BFS And Pirelli Hike North American Prices
Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire and Bridgestone/Firestone Canada are increasing prices on all Bridgestone, Firestone, Fuzion and associate brand tyre lines by up to 4 per cent.
Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire and Bridgestone/Firestone Canada are increasing prices on all Bridgestone, Firestone, Fuzion and associate brand tyre lines by up to 4 per cent.
(Akron/Tire Review) Members have spoken, and TIA has 13 newly elected board of directors members. The new board members will officially take office Oct. 29 at TIA’s annual membership meeting in Las Vegas, just prior to the SEMA Sow.
Thirteen seats were open including 10 seats with three-year terms, one seat with a two-year term and two seats with a one-year term. Elected to serve three-year terms were:
After 46 years in the OTR Tyre industry Geoff Bradburn is to retire at the end of September 2007. Bradburn worked on some key accounts Bridgestone’s OTR business, including Ainscough crane, McAlpines, Foster Yeoman, to name a few that Geoff has had account management and responsibility for in his long career.
Commenting on his career and pending retirement, John McNaught, Bridgestone UK MD said: “Geoff has made a great contribution to Bridgestone OTR dept his commitment, professionalism, and dedication to his accounts makes him one of the best in the business, we wish him well in his retirement.”
Ranger Products has given the new R2600HD its US launch. The super-duty truck tyre changer is designed for servicing truck, bus and other commercial and OTR tyres and wheels. The addition of the R2600HD greatly extends Ranger’s market presence from general tyre repair to larger, more specialized commercial truck garages and service outlets.
Features include an electric-hydraulic drive system, multi-directional, self-centring hydraulic clamp chuck, quick positioning mount/demount arm, hydraulic sled and a single piece frame for superior rigidity. Hydraulically operated spreader-type jaws ensure secure clamping of virtually all rims and off-road style wheels.
Netherlands based supplier of equipment and services for producers of passenger car, commercial and OTR radials, VMI, has launched its first radial VMI OTR Tire Building system. This system utilises flat drum building technology and assembles green tyres in sizes between 17.5 R25 and 24.00 R35. Manufacture is performed in a single process, including the application of the tread. This unique method of assembling radial OTR tyres utilises the transfer rings and other technology already tried and tested in VMI’s tyre manufacturing equipment for truck and bus radials.
This high capacity OTR radial machine produces radials at a rate of up to 2.5 tyres per hour for 24.00 R35” tyres. VMI reports that downtime for size changes is low because of a minimum amount of tooling and the maximum use of universal computer controls.
VMI’s R&D team has been working for a year and a half to build the company’s first OTR radial machinery, and they are confident the end result will answer the needs of the booming OTR tyre market.
(Akron/Tire Review) Amerityre Corporation has developed a new tyre fill product line for use in commercial tyre application. Amerifill, based on MDI polyurethane formulations, is designed for use in OTR tyres in construction, mining and industrial applications.
“Amerifill performs better under load, runs cooler and is more durable than current comparable materials,” said Gary Benninger, Amerityre president. “We have evaluated Amerifill in the field and in side-by-side comparison testing conducted by independent test laboratories, and we are confident that we have the solution the marketplace will turn to.”
Construction industry group Thomas Armstrong has renewed its tyre contract with Bridgestone and Truck Point dealer Gates Tyres. The firm will continue to provide tyre management and service for the Thomas Armstrong fleet of 40 tractor units, 36 rigids and 55 trailers, as well as Bridgestone OTR products for the company’s 32 loading shovels.
The company’s transport director, Frank Harkness, said “when we initially switched from Michelin to Bridgestone our main requirement was that Bridgestone would match the PPK performance of Michelin. However, after evaluating the product we found that Bridgestone Product was outperforming the Michelin and therefore improving our PPK, we also find that Truck Point dealer Gates Tyres offer us excellent tyre management and service the fleet very well at our main location. This, coupled with our own efforts, has drastically reduced the amount of breakdowns we experienced with our previous service providers.”
The United States International Trade Commission has voted to further investigate the joint petition presented by Titan International and the United Steelworkers in the wake of accusations of foul play on the part of Chinese OTR tyre manufacturers and China’s government. The Commission voted 6 to 0 in favour of continuing the investigation into alleged dumping of OTR tyres onto the US market and illegal government subsidies.
According to the International Trade Commission, 18 per cent of all OTR tyres sold in the US during 2006 were sourced in China, a US$306 million chunk of the market. As this percentage is growing year on year both Titan and the union see China as a growing threat to both US based OTR tyre manufacturers and the almost 4,000 workers they employ, and have stated their opinion that imposing duties on Chinese OTR tyre imports is the only means by which the tide of cheap imports may be stemmed.
“We are very encouraged that the Commerce Department voted to proceed with the investigation, 6-0,” said Titan chairman and CEO Maurice M. Taylor Jr. “We still have a long way to go, but the important part of this whole process is determining what is fair and lawful. The American working men and women can be as competitive as anyone in the world, but when foreign governments subsidise and carry unlawful trade practices, then the US government must even the playing field.”
China’s third-largest tyre manufacturer and producer of the Double Coin brand, Shanghai Tyre & Rubber, is adding larger sized OTR tyres to the range of products it offers – currently the largest OTR radial made by the company is size 29.5R25. Field tests of the new tyres are reported to be scheduled for early October.
According to Mike Yang, president of China Manufacturers Alliance LLC, the tyremaker’s sales and marketing unit in the US, the new offerings will initially be produced in 35/65R33 and 24.00R25 sizes. These will be followed by 49, 51 and 57-inch OTR radials by mid 2008. These new larger size Double Coin OTR tyres will be produced at the company’s Rugao TBR and OTR radial facility, which opened in 2005. The company intends to more than double its annual OTR radial output from its 2006 level of 50,000 units when the new, larger sizes enter volume production.
The Infinity tyre brand is a private brand, owned by the Dubai-based Al Dobowi group and manufactured by Chinese company Shandong Linglong Rubber Co. Infinity has always had a strong presence in European markets, where the distribution is controlled by Goldspark Trading, an Al Dobowi company.
In turn, Goldspark has appointed Kings Road Tyres as the main truck tyre distributor for the UK and Ireland, with Dutch company Heuver Banden looking after the countries in mainland Europe. The product range is continually being developed and added to, with new steer and drive patterns in sizes 295/80 R22.5 and 315/80 R22.5 creating a great deal of interest in the market.
Goldspark’s General Manager Rob Henderson describes the truck tyre brand as “excellent value for money” and, when it comes to the extent of the range, he points out that it encompasses sizes from 16″ tyres up to 445/65 R22.5.
The clamour for quality large size OTR tyres has lead Malaysian retreader Goodway Integrated Industries to invest heavily in this sector. In March the company opened a new RM6 million (£862,000) facility in the town of Nilai, and the plant has increased its capacity to offer a host of services, including what Goodway CEO Tai Boon Wee believes to be a world first – the pre-cured retreading of 57-inch tyres.
Most of this capacity is utilised to meet the needs of Australia’s mining industry. With dozen of mines operating vehicles that require large OTR tyres, demand from this part of the world is astronomical. Container loads of OTR tyres requiring retreading are shipped from Australia to Malaysia every month. And when the price for a new tyre, if one can even be sourced, is taken into consideration, it is easy to see why mining companies go to all the effort of sending their old tyres halfway across Asia. “A new 57-inch OTR tyre now fetches up to US$70,000. Our ex-factory price for a revived tyre is only $13,000,” Mr. Wee told local media source The Star.
In the last few years the European retreading market has become more and more interesting to companies from outside of Europe. It is these companies in particular that are able to hold their own against growing competition from cheap imported new tyres from the Far East, their position is at least better than that of well-established European tread and material suppliers. Their competitive advantage is lower prices combined with a high level of quality. One of these companies trying to benefit from the changing European market situation is Goodway Integrated Industries Bhd from Malaysia – retreader and manufacturer of retreading materials. As explains Paolo Borgianni, managing director of Goodway Europe, the European retreading market will continue its process of consolidation to the detriment of well-established companies and to the benefit of companies such as Goodway Europe, a company established as recently as 2005.
Nordisk Dæk Import AS (NDI) is a major supplier of tyres and wheels to European markets. The Danish company was established in 1970 and today its headquarters in the town of Brørup occupy more than 56,000 square metres of office and warehouse space. The company boasts a sizeable presence in its home market of Denmark – throughout the country NDI also operates nine strategically located branches and 50 company owned “Super Dæk Service” retail outlets, employing a total of approximately 750 people.
The company also produces wheels to order for industrial and agricultural applications, specialising in adapting rims to individual customer’s requirements. A third related field in which NDI operates is retreading. The company’s retreading subsidiary, Euroband, is Denmark’s largest manufacturer of retreaded tyres for trucks, buses, tractors and earthmovers. The Euroband facility is also located in Brørup.
The Rösler Group from Germany, suppliers of the Schelkmann pre-cure retreading system, claim global technological leadership with regards to the retreading of OTR tyres, in particular with regards to giant tyres. Immediately after Rösler closed a contract with an Indonesian mining company in April this year, the German group also sold a SPR license (Schelkmann Pre-cured Retreads) to yet another mining company. Recently the company also installed a new and exclusive Schelkmann retreading facility in Uzbekistan.
The license holder has just finished construction work on the workshop building, says Klaus Mühlbäck, vice president of the Rösler Group (and in this position responsible for the group’s international business) in an interview with Tyres & Accessories. All of the retreading equipment for the facility was produced in Europe and is already on its way to Uzbekistan. It will be installed there from September onwards; according to this time schedule production in the new retreading factory will start in December. The recipient firm, the newly licensed Kyselkumshina mining company, has even ordered two autoclavs – one for the retreading of small OTR tyres ranging from 25 to 33 inches and one for giant OTR tyres ranging from 49 to 57 inches. Therefore this retreading facility will be able to retread tyres of sizes up to 40.00 R57. All tyres retreaded by Kyselkumshina will be used in its own mines.
Kyoto Japan Tire Corp designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of automotive tyres, as well as inner tubes and batteries under the ‘Kyoto Japan’ brand name. In 1999, the company shifted its production to the People’s Republic of China, while maintaining its high technical standards and stringent quality control.
All types of tyre are included in the range, from car radials (including winter and high performance tyres) through light truck and van tyres (bias and radial), truck and bus tyres (bias and radial) and large OTR bias tyres. All products carry DOT, ECE, Inmetro and other international approval markings.
Full details of the product range are available on the Kyoto Japan website, which also contains a section entitled “Tire School” that provides the layman with a wealth of information on tyre construction, tyre terminology, an explanation of sidewall markings, what the size markings mean and a list of load and speed ratings. There is also a section on how to select the correct tyre.
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