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Interview – Roy Armes

(Akron/Tire Review) Roy V. Armes was named president and CEO of Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. last December, following the August resignation of Tom Dattilo. A 31-year veteran of Whirlpool Corp., Armes held several senior-level posts in various departments at the appliance manufacturer, including engineering, project management and purchasing. He also had positions in Mexico and China and was responsible for establishing overseas manufacturing operations and joint ventures.

Most notably, Armes oversaw the integration of Maytag into the Whirlpool fold and, over the years, gained a strong background in manufacturing and technology, engineering, international business, consumer products and distribution channel management.

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Kumho Expands US OE Sales Office

(Akron/Tire Review) Kumho Tire USA Inc. has hired new key personnel at its OE sales office in Detroit. Former Ford product development engineer Gregory Dabkowski joined Kumho as Ford account manager. Dabkowski has spent the last 29 years at Ford, where he managed successful launches of key Ford programs.

In his new position, Dabkowski will be responsible for managing and coordinating Kumho’s tyre development and launch activities with Ford. He will also advise on commercial, quality, product design and marketing issues related to Ford programs. Dabkowski earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan at Dearborn.

David Dobradenka joined Kumho as OE quality manager. He has more than 14 years of quality engineering and management experience with automotive suppliers. He had been quality manager at ABB Corp. in Auburn Hills, Mich.

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Techking Tires Becomes 100th Exhibitor at Tyrexpo Asia’07

China’s Techking Tires has become the one hundredth exhibitor to sign up for September’s TyrexpoAsia exhibition in Singapore, breaking all records for the show as it approaches its 10th anniversary. The OTR specialist is one of more than 20 Chinese companies who have helped swell exhibitor numbers, which have also been supported by increased interest from India and host nation, Singapore.

Newera Equipment and its subsidiary, Kayel Rubber Products, is one Singaporean business that will be making a major statement of intent. Working with its supplier partners from around the world, Newera will be exhibiting on no-less than five stands.

The company is Asia’s largest supplier of tyre-related equipment and will be displaying the latest computerised buffing machine from Matteuzzi. It will also be showcasing the Double Envelope System from Italian supplier MAE and another highlight will be the advanced Shearography Non Destructive Testing technology from German company, Steinbichler.

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Viva Brasil, Viva Ringnet

This March, members of the Ringnet, the specialist Europe-wide network of retreaders and resellers of RINGTREAD tyres, met in Brazil to celebrate the first two successful years of activity of the network. The event, organised by Marangoni Retreading Systems and called Viva Brasil Ringnet Tour 2007, saw the participation of the Ringnet members who in 2006 achieved the objectives set as part of an intense marketing campaign for the promotion of Ringtread tyres with the end user.

The Viva Brasil event took place from 16 to 25 March, in Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro, and culminated in the convention held at the Ouro Minas Hotel in Belo Horizonte. The convention was attended not only by the Ringnet Europe member companies, but also by Brazilian retreaders, customers of Marangoni do Brasil, which were invited with the aim of presenting the Ringnet project for the local network.

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Construction Progresses at Nexen’s Chinese Plant and R&D Centre

Nexen Tire Corporation has announced it will invest some £87 million ($170 million) over three years in the construction of its new Qingdao plant. The new production line will be up and running by the end of 2007, increasing production levels for customers signed up to UK exclusive distributor Stapleton’s Nexen Key Dealer Programme. The company is also planning to construct a new R&D centre in China at the beginning of next year, meaning customers can look forward to the launch of new products and an improved range.

Located in Laixi City, Qingdao, China, Nexen Tire Corporation’s new production facility will produce tyres for the American, European and Chinese markets and form part of the company’s strategy to become one of the top 10 tyre manufacturers in the world.

The production line will be running at full capacity by 2009 when it will produce more than 2.25 million tyres a year. Combined with Nexen’s production capacity in Korea, the company will be producing a total of more than 22 million tyres a year. Nexen expects the plant to be among the largest in China, covering around 5.7 million square feet.

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Pirelli’s New Hero

Not many people are given the opportunity to co-star on screen alongside Uma Thurman, and even fewer tyres are afforded this privilege. So it is safe to say that the Pirelli’s new P Zero – christened ‘P Zero the Hero’ and subject of Mission Zero, Pirelli’s new short film starring the glamorous actress – is not your everyday run of the mill tyre.

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SmarTire Announces Restructuring and UK Closure

SmarTire Systems Inc. has given details of restructuring plans that involve the closure of its UK operations. Company president and CEO Dave Warkentin announced, “We have taken significant actions to reduce costs. Since September, our overall staff level has been reduced by approximately 50%. As part of this initiative, we plan to close our UK facility at the end of February, 2007. We do not anticipate that this closure will affect our European sales efforts.”

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Maxxis – Taking Motorcycling to the Supermaxx

Maxxis – Taking Motorcycling to the Supermaxx
“Although the new Supermaxx will feature the same tread and will look much the same as the existing product, radical improvements to the carcass and compound mean it will offer superior traction and drive,” says Derek McMartin, managing director of Maxxis International UK.

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‘Evolution not Revolution’

The last year saw the gap between the premium and budget CV tyre markets widen as cost conscious fleet managers have opted for lower priced imported tyres. Continental, as a manufacturer just outside the top three in terms of UK commercial vehicle replacement tyre market share, must be examining the market very closely – something that made executives’ recent market research presentation all the more interesting. UK commercial vehicle brand manager, Jill Rodgers, and truck and remould brand manager, Mike Nyren presented the data.

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Marangoni: Back To Basics With Verso

Verso is the new passenger car tyre from Marangoni, which the company says is the result of a long process of product development and improvement. The target market for this T, H, V and W-rated tyre is broad; the sizes in the Verso line cover more than 45 per cent of the European market for replacement summer car tyres.

The Marangoni Research Centre focused on the progressive fine-tuning of ideas, materials and technologies. The key characteristic of Verso’s design is the progressive elimination of every superfluous element, concentrating on refining only the essential characteristics. This evolutionary process begins with the tyre’s name: because in Italian Verso means “towards”. Below is a brief summary of how this search for basic elements has been incorporated into the Verso design.

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Goodyear Wins Popular Science Innovation Award

(Akron/Tire Review) Goodyear’s Eagle with ResponsEdge Technology has been named one of the 100 Most Innovative Products of the Year by Popular Science magazine. The tyre led the list of products named to Popular Science’s “Best of What’s New” in automotive technology. “We are pleased to be honoured by the editors of Popular Science for the innovation represented in the Eagle ResponsEdge tyre,” said Larry Mason, Goodyear’s North American president of consumer tyres. “Our product development process follows a market-back path – learning what consumers want and then designing tyres that deliver the benefits.”

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Goodyear Tyre Wins Science Accolade

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An innovative tyre from Goodyear, with elements such as carbon fibre and DuPont(TM) KEVLAR(R) inside, has been named one of the “100 Most Innovative Products of the Year” by Popular Science magazine in the USA. The Goodyear Eagle(R) featuring ResponsEdge Technology(TM) leads the list of products named to Popular Science’s “Best of What’s New” in the Automotive Technology category. The tyre is featured in a special section of the December issue.

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Pirelli Promotes Three Vice Presidents

Three managers involved in the growth of Pirelli Tire North America over the past four years were honoured recently with promotion to vice president. Steve Carpino has been named head of R&D and product development; John Hagan is in charge of original equipment; and Andrew Kearton is responsible for manufacturing.

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Hillclimb Success For Marangoni

At the end of the 2006 season, Italian tyre manufacturer Marangoni had good reason to break out the champagne for the third successive year with a second win in the Italian Hill Climb Championship, following previous success in 2004 and additional success in the European Hill Climb Championship of 2005. Champion Simone Faggioli totally dominated the series throughout the season, exclusively using Marangoni Zeta Linea racing tyres on his way to his fourth major Italian title in his Facetti-built Osella PA21S.

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