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.
To coincide with the arrival of spring weather, TyreSafe is encouraging more ‘scrubbers’ to be active within the motorcycling community. This, we hasten to say, refers to the need to ‘scrub-in’ new tyres during their first 100 miles or thereabouts.
Russia’s third-largest tractor manufacturer, the ZAO AgroTechMash (ATM) group, has selected Starco as original equipment supplier for its Terrion brand. This agreement is described by Starco as a further step in the company’s agricultural strategy and will be implemented by its Riga-based Eastern group; under the new agreement, Starco will supply the ATM group steel wheels from Titan, row crop wheels from Starco Schaad and tyres from BKT.
Japanese tyre manufacturer Bridgestone concluded an investment contract with Mitsubishi Corporation, the Ulyanovsk Oblast government and the Ulyanovsk Region Development Corporation on 12 April. Under the agreement, Bridgestone and Mitsubishi will respectively hold 90 and 10 per cent equity ownership in a new tyre manufacturing company, Bridgestone Tire Manufacturing C.I.S. LLC (BMCIS).
Titan International has hired Keith Fuglaar as its new vice-president of finance for North America. Fuglaar joins Titan from US-based heavy manufacturing firm The Egging Company, where he served as chief financial officer. Prior to his Egging commitment, Fuglaar was vice-president of finance for ARC Automotive, corporate controller at HNTB Corporation and director-FP&A with McLeodUSA. Fuglaar holds an MBA from the University of Tennessee and a BS from Louisiana Tech.
UK brake supplier Apec has expanded its product range with the addition of 13 new brake pads, continuing the expansion of what the company says is Europe's largest range of direct replacement braking items, which now stands at over 1,400 brake pads, and over 6,000 braking products.
British design firm Carbon One is poised to introduce a new range of wheels manufactured with carbon to achieve reduced weight targets. The firm estimates that using “next-generation lightweight materials, such as carbon fibre composites, could reduce passenger car weight by 50 per cent and improve fuel efficiency by about 35 per cent without compromising performance or safety” – and wheels are the latest component to which it is seeking to apply this thinking.
In the future 81 per cent of the UK population will be living in urban areas. There will be 200 million connected devices and one in four British citizens will be shopping online – the highest number in the world, per capita. The over 65s will represent a fifth of the population. The country’s South East region will grow to become the second largest region after London, accounting for 15.3 per cent of total GDP. That’s all if Frost & Sullivan’s 'New Mega Trends in the UK' analysis, which looks forward to 2025, turns out to be correct. However, even if there are only half right the flavor of what might take place in the next year if of interest to all sectors of the industry.
Aditya Birla Nuvo, a company within India’s Aditya Birla Group, has divested its carbon black businesses to another group company, SKI Carbon Black (India) Pvt. Ltd. The company says the decision to divest was approved in a committee meeting held on 6 April, and the carbon black business will be divested at an enterprise value of Rs 14.51 billion (£173.2 million).
Russia’s Omsk Carbon Group intends to erect a new carbon black facility in Mogilev, Belarus. The plant will be operated by new company subsidiary IOOO Omsk Carbon Mogilev and established at a cost of around US$130 million. Output is expected to start at 80,000 tons of carbon black per annum in 2015 and reach 150,000 tons a year by 2019. More than half the plant’s production will go to local tyre maker Belshina, a further three to five per cent will be sold to other domestic consumers and the remainder exported.
Bosal is reassuring aftermarket customers about future supplies of products following the 28 March announcement that Bosal UK’s administrators had not been able to secure a purchaser for the manufacturing business. Following the closure of the company's facility near Preston, Lancashire, Bosal Group announced that it is setting up a new UK sales and marketing company – Bosal Automotive and Industrial Components Ltd (BAIC). BAIC, which will continue to be based near Preston, will look after the needs of current and future customers for Bosal products and services.
Philip Duffy and David Whitehouse, both of global financial advisory and investment banking firm Duff & Phelps and Joint Administrators of Preston based Bosal (U.K.) Limited, have announced the sale of certain assets of the Company which relates to sales and marketing activities to Bosal International N.V. and Bosal Tobo B.V.
Aeolus has confirmed its involvement with the CV Show in April, where it will debut with its exclusive UK distributor, Kings Road Tyres (KRT). According to the company, the show will provide an important opportunity to build wider brand awareness for Aeolus, which has been manufacturing commercial vehicle tyres since 1965.
When it comes to making cost savings in Europe, Michelin’s management is not ruling anything out. In a clear sign of the pressure tyre manufacturers are under in Europe, Michelin is said to be considering headcounts and manufacturing capacities. The fact that such things are being discussed so openly could also be interpreted as a sign that the company is trying to allay investor questions related to what action it is taking to address the tough conditions the market has found itself in.
Starting from 2016, antilock braking systems (ABS) will be introduced as standard equipment for an increasing number of motorcycles in the EU. At the beginning of March, the European Union passed legislation to this effect, with the objective of further reducing traffic accident figures. In 2011 alone, around 5,000 motorcyclists were killed on Europe's roads. "A standard-fit ABS can prevent more than one-quarter of all motorcycle accidents with personal injuries," is how Gerhard Steiger, president of the Bosch Chassis Systems Control division, sums up the findings of a Bosch accident study.
Giti Tire has been named ‘Top Commercial Vehicle Tyre Brand’ in a countrywide study organised by China’s leading commercial vehicle magazine. Commercial Motor World’s survey involved live interviews with 110,000 participants over a six month period, covered 24 tyre brands and utilised the expertise of several leading Chinese universities. At its conclusion, Giti Tire won the Customer Satisfaction Award.
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