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.
Bridgestone Americas has unveiled its new Americas Technical Center in Akron, Ohio at a grand opening ceremony, Tire Review reports. The $100 million facility, located just down the street from the tyre-maker’s old tech center, houses 450 employees whose jobs are to develop innovative and advanced tyre technologies for the company.
Accuride Corporation has announced plans to expand aluminum wheel production capacity at its Camden, South Carolina plant, Tire Review reports. The company will invest at least $8.7 million to add two machine lines as part of the expansion, which will generate at least 25 new jobs.
Since its formation in Thailand in 2004, Singapore-based Stamford Sport Wheels has evolved into one of South East Asia's leading and most successful alloy wheel manufacturers, exporting products to European and North American markets. Its manufacturing complex is based in the province of Nonthaburi, approximately 60km north of Bangkok and consists of two production facilities spanning around 30,000sqm. The company currently has the capacity to manufacture over 900,000 wheels a year; the current SSW product portfolio includes fitments between 13” and 20”. This allows it to serve the growing demands of Asian markets while continuing to serve global export goals. The company now aims to enhance its image as a producer of quality alloy wheels in particular throughout European markets – including the UK.
Hot on the heels of the news that growing Korean tyre manufacturer Nexen has secured OE supply to Fiat, the firm has revealed details of its plans to expand in the well-known marques domestic Italian market. With a replacement market potential of over 30 million tyres a year in the passenger car segment, Nexen has suggested Italy is one of its key countries for expansion in Europe.
Michelin North America has announced that it will construct a new radial OTR tyre plant in Anderson County, South Caroline, and expand its existing OTR plant in nearby Lexington, S.C. The company estimates that the two projects would result in 500 new jobs, and will take an investment of $750 million.
Bridgestone’s new Contact Area Information Sensing technology (CAIS) has won an industry award for the second time in as many months. Spain’s leading economic and financial magazine, Actualidad Económica has selected Bridgestone’s CAIS safety technology as one of the “100 Best Ideas of the Year” in the automotive category.
Three of Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd’s plants in Japan and China obtained JISHA (Japan Industrial Safety and Health Association) Standards Certification for Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OSHMS) in January 2012. They are the Onomichi plant, which makes tyres for construction and industrial vehicles in Japan, Hangzhou Yokohama Tire Co., Ltd. (passenger car tyres), and Suzhou Yokohama Tire Co., Ltd. (truck and bus tyres).
Lassa Tyres has announced that it has signed a team sponsorship deal for the 2012 Maxxis British Drift Championship (BDC), the series’ fifth year. Lassa Tyres Drift Team is made up of Jody Fletcher, who was awarded the BDC rookie of the year 2011; Richard McCourt, who is in his second year of competitive drifting, aiming for promotion to the Professional class; and Simon Perry who has been drifting since the beginning of the BDC in 2008 and who has a massive amount of followers locally and nationally.
On 19 March, Japan’s JSR Corporation and its joint-venture partner Bangkok Synthetics Co., Ltd. held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Solution Polymerization Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (S-SBR) plant to be constructed by their company, JSR BST Elastomer Co., Ltd. (JBE). The Muang, Rayong Province-based plant is scheduled to enter operation in June 2013; the facility will be the first S-SBR manufacturing plant in Thailand.
Michelin is aiming to recoup part of the market share it has lost in the last decade by pushing up tyre production and sales volume across the board. That’s the view of financial analysts at Morgan Stanley who described the company as “swimming in red ocean.” Referring to the 170 million euros the company just announced it is putting into increasing budget tyre production at its Tigar plant in Pirot, Serbia, financial analysts described the funding as “a small investment for Michelin”, but a “big clue for investors.”
Michelin Group has announced plans to increase its production of economy tyres at the firm’s Tigar Tyres subsidiary in Pirot Serbia by 50 per cent. Currently the tyre manufacturing operation is set to produce 8 million tyres in 2012 but, according to a memorandum of understanding with Serbian authorities and the City of Pirot, the Tigar Tyres which is 300 km southeast of Belgrade, will be producing 12 million tyres annually by the end of 2016. Overall, the project will represent an investment of 170 million euros for the period 2012-2016. This reportedly equates to the creation of 700 jobs in Pirot.
Kings Road Tyres was made the exclusive distributor of Matador truck and bus radial tyres in the UK six months ago, and the wholesaler has announced today that it will launch a sales and marketing campaign to support the brand this summer. KRT says it will seek to boost sales of the brand over the next 12 months with a new, dedicated website covering the full portfolio of Matador TBR applications for regional and long haul, mixed service, city urban and winter fitments. The site will go live in April with the URL, www.matadortyres.co.uk. Sales promotions and incentives will also back-up the sales drive.
There are probably not too many experts on Greek mythology working in the tyre industry, but most people in the business are nevertheless familiar with the name Aeolus. This particular personage was revered by the ancient Greeks as ruler of the winds; more recently, the name has been adopted by a tyre maker whose profile in Europe is growing. First established in the mid-1960s, Chinese manufacturer Aeolus Tyre Co. Ltd. is today an important company within the government-owned conglomerate ChemChina (China National Chemical Corporation). In recent months the company has also merged with another tyre maker from within the ChemChina portfolio, Yellow Sea Rubber.
On 28 March Continental celebrated the groundbreaking of not just one, but two tyre factories. Along with the new plant in the US state of South Carolina, reported yesterday by Tyrepress.com, the company broke ground on extensions to its passenger car factory in Hefei, China. The project calls for a 134 million euro investment, and this will allow for a doubling of capacity to eight million passenger car tyres per annum. Hefei plant output includes the ContiComfortContact 5, which it began producing last year, and ContiMaxContact 5, which entered production in 2012; both of these tyres have been tailored for the Chinese market.
Continental Tire the Americas has broken ground on its new consumer tyre plant in Sumter County, South Carolina, reports Tire Review. Governor Nikki Haley and officials from CTA and Continental AG were present as ceremonies took place at the plant site. The plant will produce all lines and sizes of Continental and General brand passenger and light truck/SUV tyres for the North American market, and will primarily build replacement market tyres for at least the first three years of its existence, a Conti official said last October.
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