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.
(Akron/Tire Review) According to news reports, nine people who worked at the long-closed Uniroyal tyre plant in Eau Claire, Wis., are suing a number of chemical suppliers claiming that exposure to dangerous chemicals caused them to develop cancer.
(Akron/Tire Review – Reuters) Goodyear Tire & Rubber has made considerable progress on a North America turnaround, but looming pension liabilities, tough labour talks and high material costs are raising credit investors’ worries that further progress could be slow. Ignoring Goodyear’s strong rise in first-quarter earnings on 4 May, credit investors have sold off the company’s bonds, pushing prices lower over the past two months. Goodyear’s 7.86 per cent notes due in 2011 have fallen to 91.7 cents on the dollar from a high this year of 99.5 cents on 9 May, according to MarketAxess.
(Akron/Tire Review) Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire has confirmed that it will close its Oklahoma, City, Oklahoma, passenger and light truck/SUV tyre plant. The plant, which opened in 1969, employs some 1,400 workers. The plant will be closed by 31 December, according to BFNAT.
The UK car manufacturing industry received another blow yesterday when Nanjing Automobile announced it is planning to build MG cars in Oklahoma. Many had expected the lion’s share of MGs to be built at the old Rover base (Longbridge in Birmingham), but now, according to a report in The Times, most production will go to the US. The company’s engineering, design, sales and marketing departments will also operate out of the US.
Businesses are being reminded today that used tyres can no longer be sent to landfill from 16 July 2006 when new regulations come into force across England and Wales. Liz Parkes, Head of Waste Regulation at the Environment Agency said: “From 16 July, regulations will ban used whole and shredded tyres from being disposed of in all landfill sites.
(Akron/Tire Review) Indian tiremaker Ceat say it will increase imports of radial truck tyres to 2,000 units per month within the next 18 months. Currently, Ceat imports some 500 tyres per month, produced for Ceat by Pirelli at its manufacturing plant in Turkey. “Seeing a gradual increase in demand for domestic radial truck tyres, we intend to step up our imports from Pirelli,” Ceat managing director Paras Chowdhary told Indian media.
Mr Raghupati Singhania, vice chairman and managing director of JK Industries Limited has received an honorary doctorate in science at the seventeenth convocation of Mohanlal Sukhadia University at Udaipur by Her Excellency, Smt. Pratibha Patil, Governor of Rajasthan. The degree was conferred in recognition of Mr Singhania’s contributions towards encouraging education, training and research activities in Rubber and Allied industries in India.
Since being founded in 1990, Goodway Rubber Industries Sdn Bhd has made deep inroads into the highly established rubber industry. Company spokesman Raymond Lee described Goodway’s recent appearance at the Reifen 06 exhibition as the company “standing tall among the biggest industry names at the internationally acclaimed fair,” adding: “we made quite an impact with our various brands and offerings”.
If ever there was a competition for a company whose name tells you exactly what the company does, then Vintage Tyre Supplies would surely be in with a shout. Even the location of its head office – a few seconds' stroll from the Beaulieu Motor Museum – underlines what the company is about.
Vintage Tyre Supplies is, quite simply, a leader in what could be described as "a global niche", sourcing and selling vintage and classic tyres around the world. "Our business is growing and our overseas markets are developing steadily," says VTS managing director Chris Marchant.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is taking steps towards closing a New Zealand tyre plant. The news is part of a series of cost-cutting measures (including European job cuts) that Goodyear is enforcing around the world. Goodyear said the move was “part of its strategy to reduce high-cost manufacturing capacity globally.”
“For over 50 years our Group has believed in tyres and has educated its people and developed new technologies to be able to handle every aspect and every phase of a tyre’s life cycle,” Mario Marangoni president of the Italian Marangoni group points out. Today Marangoni belongs to the few companies that are covering all the different aspects of tyres. In the future this is going to be communicated even more. Marangoni now wants to harmonise and internationalise its own brand appearance, says Massimo De Alessandri, managing director of the Marangoni Holding company in an interview with Tyres & Accessories.
When asked to sum up his company’s year “business is going well,” is the response given by Deldo sales manager, Stani Delcroix. By this he means that the company has once again broken its own sales records with turnover growing 10 per cent to 235 million euros. Delcroix said he believed this was impossible to beat, that was until the company achieved a further 8 per cent growth (year-on-year) in the first quarter of 2006.
(Akron/Tire Review) Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.’s manufacturing facility in Texarkana, Arkansas, will shut down production for two weeks, according to a report in the Texarkana Gazette.
(Akron/Tire Review) Stamford Tyres Corp. announced record net profit of 15.6 million Singapore dollars for the financial year ended 30 April, an 80.8 per cent growth over the S$8.6 million (£2.957 million) recorded in 2005. Revenue grew 32.4 per cent, to S$253.2 million (£87 million), the company said.
A story in the Business Standard in India, and mentioned on this website yesterday, has provoked a reply from Mr. Sunam Sarkar Chief, Corporate Strategy & Marketing for Apollo Tyres. The headline was “Apollo Tyres to Stop Making Radials in India” and Mr. Sarkar has written to the publication, saying he was “quite disappointed” in the story, which he describes as “misleading in the way it represents the facts” and with a headline that is “completely erroneous.” Mr Sarkar goes on: “There is no plan to stop making radials in India, rather we are increasing capacity. The specific fact that we discussed was the possible sourcing of low volume products from our South African facilities, so that our plant in Baroda can produce more of the high volume sizes. “The quote that ‘Apollo currently manufactures 200 radial tyres a month’ is completely untrue. We are currently manufacturing more than 7,000 radials per day, with plans to increase to 10,000 radials per day very shortly. While it is correct that we are exploring the replacement of South African manufactured cross-ply tyres with Indian ones, the important aspect of that strategy that does not come through in the story is that this production in South Africa will be replaced with increased production of truck radial tyres.”
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