Manufacturing Archives - Page 200 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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Yokohama to Increase Production Capacity in Thailand

In addition to its plans to treble capacity at its Shinshiro-Minami factory in Japan, Yokohama has released details of its intention to boost production capacity for passenger car and light commercial vehicle tyres in Thailand. Yokohama Tire Manufacturing (Thailand) will expand capacity in the number two plant at its 420,000 square metre Rayong Province factory, the Yokohama Group’s largest tyremaking facility, to 2.8 million tyres in the 2009 financial year.

As part of this second stage of expansion at their number two plant, Yokohama Rubber will employ a small-scale integrated manufacturing system like that previously introduced in the first stage of expansion. This system will shorten the timeframe between the beginning of plant construction to when operation start-up begins requires a smaller-size investment. This second stage expansion program will take one year and 7 billion yen (£29.3 million) of investment.

11th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Right To Repair Under Threat

Did you know that something as straightforward as replacing a battery or a bulb could soon mean a car will refuse to do as its told? Did you know that as little as changing a tyre on a some vehicles with tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) can set off a dashboard warning light? As David White said in his introduction to the NTDA organised event the “Right to Repair” issue is a “topic that has serious implications for you and your business.”

Certainly, an impressive line-up of speakers had been assembled, namely Dave Garratt, Director Garage Equipment Association; Mike Owen, of the Retail Motor Industry Federation and Bob Davis, Head of Aftermarket Section of the SMMT. Davis laid special emphasis on the fact that he was involved with the aftermarket section of the SMMT and not the manufacturers’, for reasons that will become plain.

11th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Yokohama to Treble HPT Capacity at Shinshiro-Minami

The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., has announced that it is to increase production capacity of its Shinshiro-Minami Plant in Aichi Prefecture. By expanding a tyre plant now in operation, the company will more than treble the plant’s production capacity from current 1 million to 3.1 million tyres a year in the 2009 full year. Yokohama Rubber plans to invest 10 billion yen in the plant expansion.

Yokohama Rubber constructed the Shinshiro-Minami Plant as a branch plant of Shinshiro Plant at a site of Shinshiro South Regional Industrial Park purchased from Aichi Prefecture in April 2002. Following a mixing plant’s start of operation in April 2003, a plant specialized in manufacturing high-performance tyres (HPT) with larger internal diameters for passenger cars and sports utility vehicles began operating in February 2004.

10th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

New BOD for Sibur-Russian Plant

Sibur Russian Tyres have announced that a new Board of Directors for their Yaroslavsky tyre manufacturing facility by the shareholders of this operation at an annual meeting scheduled for June 15. In addition, accounting and auditing commissions are to be elected, along with an auditor.

The Yarolsavsky plant, located 250 kilometres northeast of Moscow in the city of Yaroslavl, is one of four plants operated by Sibur Russian Tyres, and is responsible for the production of passenger car, truck and aviation tyres.

9th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Thai Hua Rubber – Set to Tap the Boom

(India/Rubber Asia) Thai Hua Rubber (THR), a leading natural rubber supplier to tyre manufacturers, is making vigorous efforts to emerge as a top global player by tapping the enduring NR boom to its maximum. “Our idea is to emerge as a dominant global player covering the entire rubber business cycle as fast as we can and in the most credible manner,” says Mr Luckchai Kittipol, the company’s ever dynamic founder and CEO.

The latest plans include major marketing forays into China and India, the emerging power centres of global rubber industry and ambitious plantation initiatives in potential Asian countries. For instance, in Laos, the company will be investing US$50 million to develop NR plantations in 40,000 hectares during the current decade.

9th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Turkish Industry Set for Take-Off

(India/Rubber Asia) Turkey’s rubber goods manufacturing industry is at a take-off stage thanks to the country’s economic liberalisation policy. The country has as many as 200 rubber goods manufacturing companies of which some are reputed exporters to Europe and the US. Mr. K Berat Oztimur, General Manager, Arsan Kaucuk, a market leader of rubberised pipe seals and bearings, spoke to Rubber Asia on the sidelines of the India Rubber Expo 2007. Selcuk Butun, Sales and Marketing Manager of the company, was also present.

Rubber goods manufacturing industry is flourishing in Turkey, especially after the economic liberalisation initiatives by the government. There are about 200 companies manufacturing rubber goods and at least 40 of them are of good repute. Construction industry is one of the largest consumers of rubber goods, mainly, pipe seals and bridge bearings. There are also a number of tyre companies in Turkey. The industry is, in fact, at a take-off stage and even small companies have started realising the importance of quality and are going in for the best technology.

9th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Rhodia to Enter Silica JV in China

French chemical company Rhodia has announced it is entering into a joint venture agreement with the Qingdao Haiwan Group and Qingdao Dongyue Sodium Silicate Company to build a sodium silicate plant in Qingdao, China. The facility will boast a capacity of 220,000 tonnes and is scheduled to come on-stream during the first quarter of 2008.

Sodium silicate is a key intermediate for precipitated silica manufacturing. The new facility will supply Rhodia’s Asian silica manufacturing plants in Qingdao, China and Incheon, South Korea, which specialise in producing high performance silica predominantly used in the manufacture of tyres – most notably, according to Rhodia, low rolling resistance tyres.

“This new facility will give Rhodia a source of competitive raw material to support the growing needs of its silica business in Asia,” commented Eric Noyrez, President of Rhodia Silcea. “As the global leader in high performance silica, we benefit from a rapid increase in demand of the tyre, nutraceutics and silicone markets”.

8th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Looking at New Danville Research Lab

(Akron/Tire Review) Goodyear and the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) are considering creation of a “one-of-a-kind tyre performance research laboratory” near the tyremaker’s truck tyre plant in Danville, Va. Goodyear said the proposed lab “would facilitate high-speed testing for the study of tyre performance, tyre/suspension dynamics and tyre-pavement interaction.

Goodyear also said that the new facility would be open for use by non-tyre companies and groups.

If built, the lab would be Goodyear’s second facility in Danville. “We have a strong link to the Danville community through our manufacturing plant,” said William Hopkins, Goodyear vice president of technology and strategic initiatives. “We are excited about the possibility of performing world-class research in Danville, and strengthening our ties to the community through collaboration and educational advancement.”

8th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Yokohama’s U.S. Plant Gets Environmental Certification

(Akron/Tire Review) Yokohama Tire Corp.’s tire plant in Salem, Va., has received ISO 14001 Environmental Management System certification. Yokohama said that all of plants in Japan have been ISO 14001 accredited since 1999 and the company’s plants worldwide are certified or in the process of becoming certified.

4th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

New Captain Steers Steady Ship

As Cooper Tire’s motorsports season ramps up, Tyres & Accessories met with Cooper Tire & Rubber Europe managing director, Julian Baldwin. Since taking over the role as part of a normal pre-prepared succession plan following Ron Shield’s retirement last August, Julian Baldwin has settled into the role and is geared up to the European and global challenges that now face him. As part of this month’s Manufacturing Focus, Tyres & Accessories interviewed Baldwin but with a particular eye on developments in the manufacturing side of the business.

The sleepy Wiltshire town of Melksham might not be the first place you think of when you consider tyre manufacturing operations but Cooper’s UK and European production base plays a very important part in the wider organisation. Of the six distribution centres and five sales offices Cooper runs in Europe Melksham represents the region’s only manufacturing centre and basically half of what Cooper refers to as International Tire Operations. Cooper Tire & Rubber Europe run subsidiaries in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland for marketing its products in continental Europe. (The other “half of the segment is the two administrative offices, two production facilities, and a sales office in China).

4th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Conti Publishes “Very Strong” First Quarter Figures

Continental AG’s consolidated sales for the first quarter of 2007 rose by 9.8 per cent compared with the same period of the previous year to 3.964 billion. At the same time EBIT rose by 24 per cent to 436.8 million euros, up from 352.4 million the previous year. For the first three months of 2007, there was a free cash flow of -119.8 million euros, down from -230.2 million. Net debt was 141.3 million euros higher than at year-end 2006. “This was mainly incurred through the financing of the acquisition of the automotive electronics business of Motorola and the contributions to the Contractual Trust Arrangement (CTA) of 630 million euros,” explained CFO Dr. Alan Hippe.

4th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Sibur-Russian Tyres Willing to Enter Minority Partnership With Leading Manufacturer

Sibur-Russian Tyres director Igor Karavaev has spoken of the company’s willingness to enter into a joint venture partnership with a leading tyre manufacturer for the production of passenger car tyres in Russia. No particular names have been mentioned in relation to the possible deal, but it is the first time Sibur-Russian Tyres has suggested that it would be willing to work in partnership with another leading manufacturer as a minority shareholder. Karavaev, Sibur-Russian Tyres’s Russian strategy and business development director, didn’t mention any particular parties but suggested that Japanese, Korean or European manufacturers may be interested in such an opportunity. Speaking at Brityrex International in Manchester this week, Karavaev told Tyres & Accessories that Sibur-Russian Tyres would also be interested in developing similar partnerships for the production of aircraft and giant OTR tyres. For the full story see the June issue of Tyres & Accessories.

2nd May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Pneu-Power For 101 Extraction and Conveying Applications

The Beckair Pneu-Power is a bladeless, motorless fan which provides either powerful vacuum or powerful flow for extracting and conveying all kinds of materials in the processing, manufacturing and bulk handling industries. Because it has no moving parts or electrical connections, it can also be used in hazardous areas.

Using a small volume of compressed air as the power source (supplied through a flexible, 10mm hose) the Pneu-Power draws large volumes of ambient air into a small chamber, amplifying the air flow up to 25 times. Completely maintenance-free, the device operates at low noise levels.

27th April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Second Life

Berwickshire based Rocklug Tyres are well aware of the affect a good tyre – and a bad one – can have on the performance of an earthmover. That is why the company, who have been in the tyre business since 1974, decided to make the provision of quality remoulded OTR tyres one of their priorities.

When Rocklug Tyres co-director Graham Redpath spoke to Tyres & Accessories he likened earthmoving machinery to high performance cars. “They are designed around a particular tyre and are optimised for its specifications,” he said. “For example, a Caterpillar 50 tonne dump truck may be homologated for Bridgestone tyres, and it works at its best when fitted with these. But if the operator is unable to replace the OE tyres with another set and instead must fit cross-ply tyres sourced from China, the equipment will not be able to work to its full design capacity. In many cases there have been major shortcomings in the tonne-per-hour capabilities specified for these machines.”

27th April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

A Different Approach

(Akron/Tire Review) Possibly the quietest, one of the most accomplished and certainly one of the most respected head of a major tyre company, Jim Micali has also had one of the longest careers, having first joined what is now Michelin North America some 30 years ago as a staff attorney. Micali worked his way up through a number of assignments, including two stints in France, before becoming chairman and president in 1996.

In 2001, Micali was appointed to the Groupe Michelin executive council, and served a term as RMA chairman in 2002. He has also served on the boards of Sonoco and Lafarge North America, and was named distinguished senior fellow in political economy and leadership management at Furman University in 2004, where he is still a guest lecturer. Micali also received the Order of Merit from the French government.

This past December, Micali sat down with Tire Review to discuss legacy and raw material costs and their impact on North American tyre manufacturing and competition, and how MNA is tackling these key issues.

27th April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors