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.
Hankook Tire’s Daejeon South Korea factory has suffered a fire, the company confirmed on 1 October. The fire is not expected to disrupt production since the damage is mostly to its warehouse. However a fifth of the warehouse has reportedly been lost along with some 180,000 tyres. According to local news reports, the warehouse held products destined for both domestic and overseas markets.
US-based bioscience company PanAridus recently announced granting of its ninth US Department of Agriculture (USDA) plant variety patent and the first tyre quality, bale-sized shipment of its guayule-derived biorubber. The announcement was made by company CEO Mike Fraley at the recent International Tyre Exhibition and Conference in Akron.
Tyre equipment manufacturer Mesnac has acquired Fushun Yikesi New Material, a Chinese producer of synthetic rubber and resin products, for the sum of US$60 million, according to reports. The acquisition gives the company entry into the rubber raw materials side of the industry.
Rice husk waste once headed for landfills is now helping The Goodyear Tyre & Rubber Company produce fuel-efficient tyres. Goodyear today announced it will utilise ash left over from the burning of rice husks to produce electricity as an environmentally friendly source of silica for use in its tyres.
Apollo has confirmed Hungary as the location for its first greenfield facility outside India. The manufacturer says that Hungary was chosen having considered some of its neighbouring Central Eastern European and Asian countries. Apollo’s latest investment, which is planned to total 475m euros over the next five years, was approved by its Board of Directors today.
Following the conclusion of Citexpo 2014 on 11 September, all initial figures point to the event being the most successful in the international tyre show’s history…by some way. Indeed, with this year’s unaudited visitor total said to have been around the 11,000 mark, the 2014 show could have grown by as much as 50 per cent since the last event, which attracted just over 7,000 visitors.
The continuing success story of the MINI brand was further underlined as the British manufacturer announced the production of its three millionth car since 2001, and its two millionth international export. Relaunched in 2001 under the stewardship of the BMW Group, the MINI brand has become one of the most popular in the automotive world.
The agricultural tyre market appears particularly well suited towards specialised manufacturers; Trelleborg Wheel Systems acquired Pirelli’s agricultural business in 1999, with the branding switched between 2006 and 2010. Since acquiring various technologies from Pirelli, the Trelleborg Group has invested heavily in order to make its tyre and wheel operation a premium brand player in the agricultural and forestry tyre market. The Tivoli facility, with its buildings showing a manufacturing history dating back to the 1940s, but also incorporating the latest agricultural tyre building machinery, represents “a history full of innovation for farming professionals,” in president of the Agricultural and Forestry Tyres business unit, Paolo Pompei’s words.
Pirelli has opened an expanded warehouse facility at its Carlisle factory. The move is part of a continued commitment by the company to make significant investment at the Dalston Road site. The new extension, built onto an existing unit, will provide much needed additional storage space for the premium SUV tyres that are manufactured there.
The Mesnac European Research and Technical Center (MERTC) recently announced plans to expand it European activities based in Slovakia, which a focus on further developing tyre building technology. The construction of a new production facility and additional research facilities will take place in the Trencin region and the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2015.
The European Commission has approved the proposed acquisition of the steel tyre cord business of the Italian company Pirelli by its Belgian-based rival NV Bekaert SA under the EU Merger Regulation. According to an official statement dated 31 July, the commission concluded that the acquisition “would not raise competition concerns as the merged entity’s customers, which are large, multinational tyre companies, have countervailing buyer power which is further strengthened by over-capacity in the steel tyre cord market.”
Slovenian tyre producer Savatech has recalled its Sport Force radial motorcycle tyres. The tyres, which were sold to customers mostly in Europe, may develop a bulge in the tread during sustained high speed riding. This could cause vibration and, in the most extreme of cases, some of the tread may become detached. Savatech clarified that the problem has only been simulated in controlled and the most severe of conditions. The Sport Force recall is pre-emptive.
Yesterday Superior Industries International, Inc. announced it will close its Rogers, Arkansas wheel manufacturing plant as part of an initiative to cut costs and increase competitiveness.
The firm expects to cease operations at Rogers by the end of 2014. Production will be shifted to other Superior manufacturing facilities, including those in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Chihuahua, Mexico, and is anticipated to generate a net $15 million labour cost savings year-over-year. Approximately 500 jobs will be lost.
Mitas has announced plans to invest the expansion of its Ruma, Serbia factory. In the first part of the planned upgrades, Mitas will build a new logistics centre. According to the company, this will help satisfy the rising demand from South European, East European and Middle East markets. In practice this means Mitas will soon also prepare an upgrade of Ruma’s production capacities for radial agricultural and forestry tyres. Mitas’ Serbian factory now produces both bias and radial agricultural tyres. The investment will be completed in mid-2016, at which point the Ruma plant will have a capacity of 35,000 tonnes a year.
Hankook has slowed its production in response to amassing a record inventory glut. Seoul’s Yonhap News Agency reports that the manufacturer has 660,000 unsold tyres, or 8.5 per cent of its monthly 7.75 million production capacity. The agency quotes an unnamed Hankook source as saying that the growth in demand expected after March had failed to materialise, leading to the surplus.
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