Tyre industry pioneers, Michelin has a long history. Having begun in 1889, Michelin is now the second-largest tyre manufacturer in the world after Bridgestone and larger than both Goodyear and Contineantal.
Director of BRMA, John Dorken, successfully completed the trek he undertook in the High Andes to raise funds for the Medical Aid and Relief Charity for the Children of Chechnya. He raised £6000 and received some generous contributions from a number of companies including Michelin, Continental, Bridgestone and Pirelli.
Juan Pablo Montoya has won the Italian Grand Prix delaying Fernando Alonso’s attempts to become world champion. The Renault team of Fernando Alonso and Giarcarlo Fisichella took the remaining podium spots. At Monza, all of the top eight points scoring cars were running on Michelin tyres. The highest placed Bridgestone shod vehicle was Felipe Massa’s Sauber-Petronas, which came ninth. The results are good news for Michelin. Whatever happens during the course of the next Grand Prix race, Michelin is now mathematically assured of manufacturers/drivers championship victory.
The high-speed Monza Grand Prix circuit will test tyres to the limit, tyre suppliers Bridgestone and Michelin have reported. “Being the fastest circuit on the F1 calendar, the Monza GP is always a fast and furious race. The cars reach around 350km/h in four different places and in the approach to the first chicane, they are actually reaching close to 360km/h,” said Bridgestone F1 technical manager, Hisao Suganuma, adding:
The Tire Industry Association (TIA) has announced the 2005 inductees into the Hall of Fame. These are Eugene Beck Jr., president of Beck Tire International and John Sieff, retired president of S&M Tire Company and Mr. Tire Service.
This year an additional category – that of “Historical Contributors” -has been added for individuals, living or deceased, who have been out of the tyre industry for at least 20 years. There are four inductees; Fernley Banbury, inventor of the Banbury mixer, Theodore Smith, founder, president, publisher and editor of the India Rubber Review (now Tire Review) and Marius Mignol and Pierre Bourbon of Michelin, inventors of the radial tyre.
Tyre manufacturers emphasise forward planning at Hillhead
This year’s Hillhead exhibition – the International Quarrying and Recycling show –– was sold out several months in advance of the event. As far as tyre exhibitors go the usual faces Michelin, Bridgestone and Goodyear Dunlop were there, joined by Marangoni, OTR Tyres, Rema Tip Top and Vacu Lug.
Over 16,000 visitors attended the biennial working event held at Buxton Derbyshire, a four per cent increase on 2003’s figures say organisers. However with the on going global shortage of OTR tyres both manufacturers and distributors were faced with never-ending product availability questions covering all segments of OTR tyres, giant medium and small and all sectors, mining, quarries and construction.
Demand for OTR tyres has fast outpaced world tyre industry expectations. Between 2003 and 2004, global demand for OTR tyres grew around 20 per cent, for some sizes demand was up by 30 per cent. What’s more this demand shows no signs of tapering off. According to Bridgestone global demand for rigid dump truck tyres is expected to be 50 per cent higher in 2005 than last year. Tyre manufacturers are still struggling to meet this growing demand and this will continue to be the case if, as expected, demand outstrips supply until 2007.
According to Continental Tire North America’s director of dealer sales, Jack Fenner, production levels of OTR tyres have remained flat since 1999 having only recently increased. Now, everything the tyre manufacturers are producing is being sold. According to Goodyear Tire & Rubber spokesman Dave Wilkins, every large tyre produced by the company in 2006 is already spoken for. And unlike passenger car tyres, earthmover tyres can not be produced by their hundreds each day.
The main reason for the global OTR tyre shortage is the rapidly expanding Chinese market. The country is consuming vast amounts of raw materials and commodities – such as copper, iron, gold, and coal – and is creating a massive demand for original equipment. In the last two years the price of natural rubber has more than doubled, putting all tyre manufacturers under pressure to increase the price of new tyres. These price increases are set to continue not only due to creeping raw material costs but those of shipping too.
“We fully understand the difficulties our customers are facing because we are also suffering from shortages of the raw materials we need to manufacture these specialist tyres,” said Bridgestone UK’s marketing manager, Barry Coleman. “We are all in the same boat and we want to ensure that we give advice and assistance to our customers during this trying period.”
Both tyre demand for OE and the replacement market is now above capacity supply. In an effort to address the shortage Bridgestone is spending £86 million to expand capacity at its Japanese plant by 20 per cent, but these new plans will not be completed until 2008. Michelin is also building a plant in Brazil to help meet growing demand for earthmover tyres, however this is not expected to be operational until mid-2007, and will be serving North and South American markets.
If capacities are not expected to improve in the short term, and tyres that are produced are likely to be allocated to the Asian markets to fulfil OE demand, what does this mean for the UK and in fact European markets? According to Barry Coleman the situation is going to get “very very tight” and the bottleneck of tyre orders will continue to increase. With current threats that quarries will close due to under efficiency, and with machines left standing due to a lack of tyres, the situation cannot afford to get any worse. It is also affecting the OEMs who can’t produce machines without tyres and so are having to review their product lines.
The OTR tyre situation in the UK may see a marginal improve in the next two years says Mr Coleman but not by more than five per cent. All that tyre companies can do until supply increases is to advise companies on how to make their tyres last, even if that means operating a quarry less efficiently. And so with the current shortage expected to last until 2007 the emphasis is on planning explains Goodyear’s director of Off-the-Road tyres Andy Morris, “there is a definite need for companies to maintain the tyres they already have because they are not available off the shelf. The key to which is forward planning, something which companies are getting a lot better at.” This message was one that all tyre companies attending Hillhead strived to communicate.
The Michelin Pilot Exalto PE2 and Pilot MXM4 tyres have been selected as OE fitments on the Honda Civic Si, Michelin North America has announced.
Both tyres will be size 215/45R17. The Pilot Exalto PE2 tyre carries a W speed rating, and the Pilot MXM4 has a V speed rating.
The TIC has organised a Super Clinic, to be held at Manchester’s Trafford Centre, in a bid to raise tyre safety awareness. The two-day event is set to take place at on the 16th and 17th September and it is estimated that the clinic will receive some 170,000 visitors located in an arena that has an average footfall of 500,000 people.
Tyre safety checks will take place in the centre’s overflow car park. Batteries, windscreens, lights and wiper blades will also be checked. There will be an average of 40 staff members from the supporting companies and service providers giving expert advice on preventative maintenance, road safety and product information
The event will be filmed for the production of a five minute DVD and will be accompanied by outside radio broadcasts, PR to all local and national automotive media will also take place.
Amongst those supporting the TIC’s tyre safety checks is National Tyres and Autocare, ATS Euromaster, Exide Batteries, RAC, Auto Windscreens, Continental, Michelin, Trafford Metropolitan Council, Manchester Police Force and Manchester Fire Brigade. cma
The Michelin name has become an important reference for lovers of good food and the award of a Michelin star is the ultimate accolade for any restaurant.
Now the company has launched a scheme that aims to raise the bar when it comes to tyre retailing, with the establishment of Michelin Accredited Centres. In an effort to dispel the public’s image of poor facilities and poor service in the tyre trade, Michelin has come up with a set of performance standards for tyre shops and, to achieve recognition, Michelin Accredited Centres have to be independently assessed to meet these criteria.
Approved centres will display a distinctive signage and it is hoped that this will come to be recognised by the public as assurance that their purchase enquiries will be dealt with professionally. According to Michelin, “substantial investment” has been made by both Michelin and the retailers in order to create a clear level of integrity and trust – the key complaints in many automotive customer surveys.
In the last winter season, the Western European winter car tyre market grew by 7.9 per cent – a fair way above average. During this time some 35.5 million units were sold on the replacement market. As far as the 2005/2006 season is concerned, current Europool figures suggest that it will be another good season for winter and/or cold weather tyres, whatever you call them.
The 4×4 and light truck markets are also likely to demonstrate a continued equalisation between summer and all-season tyres on the one side of the statistics and winter tyres on the other. The European tyre industry claims to be thoroughly prepared in terms of merchandise planning. However one exception is stocks of winter tyres featuring run-flat capabilities.
Hyster have strengthened their association with Michelin by offering the optional fitment of the Michelin Stabil’X XZM radial tyre at no extra cost on the new FORTENS truck range.
For over 15 years, Hyster have been offering the Michelin Stabil’X XZM radial industrial tyre as an on-cost option on their Challenger range of forklift trucks, with customer demand steadily increasing over this period.
The Michelin name has become an important reference for lovers of good food and the award of a Michelin star is the ultimate accolade for any restaurant.
Now the company has launched a scheme that aims to raise the bar when it comes to tyre retailing, with the establishment of Michelin Accredited Centres. In an effort to dispel the public’s image of poor facilities and poor service in the tyre trade,
Kimi Raikkonen has won the inaugural Turkish Grand Prix, beating championship leader, Fernando Alonso, into second position. Meanwhile reports that Michael Schumacher is considering a move to McLaren have emerged in the German press.
(Akron/Tire Review) Michelin has celebrated the production of its 100,000th Michelin PAX System assembly at Michelin’s PAX 1 facility. PAX tyres are featured on the 2005 and 2006 Honda Odyssey Touring Edition minivans. The manufacturer says additional OE fitments will be announced shortly.
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Michelin has announced that it plans to compete in the UK’s developing cold-weather tyre market. And the fact that the French company has brought in Dutchman Frank Tanke to head the campaign gives a clear indication of how seriously the manufacturer is taking its latest marketing project. After all, the weather in the Netherlands is not a lot different to the UK, and yet 12 per cent of the total Dutch market is made up of cold-weather sales.
US freight transport company, ABF, recently changed a set of Michelin front tyres after an enormous 483,000 kilometres, a new record for the French company’s tyres. The tyres were driven in North America driving conditions throughout their life and had not been retreaded. Manufactured at the Michelin plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the tyres were fitted as original equipment on a 2003 Sterling truck. This performance represents an improvement of more than 32 per cent over the current US average for a North American long-haul application, according to Michelin.
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