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.
Hubei Linglong Tire Co. Ltd., Linglong Tire’s fourth domestic Chinese manufacturing base, celebrated the production of its first truck tyres on 21 November. Dignitaries from Jingmen, Hubei, China, and Hubei Linglong Tire witnessed this historical moment together.
The latest global tyre market share figures from tyre industry analyst Astutus Research show how long-established, leading players headquartered in Japan, Europe, and North America have seen their volume share diminish, while Chinese, ASEAN, and selected other markets’ tyre manufacturers’ share has risen. The analyst states that in aggregate, the ten leading PCLT tyre manufacturers based in Japan, Europe and North America (J-E-NA) have lost almost 6 percentage points of market share since the end of 2011 (OE and replacement segments combined, volumes in tyre units). In part this reflects a strategic choice of some to focus on the higher value premium segments of the market.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reports that UK commercial vehicle (CV) production was down -0.2 per cent in October, with 9,065 units manufactured. Output destined for some crucial overseas markets was up 9.3 per cent, though production for the domestic market fell -8.5 per cent with demand weakening.
The joint venture between Cooper Tire & Rubber Company and Sailun Vietnam Co, Ltd has produced its first tyre. ACTR, facility located near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Bridgestone Americas and material recovery company Delta-Energy have announced the first full-scale use of recovered carbon black (rCB) in the tyre market, according to the two companies.
Marangoni Meccanica has launched a new corporate brand identity. These changes come at a time when the company, which was recently recapitalized and spun off from the Marangoni Group in June, is evolving through a strategic journey with the objective of offering to its customers an even more powerful support and commitment.
Klarius has been presented with the Northern Automotive Alliance’s Manufacturing Excellence Award. The award was presented by Jaguar Land Rover and followed a detailed application that focussed on continuous improvement (CI) and a quality driven culture at the company’s manufacturing plant in Cheadle near Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
Investment by Ricardo in leading-edge gear manufacturing machine tools has improved productivity and extended capability, as the recent investment of £1.5m in a Klingelnberg spiral bevel grinder has begun delivering market ready components. The manufacturer states that the new investment underlines its “commitment to meeting the needs of its customers for high performance transmissions.”
Arlanxeo intends to close its Keltan production unit in Orange, Texas, USA in the second quarter of 2020. Arlanxeo says it will “strive to limit the impact of the closure by working in close cooperation with all affected stakeholders, both internally and externally”.
Lubricants giant Fuchs has signalled its commitment to climate protection by announcing it will be completely CO2-neutral as early as next year. Fuchs, which has its UK headquarters in Stoke-on-Trent, will be CO2-neutral globally by 1 January 2020 – from energy consumption in production to consumables in administration.
In early October, Orion Engineered Carbons S.A. announced that the company’s novel surface-modified Carbon Blacks for rubber applications will be presented at the 196th Technical Meeting of the Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society in Cleveland, Ohio (which was held on 9 October 2019). The meeting is part of the International Elastomer Conference (IEC), which provides a forum for the exchange of ideas, observations, regulatory reforms and emerging scientific technologies.
The third meeting of the PolynSPIRE project was hosted by Istanbul Chemicals and Chemical Products Exporters’ Association (IKMIB) and supported by the reinforcement leader Kordsa, one of the project partners. The General Project Meeting and Information Sharing Workshop of the PolynSPIRE project was held at the Izmit facilities of Kordsa in last May.
Kordsa recently received 2019 Pirelli Supplier Award. Having put sustainability at the heart of its activities since 2014, and seeing self-sustainability as the first step to sustainability, Kordsa requires its suppliers and business partners to operate in accordance with the principles in its Statement on Code of Business Ethics and assess their environmental and societal effects.
Pirelli has given supplier awards to the top nine companies from its more than 10,000 suppliers at the global level. According to the company, the Pirelli Supplier Awards acknowledge companies that have “distinguished themselves by making Pirelli’s supply chain more sustainable, innovative and qualitatively excellent, thus contributing to making Pirelli’s products always more High Value, in line with the company’s strategy”.
When Toyo recently announced its intention to build a new tyre plant in Serbia it consolidated the country’s position as the leading location for new passenger car and light truck (PCLT) tyre manufacturing capacity in Europe. Toyo’s proposal follows Linglong’s decision to build its new European plant in the country and Cooper Tire’s plan to double the size of its facility there. Based on analysis of all announced capacity actions by Astutus Research (plant opening and expansion net of closures and downsizing), the Czech Republic is a distant second in terms of planned capacity additions between 2018 and 2026.
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