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.
Petlas Tire and Trade Corp. reports that it recently completed its Final Finish Sorting System (FFSS) and also started to build a fully automatic warehouse.
With that smart warehouse Petlas aims to have product traceability feature from production line to delivery to all its customers around the world. In addition, the smart warehouse means less space and effectiveness compared with other conventional solutions.
Goodyear Tire and Rubber has been fined $69,058 for alleged safety hazards at its facility in Social Circle, Georgia, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reported. The fines were issued in late January.
Italian retread equipment manufacturer TRM has developed a new line of automated retreading equipment for the US market and signed an agreement with Shamrock Marketing, Inc. of Louisville Kentucky to be the authorized dealer. The new line, called “Latitude”, is built around a robotic style buffing machine that is designed to minimize process time, cut labour, and increase consistency in buff texture. The equipment line will be officially launched in March 2018 during the Mid-American-Truck-Show in Louisville, KY with live demonstrations at Shamrock’s facility.
Ever-stricter regulations for reducing CO2 emissions require fuel-efficient products, whilst autonomous driving demands reliable and precise steering systems. Lighting and electronics expert Hella produces electronic control units (ECU) for electrical power steering (EPS) to support and promote these objectives, as they allow needs-based steering assistance, by means of an electronically controlled electric motor, which saves energy and aids control. Since production started in 2010, 20 million units have now rolled off the assembly line.
Great Place to Work Institute has identified Apollo Tyres, India’s leading tyre maker, as one of India’s Best Workplaces in Manufacturing – 2018. The company is ranked among the top 10 workplaces in the manufacturing segment in India. Apollo Tyres has been rated highly for its transparency in performance management process, especially the variable pay, and the employee development programmes.
FineLine Technologies has acquired Ferm RFID Solutions B.V., a Netherlands-based provider of RFID solutions for the automotive and aviation tyre industry.
As part of FineLine’s strategy to meet the unique item identification needs of today’s global supply chains, this acquisition enables the business to offer a complete range of barcode and RFID enabled tyre labelling solutions to the automotive and aviation industries.
Kordsa is expanding its polyester capacity at its plant in Izmit, Turkey. With the addition of new facilities and equipment, Kordsa aims to have an additional polyester yarn capacity of 7000 tons with an additional 3,500 m2 area in its current facility this year.
Already a market leader in the agricultural tyre segment in the North Africa, Middle East and Eastern Europe, Turkish tyre manufacturer Petlas is now aiming to increase its passenger car and truck tyre sales figures in the years to come. To this end, the firm reports that it made a series of investments in its passenger car tyre production during 2017.
National Tire Company (NTC) has unveiled plans to build a greenfield car and truck tyre factory in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. The goal is to focus on “premium” tyre production only.
The investment is owned by HRH Prince Fahad Bin Abdul-Rahman Bin Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud. According to NTC, the plant will be the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia and “one of the biggest and most modern individual tyre factories in the world”. The factory will make 16 million car tyres and 6 million truck tyres a year, with a workforce of 4000 at full capacity.
NTC will work with the Finnish Black Donuts Engineering Inc in the construction of the factory.
Pirelli has signed a contract with synthetic rubber maker Nizhnekamskneftekhim to establish supply in 2018. According to Nizhnekamskneftekhim, the contract was signed during a working visit to Milan by the president of the Republic of Tatarstan in December.
The National Battery Manufacturing Development Facility (NBMDF) – for which the government has allocated £80 million – could create upward of 10,000 jobs.
Talk to westerners and they see China as a relative newcomer to the global tyre industry table. Talk to Chinese people and they may just point out that China has been the world’s leading tyre producing nation since 2005. Indeed, full-year 2016 figures show that 600 million tyres were “made in China”, many of which were passenger car and light truck products. However, China now wants to move on from its reputation as being the biggest tyre producing nation and progress towards a renewed emphasis on quality and technology. Tyres & Accessories spoke with Mary Xu, the China Rubber Industry Association (CRIA) deputy secretary general, in order to find out more about how the Chinese tyre industry wants to move from biggest to best.
The Ronal Group, a leading manufacturer of alloy wheels, has built a second plant in Teruel, Spain, which was officially opened on 10 October 2017. The Ronal Group has run a production and administration facility in the Aragón region of north-eastern Spain since 1983. The foundation stone for the latest plant was laid in February 2016.
UK car manufacturing fell in September, with year-on-year output declining -4.1 per cent, according to figures released today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). 6,500 fewer cars rolled off production lines than in the same month last year, with a total output of 153,224.
On 4 October Bridgestone Canada Inc. (Bridgestone) announced the closure of its Firestone Fibers and Textiles facility based in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada. The closure affects 35 salaried employees and 135 hourly employees, and will be conducted in phases beginning 31 December 2017, with operations completely ceasing in the second half of 2018.
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