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.
2006 has seen ArvinMeritor Light Vehicle Aftermarket embark on a major new parts development programme. During the first quarter of the year 55 exhaust and 30 catalytic converter references were added to an already market leading range, providing a further 100 model applications. With plans in place to accelerate the development programme, by year end the company aim to have added a total of 400 new references.
Apollo Tyres is planning to import radial tyres for luxury cars like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Volkswagen from the company’s manufacturing facility in South Africa, rediff.com has reported. The local business news source reports that Indian radial production could halt at some point in the coming months.
(Akron/Tire Review) Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. announced that it is withdrawing from certain segments of the private label tyre business in North America. Approximately 10 private label brands currently manufactured by Goodyear and sold by wholesale customers to tyre retailers will be affected by the decision. In 2005, this segment represented approximately $300 million in sales and about 8 million units manufactured in five North American plants, or approximately one-third of the company’s overall private label business.
Ram-Rod Manufacturing Ltd has launched its new ‘Trakta’ bead breaker, designed for agricultural, earthmover and small plant applications, it is Ram-rod’s fourth product, all of which answer specific problems associated with tyre and wheel handling. At the same time the company also announced it is looking for companies to distribute its products across Europe.
Following Indian manufacturer, Apollo Tyres’ announcement that it has officially completed its acquisition of Dunlop International (DI) Tyres & Acccessories’ Southern African editorial partner, SA Treads, flew to DI’s headquarters in Durban to interview CE Mike Hankinson, MD Pierre Dreyer and Apollo joint managing director and CEO, Neeraj Kanwar.
Eldan Recycling A/S Denmark has been recognised as a leading supplier of Tyre Recycling Plant and Equipment for over 30 years. The company first manufactured a Rasper model 800 in 1970 to process car tyres into 20 mm chips to feed into a boiler to heat a commercial Greenhouse in Denmark.
Since that time the company has expanded from a small family run business into a large manufacturing company employing over 100 people, however, it has still managed to retain the personal touch often lacking with larger companies.
Bandag, Incorporated announced that it has closed its pension plans to new hires in the U S and Canada, and will freeze the existing pension plans for US employees and for salaried Canadian employees effective 31 December 2006. The cost-cutting programme includes an early retirement programme and voluntary and involuntary redundancies for some US employees.
The biggest news from Cooper’s Reifen Essen stand was the US-based company’s decision to launch run-flat technology into the European market. At the same time Cooper’s large open-plan stand showed that the company is continuing to invest in raising its profile by modernising its brand image. Tyres & Accessories met with Cooper president, chairman and CEO, Tom Dattilo and found out more about how the brand re-launch is going and what the strategy behind the company’s run-flat launch is.
Apollo Tyres, is reportedly planning acquisitions in Europe and South East Asia in the current financial year. “We will be interested in acquiring companies that will synergise the group’s expertise in the areas of manufacturing, overseas markets and new technology,” Neeraj Kanwar, joint managing director, Apollo Tyres, told India Business Line.
Acquisition will also be a strategy to increase the proportion of radialisation in the company’s truck and passenger car tyres. In January, the company acquired South Africa-based tyre manufacturer Dunlop Tyres international, a radial tyre manufacturer for roughly £36 million, 50 million euros.
SmarTire Systems Inc. has announced that Van Hool NV has selected SmarTire to supply its tyre pressure and temperature monitoring systems (TPMS) on its buses and coaches. Van Hool is Europe’s largest independent bus manufacturer. The company exports 85 per cent of its buses and coaches, 60 per cent of them to Europe and an average of 600 coaches a year to the US.
For the second year running, Bridgestone Poland has won the ‘Best investor in Poland’ award from Poland’s Rzeczpospolita newspaper, the country’s respected business and political daily. The award was received by Mr Hiroyoshi Takigawa, President of Bridgestone Poland Sp z o.o., from the Polish ministers of Finance and State Treasury at a ceremony on 25 April 2006.
Rzeczpospolita is renowned in Poland for its annual ranking and review of the country’s top 500 companies, including both locally-owned firms and subsidiaries of foreign companies. At the same time, a jury appointed by the newspaper makes awards to outstanding companies across several categories.
Brazilian motor vehicle production is on a roll, with both output and export figures reportedly at all time highs in May 2006, according to the Brazilian Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Association, Antavea. The exact figures have not yet been published but they must be higher than April’s 182,481 passenger car registrations to break the record production figures. In 2005 the Brazilian vehicle manufacturing industry produced 2,009,494 cars, 365,648 light commercial vehicles 153,158 commercial trucks and buses.
With the implementation of the tyre landfill ban rapidly approaching and following the publication of ETRMA’s (European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturer’s Association) first comprehensive report on end-of-life tyre management, Tyres & Accessories takes a look at the findings and reports on the development of the UK’s free market system, publishing the most recent pan-European data on this segment.
While the ETRMA (in its former guise as BLIC) has made European end-of-life tyre (ELT) figures available for some time, this year is the first time the newly re-formed association has given such a detailed overview of the EU15 and enlarged European tyre recovery and recycling business.
Bridgestone Europe has announced that work has started on in its Tatabanya, Hungary high-performance passenger and light truck tyre plant. Construction of the about 190 million euro complex is being financed and managed by Bridgestone Hungary Manufacturing Ltd – a newly-formed subsidiary of Bridgestone Europe NV/SA – with completion due at the end of 2007. Production is scheduled to reach more than 8,000 tyres a day by 2009. The company expects to employ more than 200 people by 2009.
Hankook Tire is stepping up efforts to defend its position in the Chinese tyre market by investing in a new local R&D centre, extending production facilities and expanding its sales network. The company announced detailed plans for China its Jiaxing plant on 29 May.
Hankook Tire recently completed the expansion of its production facilities in Jiaxing, enhancing annual capacity to 2.5 million units. As the main production base for the company in China, the Jiaxing plant will undergo further expansion work in the latter half of this year. Once completed by the end of 2006, Hankook Tire will secure total production capacity of 28 million units per year from its Jiaxing and Jiangsu plants in China.
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