Manufacturing Archives - Page 220 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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Nizhnekamskshina to Build Truck Tyre Factory

Radik Ilyasov, CEO of Russian tyre maker Nizhnekamskshina, has described the company’s plans to build a $180 million new truck tyre manufacturing plant. Iiyasov told CentreInvest analysts that the company will build the plant by 2009 and it will be capable of producing 600,000 radial tyres a year. The project will involve foreign participation, either through a JV or via a licensing arrangement. In line with this, Nizhnekamskshina intends to complete its reconstruction of a $180 million rubber mixing line by 2007.

16th March 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Appoints Pecorelli VP/General Manager

Goodyear Engineered Products has appointed Jim Pecorelli as vice president and general manager of its North America region. Pecorelli had been director of global manufacturing since 2003. Prior to that, he held general manager positions for Goodyear’s industrial power transmission product, hose and conveyor belt businesses over an eight-year span. Pecorelli joined Goodyear in 1982.

“Jim’s expertise and leadership skills strengthen the link between our sales and marketing, manufacturing and supply chain operations to support continued sales growth,’” said president Tim Toppen. ‘”Externally, he knows our customers and understands the markets and channels. Internally, he has led our commercial and manufacturing teams.”

16th March 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Superior to Supply ‘Large Diameter’ Alloys to GM

Superior Industries International, Inc has announced that it has awarded new contracts from General Motors to supply large-diameter aluminum wheels for passenger vehicles and SUVs. The programmes are said to represent a combination of new and replacement business.

15th March 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Nokian to Invest in Heavy Tyre Production

Nokian Tyres’ Board of Directors has approved a plan to invest 4 million euros in order to expand heavy radial tyre production capacity. This will mean an increase in Nokian Tyres’ total investments in 2006 from 88 million euros to 92 million euros.

The investment includes the whole production process; ie component manufacturing, tyre assembly and curing at the Heavy Tyre plant in Nokia, Finland. The investment will mean a capacity increase of the Nokian Tractor Industrial 2 product line, launched in 2004, and of the Nokian Country King product line, launched in 2005, to better meet the strong growth in demand.
The increase in radial tyre capacity will come on-stream towards the end of this year and in early 2007.

15th March 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Nominated Peugeot-Citroën Supplier of the Year

PSA Peugeot-Citroën has named Bridgestone Europe as its Supplier of the Year 2005 for quality. On 6 March 2006, BSEU Chairman, CEO and President Minekazu Fujimura accepted the award, based on the company’s achievement of a zero ppm fault rate and zero quality issues for year 2005, at a ceremony held in the automotive manufacturer’s Poissy (France) facilities.

The event, attended by Jean-Martin Folz, Chairman of the PSA Peugeot-Citroën Managing Board, and his fellow board members, was introduced by Jean-Philippe Collin, General Purchasing Director.

14th March 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

European Motorcycle Champions Test New Dunlop Race Tyres

Dunlop Motorsport will welcome more than 70 of the top motorcycle riders from 14 countries to test their new 2006 race tyres on the Spanish circuits of Albacete and Valencia, over five days in March.

This is the third year that Dunlop has organised such a pre-season test: “We are strongly committed to winning the national championships in all major markets. In 2005 we supplied the winning tyres for the national champions in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK and USA“, said Steve Male, Dunlop’s European Motorcycle Motorsport Manager.

13th March 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

CTNA Plans to End Charlotte Production

Continental Tire North America (CTNA) says it will suspend production at its Charlotte, North Carolina tyre plant in mid-September. CTNA has already threatened to cut production in half at the plant, laying off some 513 workers in total over two separate reductions, the first scheduled to take place 15 March and the other in June.

“Due to skyrocketing costs for energy, raw materials and health care, CTNA cannot continue to operate the Charlotte plant with our current manufacturing cost structure,” said Alan Hippe, CTNA’s president and CEO. “Because we have so far been unsuccessful in restructuring our labour agreement with the union to significantly reduce manufacturing costs, CTNA must take immediate steps to reduce its costs.”

13th March 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Centralised Logistics Improves Goodyear Dunlop Service

Goodyear and Dunlop truck tyre customers across Europe will shortly benefit from a major improvement in service through the direct delivery of products from the company’s plants in Germany and Luxembourg. Customers will benefit from reliable on-time deliveries, a vital element of successful tyre management planning.

10th March 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop Supports Motorsport Engineers of the Future

Dunlop is working with young engineers to bring Formula racing car BMM02 into reality. The team consists of 20 postgraduate Automotive and Motorsport engineers from Brunel University West London, with the common goal of designing and manufacturing a formula-style racing car for the Formula Student Competition 2006.

8th March 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Dana Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

(Akron/Tire Review) Dana Corp and 40 of its subsidiary companies in the US filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy 3 March. The move, long expected by auto industry analysts, does not include Dana’s operations in Europe, South America, Canada, Mexico or Asia.

While under reorganisation, Dana secured $1.45 billion in debtor-in-possession financing to fund its continuing operations. The Toledo, Ohio-based firm employs 19,000 in the US and supplies axles, drive shafts, chassis and steering components, brakes and other components to a wide range of automakers, including troubled GM and Ford.

7th March 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper Results Have Implications on Goodyear

Cooper’s recent 2005 results may have shown full-year losses, but they also show that the company’s inventories would have been $125.6 million (41 per cent) higher “had they used FIFO instead of LIFO.” The results have implications on the way other company’s results are interpreted. “As a result, we would expect a substantial earnings impact from raw material cost inflation in the quarters ahead,” Deutsche Bank analysts said referring to Goodyear.

6th March 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli Receives Fourth Consecutive Safety Award

In the US, Pirelli has received the top safety award from the Rubber Manufacturers Association for the fourth year in a row, for achieving significant improvements in worker health and safety over the past year. The Safety and Health Improvement Program (SHIP) award was presented to Pirelli at the RMA’s annual meeting.

3rd March 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Hits 35 Million Mark in New Zealand

(Akron/Tire Review) Bridgestone New Zealand is celebrating the production of the 35 millionth tire at its Christchurch, New Zealand, plant, which opened in 1947. Employing 300 people in a seven-day-a-week business, the factory contributes an estimated $23.8 million a year to Christchurch’s economy, said John Staples, the general sales manager for Bridgestone New Zealand. The plant was originally built by the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. as one of eight manufacturing facilities the company then had outside of the U.S. The factory now has the capacity to produce 5,000 tires a day, and exports 40% of its output, Staples said. “Our relationship with all the communities we are part of is very important to us, and the Christchurch community in particular with the presence of our factory,” Staples said.

3rd March 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyre Aging

Now at a first glance you might think my headline suggests this editorial will be something to do with the fact that Michelin North America (MNA) and Continental Tire North America (CTNA) have thrown their weight behind the tyre-life concept. Car manufacturers Ford and DaimlerChrysler were the first to advise drivers to replace their tyres after six year regardless of tread depth. Bridgestone Firestone North America Tire (BFNAT) followed suit last November. However, that’s all I am going to say on this late-breaking subject here.

Instead I want to talk about another type of maturing. Tyres & Accessories recently came across a report conducted by Plimsoll Publishing that looks at the effect the aging population might have on UK tyre manufacturers and distributors. Apparently 42 per cent of the leaders of the UK’s top 242 tyre companies will be over sixty in the next 5 years and 23 per cent will breach 65 in the same period.

So what’s in store for the so-called baby boomers? Plimsoll’s study looks at the impact these retirement age directors might have on the financial performance and future direction of the companies they run. Collectively the UK top 242 tyre manufacturing and distribution companies are led by only 487 directors, varying in age from 21 to 84 years. Only 13 directors are under 30, while 114 are aged 61 and over.

So is the market as appealing as it was 10 years ago? Now I would like to make it clear that I am not saying there is any kind of negative relationship between the age of directors and performance, but Plimsoll’s analysis reports that 41 per cent of the 242 companies analysed are in clear financial difficulties and 21 per cent of companies failed to make any profit at all last year.

2nd March 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

RMA Honours Plants for Safety Improvements

(Akron/Tire Review) Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA) honored 63 tyre and rubber manufacturing facilities improving their worker health and safety. RMA’s Safety and Health Improvement Program (SHIP) Awards were given at RMA’s annual meeting, held 25-27 February.

28th February 2006/by Tyrepress Editors