Manufacturing Archives - Page 181 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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CMA States its Case on Duty Investigation

Double Coin/CMA issued the following statement regarding the preliminary determination of the US Department of Commerce in its the investigation of potential countervailing/anti-dumping of OTR tyres manufactured in China.

“Double Coin/CMA feels strongly against the recent ruling as it pertains to their Radial OTR products. We have been involved in the investigation since its inception, presenting data as a manufacturer and an importer of record to the ITC/DOC. We did so because Double Coin adamantly knew that it does not dump product into the US or any country. We knew the facts would be revealed. After the ITC’s initial phase of investigation, Double Coin was not selected as a mandatory organisation to be reviewed by the DOC.

20th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Rubber Exports Causing Indian Tyre Manufacturers Angst

Voices of concern amongst India’s tyre industry have been raised in response to the national Rubber Board’s perceived encouragement of rubber exports. A three per cent decrease in domestic natural rubber production before the end of the current fiscal year (March 31, 2008) has been projected, and it is this, along with dramatically higher rubber exports, that is creating a sense of unease. Natural rubber exports almost doubled in January to 7,522 tonnes, compared with 3,886 tonnes in December 2007, on the back of lower domestic prices.

Currently the price for India sourced rubber is about £0.10 a kilogram lower than prevailing world prices, and experts believe that if current global prices continue their upward journey a total of more than 40,000 tonnes of rubber may be exported from India during the current financial year. Given that India’s tyre industry consumes 55 per cent of local natural rubber supplies, and difficulties already exist in meeting domestic demand, the industry’s concern over additional exports is understandable.

20th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

CIMA Impianti: From Italy to the World

Today, when we speak of and write about the European retreading market, it is all too often the major material suppliers or retreaders we refer to, even though machinery and equipment manufacturers are equally core to the quality of the retreading process and the finished product the end consumer finally receives. A company that – over the course of 50 years – has evolved into a prominent player in the European retreading business is Italy’s CIMA Impianti. And while achieving this, the manufacturer of vulcanising presses and moulds has also managed to secure a foothold in the new tyre industry with its products. Thus for many years CIMA has also supplied new tyre manufacturers. A third avenue for sales comes from the company’s supply of ancillary equipment for tyre retreading.

20th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Announces Senior Management Changes

On February 19 Bridgestone Corporation announced that its board has approved a number of changes in members of the Board of Directors, Corporate Auditors and Corporate Officers. As of March 1 Kazuo Kakehi, currently Vice President & Senior Officer Responsible for Diversified Products, Industrial Products, Civil Engineering and Building Materials and Equipments will become Vice President & Senior Officer Responsible for Diversified Products, Industrial Products and Construction Materials Division. A number of other changes will take affect on March 27. These are as follows:

20th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

New Report Values UK Tyre Market at £1.36 Billion

The latest report released by Dublin based company Research and Markets indicates that the UK market for tyres and tubes was worth an estimated £1.36 billion at manufacturers’ selling prices in 2007. This figure represents a 5 per cent increase over the previous year and 15.3 per cent on the market in 2003. Local production continues to decline but is more than compensated by strong exports.

20th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Bekaert to Acquire 100% Ownership of Turkey’s Beksa

Multinational manufacturer of tyre reinforcement and other materials, NV Bekaert SA, has announced its upcoming acquisition of the 50 per cent share in Turkish steel cord and metal fibre manufacturer Beksa Celik Kord Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S that it currently holds jointly with Turkish conglomerate Haci Ömer Sabanci Holding A.S. The two companies have signed a letter of intent for the transfer of shares, a transaction estimated to be worth 40.3 million euros, and when the deal is complete Bekaert will assume full ownership of Beksa. The transfer of shares will be executed after receiving approvals from the respective authorities, Bekaert reports.

Located in the city of Izmit, Beksa manufactures steel cord products and Dramix metal fibres for a variety of industrial applications, including the tyre and automotive industry. The company employs about 330 people and recorded sales of 80 million euros in 2006.

20th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin’s Stoke Site Aims to be Cutting Edge Facility

At the end of last year Michelin executives embarked on a three-phase study into modernising the company’s Campbell road, Stoke-on-Trent retread manufacturing site. The plan is to take the UK’s largest commercial vehicle retread production plant to the next level with multi-million pound investment from Michelin headquarters in Clermont-Ferrand and other parties. Tyres & Accessories visited the Campbell road Remix and Encore facilities in mid-February and saw that the site spent £1 million last year gearing for the proposed improvements.

19th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Lanxess Opens New Central & East Europe Headquarters

Chemical manufacturer Lanxess AG has responded to the growing popularity of Central and Eastern Europe as hubs for tyre manufacturing by establishing a new headquarters for its distribution company Lanxess Central Eastern Europe s.r.o. Located in the Slovakian capital Bratislava, the headquarters officially opened on February 15, and all business activities in Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary are now controlled from this location. The company also intends to operate branch offices in Warsaw and Budapest. Previously, Lanxess organised its operations in Central and Eastern Europe through external distribution agencies.

19th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Managers Released After Three-Day Protest

Workers at Michelin’s manufacturing facility in Toul have released the two plant managers that had remained locked in a room for three days to protest the French factory’s impending closure. The pair were released on February 17, and talks between employee representatives and the company have apparently now resumed.

The ‘lock-in’ began the previous Thursday when talks between management and staff broke down, and two days later France’s Economy Minister Christine Lagarde was appointed to act as a mediator between the two parties. When the managers were finally freed and escorted from the factory, it is said that workers turned their backs on the two men. “We turned our backs on the management because it has been turning its back on us for at least four years,” commented one unnamed worker to Reuters.

18th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Colwayski

It was back in the early days of 2002 when Gary Oliver and Peter Morris formed the company called C-Tyres and purchased the assets of retreaders Colway and Motorway from the Official Receiver. Since then, the demise of car tyre retreading in the UK has been well documented and, it has to be said, one or two quizzical eyebrows were raised when Oliver and Morris announced that C-Tyres would be making retreads.

At the end of January the Colway brand and equipment owned by County Durham-based C-Tyres was bought by Polish retread company, Mark Gum. No details of how much Mark Gum paid were made available. C-Tyres managing director Gary Oliver had previously spoken of his hope that a British company would take ownership of the assets, allowing tyre production to start up again from within C-Tyres leased premises in Langley Moor.

15th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

North American Retreading Conference Grows in 2008

According to statistics released by TRIB, approximately 18.6 million retreaded tyres were sold in the North America region (US, Canada & Mexico) in 2006, generating sales exceeding US$3 billion. Other sources indicate that the US retreading market alone generated revenues of $1.25 billion in 2006, growing to $1.5 billion the following year. The majority of these were medium truck tyres, and in this market nearly half of all replacement truck tyres fitted to vehicles are now retreads. To keep abreast of developments in this lucrative industry – 2007 gross profit in the US retreading market was estimated at 13 per cent of sales – a number of those associated with the 900 or so retreading facilities operating in North America attended this year’s Commercial Tire, Retread & Recycling Conference (CTRRC) in Florida between February 5 and 8.

14th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin to Open Recycling Plant at Toul Factory Site

Michelin, together with French corporation Suez, intends to establish a recycling facility at the premises of its former factory in Toul in order to fulfil its pledge to maintain activity at the site. Financial details of the project have not as yet been made public.

The closure of the Toul factory in France was announced at the start of October 2007, with an inability to remain competitive cited as the main factor driving closure of the PCR manufacturing plant. A total of about 830 people were employed at the Toul plant, and when making its announcement Michelin stated that the company would provide “all the support necessary to help them find a new job rapidly or start a professional project.”

13th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Indian Tyre Manufacturers Seek Rubber Duty Reduction

A number of Indian tyre manufacturers have called for import duty on rubber to be reduced in the forthcoming national budget in order to rectify an anomaly that sees this raw material attracting a higher duty than tyres imported from overseas. According to a statement released by the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association, (ATMA) many of the country’s 43 domestic manufacturers are seeking a change from the current 20 per cent duty down to 7.5 per cent, as it is believed this reduced rate will deter the dumping of tyres from China and other countries.

12th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

No Price Increases for 2008 – ATC

A company enjoying considerable media attention within the tyre industry this year is American Tire Corporation; since the start of February the previously low profile company has reported plans to build a half billion dollar OTR tyre facility and shared news of a “big” acquisition offer, which it declined on the grounds of conflicts between an outright acquisition and the firm’s current development strategy.

Making the news for a third time in little over a week, on Sunday 10 February American Tire Corporation announced a sweeping host of across the board price non-increases. According to the company’s press release “American Tire Corporation has decided to maintain its OTR tyre prices at current levels while other US tyre manufacturers have increased or are planning to increase their prices from the beginning of 2008.” The company further promises “no price increase will take place this year.”

11th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

JK Tyre – Past, Present & Future

When JK Tyre & Industries vice-chairman and managing director Raghupati Singhania introduced truck radial tyres onto the Indian market in 1976, people questioned the sense of the decision. Yet more than three decades on JK Tyre has not only been vindicated through the widespread adoption of the technology by its competitors; today the manufacturer holds a 70 per cent market share in this segment.

Speaking with India’s Financial Express newspaper, Mr. Singhania expressed no doubt that decisions, such as that he made in the 1970s, are vital for a company’s well being. “That’s what leadership is all about. It may not be the popular view but you have to have your own understanding and judgment.” This understanding and judgement has aided JK Tyre during its occasionally bumpy journey from a small player with an annual capacity of 500,000 units 30 years ago to today’s tyre major with a presence in 75 national markets.

8th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors