Manufacturing Archives - Page 192 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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Nail in Tyre Blamed for Hammond Crash

A nail caused the tyre failure that lead to the accident that nearly killed Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond. According to a BBC report the “catastrophic disintegration” could have been prevented was it not for the “the inability to spot the damage to the tyre.” As a result the 88-page report criticised the Top Gear team for not having anyone present “with sufficient knowledge to assess the adequacy” of the safety checks.

Much of the BBC’s report into Richard Hammond’s crash focused on the role tyres played in the crash. New Hoosier P225/50 ZR15 (front) and P275/50 ZR15 (rear) tyres had reportedly been bought for the Vampire jet car involved, shortly before the crash. There was no suggestion that there were any manufacturing problems with the tyres, but rather that an object such as a nail caused a “catastrophic failure” that resulted in the front off-side tyre being “comprehensively destroyed.”

17th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

ArvinMeritor Announce 13-Plant Restructuring Plan

ArvinMeritor has announced it’s consolidating its three North American ride control facilities into one, including the closure of its Toronto, Ontario original equipment shock absorber operation, and its Chickasha, Oklahoma packaging and distribution centre. The 700-person closure is part of a previously announced restructuring plan affecting 2,800 employees from 13 North American and European plants.

14th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Alcoa Exclusively Selected for Lamborghini Murcielago Reventon

Alcoa Wheel Products has announced an exclusive supply agreement to provide all wheels for the new highly exotic Lamborghini Murcielago Reventòn. Lamborghini looked to Alcoa Wheels to provide speciality wheels with quick to market processes for this truly exotic vehicle. According to the wheel manufacturer, Lamborghini required Alcoa’s flexibility and manufacturing expertise to develop a unique wheel to compliment the unique appearance and performance of the ultra-exclusive Murcielago Reventòn.

Alcoa will supply directional-specific 18”x8.5” front and 18”x13” rear wheels, each forged from a single block of 6061-T6 aluminum. Each wheel is engraved with “Alcoa Forged”. It is rare to have such engravings in the wheel which highlights Lamborghini’s desire to offer their customers something new. All wheels are finished in Lamborghini Bright Black paint and fitted with carbon fibre “winglets” adding to the design of the wheel and complementing the overall appearance of the vehicle.

13th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Showcases Concept Tyres Tyrexpo Asia ‘07

Apollo tyres has enlisted the services of automobile designer Tom Tjaarda in the development of its latest product, the Apollo Apsire TT. According to the company the result, currently on show on Apollo’s spacious Tyrexpo Asia show stand, is a “concept tyre combining the inherent strengths of performance and safety.” The tyre features a bidirectional asymmetric tread pattern, created for greater grip, manoeuvring and comfort.

Says Tjaarda, creator of design classics like the De Tomaso Pantera, Fiat 124 Spyder and over 70 other models, “When Apollo Tyres asked me to design a tyre, many ideas rushed through my head and I knew it was not going to be easy. But now that I look at Apollo Aspire TT, I can see a high performance tyre which evokes confidence and trust.”

12th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Lines of Distinction?

(Akron/Tire Review) Our industry – at home and abroad – has been building tires for more than a century. Along the way, we allowed ourselves to be fooled every once in a while by ‘technology’ that really didn’t live up to its billing. One example is the single-ply tire promoted as being as strong as a two-ply tire.

Great progress has been made, both in technology and in marketing. Let there be no doubt about the safety advances built into today’s tyres compared to those built in 1908. And, yes, there have been some stinkers along the way, but by and large, this industry has led the world in packing more performance and safety into one single product than any other.

If anything remains unchanged, it continues to be our penchant for putting an acronym or label on everything, the latest being the so-called “global tyre,” which doesn’t sound half as meaningful as the phrase it replaced – “world-class tyre.”

10th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

New MD for African Apollo Group Company

Apollo Tyres Group member Dunlop Zimbabwe Ltd. has announced the appointment of a new substantive managing director. CEO Dr Luis Ceneviz reports that Mr. Kennedy Mandevani stepped into this role as of July 16, replacing Eugene Turina, who resigned in April in order to pursue other business interests.

“Dunlop Zimbabwe Limited, the country’s sole tyre manufacturing company, and a member of the Apollo Group of Companies, is pleased to announce the appointment of Kennedy Mandevani as its managing director with effect from 16 July 2007,” said Dr Cenevis. “Mr Mandevani brings to Dunlop invaluable experience at executive level acquired in Zimbabwe and in the region in a career spanning over 20 years.”

10th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

BBC Top Gear Presenters Race on Dunlop Tyres

The BBC Top Gear team of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May will make their endurance racing debut this weekend at Silverstone in the annual Britcar 24 Hour race. The team will be joined in their BMW 330Dti race car by the mysterious ‘Stig’ and will be tackling Britain’s biggest race event on Dunlop race tyres, reportedly made at Fort Dunlop in Birmingham. Their attempt at the race, which features a vast array of sportscars from Porsche GT3s, Ferraris and Aston Martins to BMW M3s and Honda Civic Type-Rs, will be the feature of a forthcoming BBC Two programme.

Dunlop are delighted that the team are tackling their first endurance race on their race tyres, according to spokesman James Bailey: “Dunlop has won more Le Mans 24 Hour races than any other tyre manufacturer and are dominating many saloon and sportscar racing championships around the world. No-one knows much about The Stig, but we do now know that when it comes to gripping performance, he chooses Dunlop.”

7th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

VMI Launches New OTR Radial Builder

Netherlands based supplier of equipment and services for producers of passenger car, commercial and OTR radials, VMI, has launched its first radial VMI OTR Tire Building system. This system utilises flat drum building technology and assembles green tyres in sizes between 17.5 R25 and 24.00 R35. Manufacture is performed in a single process, including the application of the tread. This unique method of assembling radial OTR tyres utilises the transfer rings and other technology already tried and tested in VMI’s tyre manufacturing equipment for truck and bus radials.

This high capacity OTR radial machine produces radials at a rate of up to 2.5 tyres per hour for 24.00 R35” tyres. VMI reports that downtime for size changes is low because of a minimum amount of tooling and the maximum use of universal computer controls.

VMI’s R&D team has been working for a year and a half to build the company’s first OTR radial machinery, and they are confident the end result will answer the needs of the booming OTR tyre market.

6th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodway to Set Up Tyre & Retread JV in China

Malaysia’s stock exchange, the Bursa Malaysia, has released news that Goodway Integrated Industries has signed a joint venture agreement through its wholly owned Hong Kong subsidiary Goodway Pte Limited with Hong Kong based World Bond Ltd, a company jointly owned by two residents of China, Lu Xiao Fei and Guan Huai Yun. The joint venture company, Newco, will engage in the manufacture and sale of tyres, “recycled rubber tyres” and precured tread liner.

Under the joint venture agreement, Newco will subscribe for 9,999 new ordinary shares of HK$10 (£0.64) nominal value in a newly incorporated Hong Kong company, which will then acquire two wholly-foreign owned entities (WFOEs) for HK$20 million (£1.27 million). The WFOEs will carry out the business of manufacturing and selling the above-mentioned products within the People’s Republic of China in accordance with the terms of the joint venture agreement.

6th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Conti Acquires Chinese Auto Components Firm

Continental AG’s Automotive Systems Division plans to further consolidate its position in China through the acquisition of Zhangjiagang Fugang Heli Electronics Co., Ltd. from China’s Fugang Group. Conti intends to integrate the operations of Fugang Heli, who manufactures cooling fan modules and window lift motors, into the division’s Electric Drives business unit upon regulatory approval of the purchase.

The Chinese company was founded in 2005 and employs approximately 250 staff at its headquarters in Zhangjiagang City, Jiangsu Province and two production facilities in Zhangjiagang and Changchun, Jilin Province. Last year Fugang Heli achieved sales of RMB 84 million (£5.526 million) and sold it products to both domestic and international vehicle manufacturers.

“With the acquisition of Fugang Heli, Continental Automotive Systems will enhance the local production capability in order to better meet the demand of OEMs in China as well as develop a new base for export into other regions in Asia based on a cost competitive manufacturing,” said Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann, president Continental Automotive Systems and member of Continental AG’s Executive Board. “The deal will greatly help Continental Automotive Systems to strengthen its worldwide leading position in cooling fan modules at existing and emerging marketplaces, where our OEM customers are doing their business.”

4th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

ArvinMeritor to Produce Air Link at Mexico Plant

(Akron/Tire Review) ArvinMeritor Inc.’s Commercial Vehicle Systems (CVS) unit will manufacture Meritor Air Link suspension at its Sistemas Automotirices de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. joint venture facility in Monterrey, Mexico.

The company added the Air Link suspension to its product line through a licensing agreement with Raydan Manufacturing Inc. of Alberta, Canada in 2004. The agreement covers suspension applications up to and including 52,000-pound GAWR for commercial truck, and specialty and military vehicles.

“Applying our industrialisation and supply chain management tools to the Meritor Air Link suspension will allow us the opportunity to respond to our customers’ unique needs, including modules and systems, while controlling all aspects of quality and cost,” said Larry Dowers, general manager of product strategy.

Air Link’s walking beam air suspension design offers the ride and handling advantages of an air suspension for heavy haul applications, said ArvinMeritor. Other design advantages include desirable roll stability characteristics and lower suspension maintenance as a result of fewer moving parts

30th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

BFNAT Donates Oklahoma City Land for School

(Akron/Tire Review) Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire plans to donate 60 acres of land in southwest Oklahoma City near its now closed tyre plant to the local school district, according to news reports.

The land donation to the 3,000-student Western Heights School District will allow the district to build a new elementary school bearing the tyremaker’s name. The site also includes a 40-acre nature preserve. BFNAT closed the plant last December, and was originally built in 1969 by the former Dayton Tire Co.

BFNAT Chairman and CEO Mark Emkes told local media that some equipment from the closed plant is now in use at other company manufacturing facilities, and that the plant site is up for sale.

29th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Several Companies Show Interest in Ailing ATS Plant

A number of companies have cast a hungry eye upon the factory owned by ATS Light Alloy Wheels South Africa a month after the company was placed in provisional liquidation. One of the joint liquidators, Alan Pellow, said that about six companies had already inspected the plant and “some people in the US want to have a look.”

The liquidators say they are striving to find a buyer who we take on the factory as a going concern, however this happy outcome is by no means certain. “We are waiting for the final valuations for the plant and will then probably send out an information pack worldwide and see what we can bring in,” Pellow added.

ATS Light Alloy Wheels South Africa is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tiger Wheels’ 74 per cent owned German unit ATS Beteiligungs. In addition to the South African facility, ATS also operates alloy wheel manufacturing plants in Germany, Poland and the US. Directors and senior management at the South African plant applied for liquidation of the company due to ongoing cash flow problems, and the decision as to if or when liquidation is finalised is dependent on a high court decision.

28th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Nokian Tyres Confirms Kazakhstan Negotiations

Company News, International News

Nokian Tyres has officially confirmed the rumours that it is negotiating a factory project in Kazakhstan. The company reports that negotiations are ongoing, and as of August 24 no agreements have been made. Nokian aims to finalise the negotiation project before the end of the year.

According to previous information supplied to Tyres & Accessories, Nokian tyres may be manufactured at the US$200 million factory being built in the national capital by Kazakhstan’s Ordabasy Corporation. This new plant will have an annual capacity of 4 million tyres when in full production.

24th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Yokohama Rubber Given OK to Construct Proving Ground in Thailand

Yokohama Rubber announced on August 22 that it has received approval from the Thailand Board of Investment to go ahead with the construction of a large proving ground. The company has already secured a 1.69-million square metre site in Thailand’s Rayong Province. The proving ground, to be built at an estimated cost of 2.5 billion yen (£11 million) should be complete by the end of March 2009.

For the new proving ground, Yokohama Rubber will construct a high-speed circuit with a total road length of 4.1 kilometres and a 1 kilometre section of straight track. The company also plans to construct various test courses for the proving of driving stability, fuel efficiency, durability, noise, vibration and driving comfort. Rayong Province was chosen both due to its close proximity to the facilities of Yokohama Tire Manufacturing (Thailand) Co., and the availability of suitable land in the area.

23rd August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors