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Conti Announces Personnel Changes

Continental AG has made a number of personnel changes in its Passenger and Light Truck Tires division. On September 1, Nikolai Setzer took over management of the replacement passenger and light truck tyre market for Europe and Africa. He is also responsible for worldwide marketing of the Passenger and Light Truck Tire division. Setzer had been in charge of the worldwide original equipment business for passenger and light truck tyres. In his new position he will report to Continental AG’s vice chairman of the Executive Board, Dr Alan Hippe, who is also responsible for the Passenger and Light Truck Tire division.

23rd September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin to Stop Dundee Production for a Week

Michelin is reportedly closing its Baldovie factory in Dundee for a week to counter a drop in demand, however the company stresses that workers will still be paid and the factory’s future remains secure. This shutdown will begin on October 13, and will be followed by further, shorter stoppages in November and December. The aim of these stoppages at the 23,000 unit per day plant is to reduce the number of stockpiled tyres the company is currently holding, and the first closure ties in with the school holidays. Staff training will occur during the subsequent stoppages.

23rd September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Karl Naylor New Grouptyre MD

Career Tracks, UK News

Grouptyre has appointed Karl Naylor as Managing Director following the departure of Peter Harries, who has left to take up a key opportunity elsewhere within the tyre industry. During 14 months with Grouptyre, Harries has worked on processes designed to build upon the company’s leading role in the tyre wholesaling industry. In this period Grouptyre has enjoyed sales growth of over 15 per cent.

22nd September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

2008 Bridgestone eReporter Named

The GP2 end of season ceremony in Monza, Italy was the location Bridgestone decided upon to reveal the 2008 winner of its annual e-reporter competition. On the evening of Sunday September 14, it was revealed this year’s honour goes to French student Guillaume Navarro, whose journalistic talents put him ahead of eight other finalists and a record number of entries from across Europe.

Guillaume’s victory was announced on stage by Franco Annunziato, managing director, Bridgestone Technical Centre Europe – in front of all GP2 teams, drivers, GP2 Series personnel, official suppliers and partners attending the evening celebrations. This year marked the fifth anniversary of the Bridgestone e-reporter competition, and the company celebrated by inviting all previous Bridgestone e-reporter finalists to Monza. A total of 31 graduates joined the celebratory reunion at the Italian Grand Prix – the GP2 series finale – and watched as Guillaume received his prize at the GP2 awards.

17th September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Toyo Tire North America Achieves ISO 9001:2000

Toyo Tire North America Manufacturing, Inc. (TNA) has received ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management System Standards certification by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) of Houston, Texas. Located in White, Georgia, the 900,000-square-foot TNA facility was established in June 2004 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Toyo Tire Holdings of Americas Inc.

Already known for its product quality, TNA’s ISO 9001:2000 certification means that the facility meets internationally recognized quality standards for the production of tyres. On 26 August, Toyo broke ground on an 820,000-square-foot expansion to nearly double the size of the plant. With the increased space and machinery, annual output is expected to grow from 2 million units in 2008 to six million units in 2012. This expansion further represents Toyo’s focus on efficiently serving the North American market.

11th September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Titan Wheels Australia’s Indonesian Operation Commences

Titan Europe has announced that its Titan Wheels Australia Pty Ltd subsidiary has commenced operations in Balikpapan Kalimantan, Indonesia. The business operation will trade as PT Titan Wheels Indonesia and will initially run as a sales and distribution outlet for products manufactured and marketed by Titan Wheels Australia. Company personnel will also be trained in the non destructive testing and wheel repair business.

11th September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

The Eagle Has Landed…in the UK

Wheel alignment has traditionally been one of the most challenging daily jobs in the workshop, mainly due to the costs of employing specialised personnel available and the risk of losing valuable time after discovering that a vehicle’s alignment does not need to be adjusted. Due to these factors, alignment is often only carried out when visible signs, such as uneven tyre wear or steering wheel misalignment, indicate bad tracking.

22nd August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Report: von Gruenberg Excluded From Conti/Schaeffler Talks

Hubertus von Gruenberg, Continental AG’s supervisory board chairman, has been excluded from negotiations with Schaeffler in spite of his approval of the potential takeover. According to the Financial Times Deutschland report, adviser Perella Weinberg Partners had suggested von Gruenberg and Conti’s personnel representative, Werner Bischoff, get involved to try and help break the deadlock in talks between Schaeffler and Conti CEO Manfred Wennemer.

19th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Beru f1systems Produces New Touring Car TPMS

Beru f1systems has developed what it calls a cost-effective tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS) for touring cars. Specifically for closed-wheel, road car-derived saloons and sports cars, the system provides accurate tyre pressure and temperature information for drivers and engineers to optimise tyre pressures and wear, as well as offering puncture detection. A new feature is the ability to switch wheel positions on the car without having to manually re-assign wheels sensors to different corners of the car. The system available from August 2008, is permitted for race and test in WTCC and dependent on regulations, other national series such as the BTCC (only testing, not race).

“Engineers can now switch wheels without manually allocating wheel sensors,” continues Shingleton. “Switching tyres to balance out wear is common in touring car applications, our solution gives them more time to work on set-up rather than inputting data.”

18th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Recauchutagem Northena Installs Giant Machinery

2008 has seen Portuguese retreader, Recauchutagem Northena SA, make literally huge investments in new machinery designed to retread a wide range of giant OTR tyres. The company has already installed a new MGT One63 robotic buffer, groover and peeling machine, in order to retread 63-inch tyres. Recently a large autoclave smooth and groove system for 51-inch tyres was added and before the end of the year pre-cured retreading equipment for 57-inch sizes will also be brought in.

“We’ve developed a full new approach for manufacturing cold OTR retreads. Our pre-cured tyres (a few dozen of these) have been running for a year in Portugal and Spain, and a test phase will be complete in September,” Northena representatives explained.

31st July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Personnel Moves at ATD

American Tire Distributors Inc. hired David Martin as its new director of sales for equipment, tools and supply products.

Most recently, Martin was with TBC Corp. as an equipment sales manager.

ATD also promoted Brad Pearson to general manager and director of business development for its Sioux Falls Distribution Center. He has bee with ATD since 2000. (Tire Review/Akron)

28th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

MRF Profits Down in Q3 Despite Increased Sales

Increasing raw material and personnel costs are said to be two of the key factors behind lower net profits for India’s MRF in the financial year’s third quarter. In the three months to June 30, 2008 the Chennai based company experienced a 25 per cent drop in net profits from the corresponding quarter a year earlier, to Rs 318.6 million (£3.74 million). Net profits for the nine months of the current financial year stand at Rs 1.492 billion (£17.5 million), an increase of 39.2 per cent.

25th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Clocks Up Half a Million Hours of Training Success

Michelin Training Centre is celebrating delivering its 500,000th hour of high training. The centre, which is close to Michelin’s UK headquarters in Campbell Road, Stoke-on-Trent, was set up at the start of 2002 and sees an average of over 3,000 people from all over the world come through its doors each year. The modern teaching environment provides both internal and external training on everything from basic time management to tyre related aspects of crash scene investigation.

In addition to the company’s own manufacturing and business staff, Michelin’s Training Centre is used by organisations such as the Police, the MOD and retailers to train staff about tyre design, construction and performance. The amount of training now being held at the Centre is being seen as a good indicator of how important Michelin believes the MTC will be for its ongoing success.

16th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Toyo Appoints Marketing VP

Toyo Tire U.S.A. Corp. has announced the promotion of Steve Hutchinson to Vice President of Marketing. A veteran of the automotive industry, Hutchinson joined Toyo in April 2006, serving as the company’s Senior Director of Marketing until his promotion on July 1.

During his tenure with Toyo, Hutchinson has expanded marketing and sponsorship efforts, including national television advertising and partnerships with the UFC®, Anaheim Ducks and Pac-10 basketball. Several new products have also been successfully introduced.

10th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Handlopex Looking to International Future

Handlopex of Poland has developed rapidly in its 19 year history under the leadership of CEO, Weislaw Ptaszek, who says of the company’s growth, “The success of Handlopex has been largely achieved by the hard work and professional attitude of our personnel, the customer orientated policy we have adopted and the continuous expansion of our product range.” In pursuing these steps, the company has made itself the leading tyre wholesaler in the country.

The company is able to supply all types of product, encompassing passenger, 4×4, motorcycle, and truck through to OTR, earthmover, industrial, agricultural and even aviation tyres. Steel wheels and tubes also have places in the company’s product portfolio.

9th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors