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.
India’s RPG Enterprises, parent company of Ceat Ltd, shares that the tyre maker aims to become one of the most profitable firms within the domestic market. Comments made by Ceat managing director Anant Goenka to this effect during an interview with local motoring journal Motown India were published on RPG’s website on 25 July.
Upon announcing first half 2013 results, Michelin voiced its expectation that mature markets will continue their recovery from last year’s weakness in the remainder of the year, while expansion should be seen in emerging markets. Should this trend play out, the French manufacturer sees itself in good stead to achieve its projected full-year volumes. This is all well and good, however Michelin’s reportage of its latest results said little about the first-half bottom line, which is markedly down on the same time last year.
For a decade or more the case has been made for the development of winter tyre market in the UK. While there have always been residual levels of winter tyre take-up in the most northerly and mountainous parts of Britain, in the past 10 years or so tyre manufacturers have invested considerable time, effort and resources in making it a relatively normal part of the UK tyre culture. In recent years there has been development in the winter tyre market and it seems clear that this has far from peaked. However, at the same time there is now evidence that sales of all-season tyres have matched and overtaken these. With all this in mind Tyres & Accessories spoke with representatives of Bridgestone, Falken and Hankook and asked what is the right tool for the job in the UK? And is the UK becoming an all-season tyre market?
Chippenham constituency MP Duncan Hames has welcomed the news of Cooper Tire & Rubber’s receipt of £1 million in funding from the Department of Business, Skills and Innovation’s Regional Growth Fund. The funding will be backed by private investment amounting to £4.3 million and will allow Cooper Tire to build a combined heat and power plant at the factory and install solar panels on the roof – measures aimed at improving energy efficiency and making the site more environmentally friendly.
Car manufacturing in the UK has grown during the first half of 2013, with acceleration to 4.6 per cent coming in the second quarter and a 10.4 per cent rise in June. The SMMT says that while four out of five cars built in the UK are exported, higher output for the home market, up 24.4 per cent, has boosted volumes.
The UK government has agreed to match automotive industry investment of £500 million, resulting in a £1 billion 10 year automotive investment plant designed to secure the growth and development of its vehicle and component manufacturing sector.
This new funding supports multi-billion pound investments announced in the last few years by global automotive companies to boost production levels and develop new technologies and models. And when the term “automotive industry” is used it includes original equipment components such as tyres, with the full report pointing out tyre plants in Northern Ireland and Scotland as the wider British impact the investment programme is likely to have.
A little over two months ago, Yokohama Tire Corporation (YTC) announced its plan to build a new commercial tyre plant in the US. On 11 July it announced that the first phase of the facility in West Point, Mississippi will be designed by Kajima Associates/Architects & Engineers, PC of Atlanta, Georgia. The project taken on by Kajima Associates calls for the design of a 931,000 square foot (86,500 square metre) factory that includes production, warehousing and operations facilities.
"The unexpected crash in the exchange rate for the Pound for the US Dollar, from US$1.58 to 1.48, in just four weeks from mid-June is hitting wholesale fuel costs", said Brian Madderson, Petrol Retailers’ Association (PRA) chairman.
TyreSafe has announced that Taiwanese tyre manufacturer Nankang has become its latest member. The road safety organisation says the inclusion of several new tyre retailers and manufacturers this year, brings the prospect of a year of record levels of participation and awareness about tyre safety issues. Nankang will support TyreSafe’s various campaigns throughout 2013 which include those targeting motorcyclists, young drivers, HGV operators as well as car drivers.
At the end of June, Kraiburg Austria held its inaugural “Retreading summit” in the village of Leogang. Some 70 guests from eight European countries and from Russia participated in the event, which was devoted to the most pressing current subjects of interest within the retreading sector. These included the repercussions of advances related to truck tread design patents and what this means for Kraiburg’s own in-house tread development. A second emphasis was presented by Hans-Jürgen Drechsler from the German tyre trade association (BRV) and Christoph Priewasser, product manager at Kraiburg Austria, about the latest interim results from the BIPAVER “Re-Tyre” project and Kraiburg’s parallel undertaken “tyre labeling” project.
With a full range of tyres designed for each part of the waste/recycling market Kal Tire hopes to communicate how it has become the UK’s number one at this year’s RWM show.
In addition to an available supply of new tyres in a comprehensive range of sizes and tread patterns, the company offers Kal ‘Fil’ tyres as a cost effective long-term solution to tyre related machine downtime in hazardous environments. According to the company, Fil tyres are guaranteed 100 per cent and can be retreaded up to three times; (depending on casing quality) giving further cost savings and environmental benefits on replacement tyres. The Kal Tire
Fil service is available at depots throughout the UK.
Pirelli has detailed plans to put the second half of its US$400 million investment in the company’s Silao, Mexico factory towards so-called “green performance” tyre production. Mexico’s president Enrique Peña Nieto met with a delegation of Pirelli’s top management who illustrated the progress of the company’s investment in the country at the announcement.
Toyo Tire & Rubber appears likely to increase production in the US. Company president Akira Nobuki has been quoted by Bloomberg as saying that US manufacturing is “making a comeback” and that Toyo can “can picture the scenario of jobs coming back” and expansion occurring in this market.
Rajiv Poddar, executive director of BKT (Balkrishna Tyres), says India’s huge natural mineral deposits will provide future opportunities for the tyre industry in his guest of honour address at Tyrexpo India 2013. The show runs at the Chennai Trade Centre from 9-11 July, and joining Poddar at the opening of its second staging were the chairman of the Chemical and Allied Export Promotion Council of India’s tyre panel, P Prasanth; P.Vijayaraghavan of exhibitor TVS Tyres; and Nirmal Singhvi of the Tamil Nadu Tyre Dealers Association.
While we have all heard references to the financial crisis ad nauseam, in the retreading sector the paucity of quality casings is becoming a crisis of its own. Of course there are links between the general economic environment and the lack of casings in the market, but there is more to it than that. It seems that a number of pressures have combined to cause a perfect storm of hindering factors, preventing the necessary supply of casings getting to the people who need them the most – retreaders. And while getting hold of any retread’s most fundamental component is said to be taxing for everyone, things are said to be especially difficult in the independent sector.
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