus, agricultural and OTR tyres, and will affect replacement, original equipment and export market products. Implementation of these price increases is scheduled to begin on June 1, 2008.

28th April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Four US Michelin Plants Awarded for Workplace Safety

Four of Michelin’s US plants were recognised for excellence in worker health and safety at the Rubber Manufacturers Association’s (RMA) annual meeting, held April 13. Michelin’s US6/CPV facility in Greenville, South Carolina, received an Excellence award. Three Michelin plants – in Anderson and Spartanburg, South Carolina and Dothan, Alabama, received Improvement awards.

“Michelin takes great care to provide employees with a safe work environment,” said Dan Merchant, director of asset protection and safety. “It’s nice to have the industry recognise our safety results, which we have been able to achieve thanks to the measures put in place and the hard work of each of our manufacturing employees.”

25th April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Shrinking a Giant

Michelin has in the past year launched a range of initiatives that contribute to the company’s aim of substantially reducing the carbon footprint of its tyres from the first stage of production, to their use on the road, right through to the tyre’s eventual disposal at the end of their lives. These end-to-end efficiencies will require continuous investment, but are expected to create great environmental benefits.

One initiative is the MEF (Michelin sites Environmental Footprint) programme, which includes a number of ambitious objectives for Michelin’s factories to reach by a target deadline of 2011. These include a reduction of energy consumption by 7 per cent, water usage by 10 per cent, CO2 by 10 per cent, other harmful emissions by 25 per cent and materials going to landfill by 60 per cent.

The first step towards these goals was taken at Michelin’s headquarters in Stoke-on-Trent, where a combined programme of heat and power reduction was implemented. The tyre major followed this up with the installation of two wind turbines at its Dundee manufacturing plant, greatly reducing the site’s dependency on fossil fuels. In the time they have been running, the turbines have generated enough carbon free electricity to power the nearby city for a month. The use of green power generation methods is currently under consideration for other Michelin sites in the UK and abroad.

24th April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

As Worn by all the Big Names…

When UK deliveries of the long-awaited replacement for Jaguar’s S-type began in March, much interest was directed towards what many see as a make or break car for the classic British marque. The new Jaguar XF represents a departure from the company’s strategy in recent years, which has seen its efforts directed towards presenting itself as a volume production rival for the established German luxury car manufacturers. The XF, in contrast, has been planned from the outset to be something different – a more exclusive premium sports car for a discerning clientele. As Jaguar design director Ian Callum said: “Jaguars should be perceived as cool cars, and cool cars attract interesting, edgy people.”

Included in this deliberately cool package is Pirelli. The Italian manufacturer’s partnership with Jaguar continues, with homologation for the XF covering sizes for all road and weather conditions. Pirelli tyres approved for the Jaguar XF include the P Zero, P7, Nero M + S and Winter Sottozero in four rim sizes – 17, 18, 19 and 20-inch. At the top of the new Jaguar range is the supercharged XF 4.2 V8, and Pirelli’s 20-inch P Zero is the exclusively supplied tyre for this model.

24th April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

11th Hour Reprieve

Swiss based alloy wheel manufacturer Uniwheels has acquired the European interests of Germany’s ATS Group, former subsidiary of South African company Tiger Wheels. Included in the purchase are the company’s affiliated production factories in Germany and Poland as well as the globally recognised ATS brand name. We can only speculate at the purchase price – Uniwheels has chosen not to disclose this – and a separate solution is sought for the company’s US subsidiary, ATS Light Alloy Wheels (Alabama), Inc.

“With Uniwheels we have found an investor, who is taking over the shares of the subsidiaries of the insolvent ATS Beteiligungs GmbH,” commented Tobias Hoefer, representative of the Group’s insolvency administrator, Hack Hoefer. “With that in Europe all jobs and sites of the Group can be kept. This is the best possible result for the creditors and the employees.”

22nd April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

ATC Outlines Desire to Acquire Goodyear OTR Tyre Facility

Amongst the regular assortment of correspondence postal workers deliver to Goodyear each day will shortly appear a letter proposing the purchase of its Topeka, Kansas facility. The people at American Tire Corporation (ATC) have produced a letter to this affect, and it appears they have already licked the envelope seal, stuck on a stamp, and dropped the acquisition offer through the slot of the nearest mailbox.

According to ATC, under the proposal ATC would buy out Goodyear’s OTR tyre facility in Topeka at “any reasonable price.” Built in 1944 by US government, Goodyear’s Topeka tyre plant is the largest Goodyear OTR tyre facility in the world and the company’s only one in North America. Should such an acquisition be successful, ATC says it will spend US$200 million modernising this “old OTR tyre plant” (to quote ATC), increase production capacity for all sizes of OTR tyres by a minimum of 20 per cent, and “create more job opportunities with a better annual pay in the state of Kansas.”

21st April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Titan Tests New 63-Inch Tyre

Titan International subsidiary Titan Tire Corporation reports it has begun testing its new 63-inch tyre on the company’s newly constructed 24-foot bull wheel. The first 63-inch tyre, built in February 2008, is approximately just over four metres in total diameter and weighs approximately 5.45 tonnes. Titan will test the 63-inch tyre on the bull wheel, loaded with up to 226 tonnes at a speed of up to 45 miles per hour, and this testing will confirm the tyre’s casing and its heat characteristics. Ten days of testing is equivalent to a year of field use, and will allow Titan to know how it will perform before volume production begins.

“There were many who doubted Titan’s ability to produce and test this tyre,” said Titan Chairman and CEO Maurice M. Taylor Jr. “Never underestimate a small entrepreneurial company. This tyre has surpassed all of Titan’s expectations.”

21st April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear India Releases Q4, Annual Figures

Fourth quarter figures for Goodyear India Limited have been released, and show a 24.58 per cent rise in profits compared with the same period the previous year. During the quarter that ended March 31, 2008 a profit of Rs 126.20 million (£1.60 million) was recorded on the back of sales totalling Rs 2,277 million (£28.8 million), an increase of 14.03 per cent on the previous year. Annual profit, in contrast, declined 10.8 per cent compared with that of the year before, to Rs 451.2 million (£5.71 million). This decrease occurred in spite of higher annual net sales of Rs 9,175.1 million (£116.2 million), an increase of 6.8 per cent. Annual EBIT, at Rs 5549 million (£70.3 million), showed an increase of 16.7 per cent.

18th April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

New CEO for Parts Manufacturer Dana Holding

US automotive parts manufacturer Dana Holding Corporation has announced the appointment of Gary L. Convis as its new CEO, replacing John Devine, who has held the role in an acting capacity since January. The company, which recently exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy, appointed Convis to its Board of Directors in January 2008, shortly after he retired from Toyota, where he had served for more than 20 years, most recently as chairman.

“Gary is widely respected as one of the leading experts in lean manufacturing and management systems, including the Toyota Production System. Along with his strong leadership and global industry experience, we believe he is an ideal choice as our new chief executive,” said Dana Executive current chairman, John Devine.

18th April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors