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Continental Expands Engineering Services Unit

Continental AG is expanding its automobile manufacturer and supplier engineering services. “For 2005 we are aiming to achieve corporate sales volumes in the double-digit million range,” said Continental executive board member, Dr Karl-Thomas Neumann. “In the area of vehicle dynamics and suspension control in particular we are filling a niche that to date has hardly been tackled by engineering service providers, as only very few companies have the required broad technical knowledge of automotive brakes, chassis, electronics and tyres,” explained Dr Neumann.

26th January 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Delphi Posts Fourth-Quarter Loss

Delphi has reported losses of $102 million (£55 million) in the last three months of 2004, following cost restructuring and the drop in General Motors’ vehicle production, reports the Detroit News.

Excluding special charges, the company lost $51 million, or nine cents a share, against Wall Street estimates of a 15-cent-a-share loss for the quarter.

Total revenues were down three per cent to $7 billion, but the company increased non-GM revenue 14 per cent to $3.4 billion in the fourth quarter.

21st January 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Considers Restructuring Options

Goodyear Tire & Rubber is considering restructuring options, including the closure of North American plants, shifting work to “low-cost” countries and cutting an unspecified number of jobs, the Wall Street Journal has reported.

21st January 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Giant Airbus A380 Starts on Michelin Tyres

When the first Airbus A380 rolls out of the production hangar tomorrow, the giant plane will be fitted with Michelin tyres. Each of the innovative tyres is designed to operate at a lift-off speed of 378 km/h carrying 33 tonnes. The new tyre’s special lightweight construction reduces the A380’s total weight by 360 kilograms, compared with conventional tyres.

Michelin and Airbus have been cooperating for nearly nine years. During this association the tyre manufacturer has achieved outstanding power ratings from the tyre it has produced for Airbus due to its so-called NZG or (“Near Zero Growth”) technology. The tyres use of highly resistant materials reduces the number of plies necessary and therefore the product’s total weight. In addition to this, the tyre does not expand at maximum pressure and keeps an almost even bearing surface. This “Near Zero Growth“ effect means substantially less frictional heat is generated during taxiing.

17th January 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Trelleborg Organises Relief Efforts in Sri Lanka

The Trelleborg Group has been working since the day after Christmas to ensure that none of its employees is missing and has organised relief efforts, primarily in Sri Lanka. Trelleborg, which has approximately 22,000 employees, has operations in several of the countries affected. Reports to date indicate that none of Trelleborg’s employees are missing. The company is continuing to gather information to establish the certainty of this.

The Group has approximately 800 employees in Sri Lanka. They have been heavily affected, and some have lost their homes. Since the disaster first struck, Trelleborg has focused its relief efforts on Sri Lanka. This has involved providing food, medicine and clothing to disaster victims. Efforts to rebuild homes that were demolished are ongoing.

The company has allocated just over 2 million Krone for relief to Sri Lanka. In addition, the Group has donated 100,000 Krone each to Save the Children and the Red Cross. Individual Trelleborg employees have also donated money toward relief efforts. Trelleborg’s two plants in Sri Lanka are intact and production is under way.

5th January 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Changing Landscape of the Indian Market

India’s strong tyre manufacturing base dates back over five decades. With a current production level of about 55 million tyres the country’s industry is expected to grow seven to eight per cent per annum in the near future, according to market insiders. Increases in domestic demand and exports will bring about a change in the landscape of Indian manufacturers which can already be characterised as an oligopoly, with few dominating players among dozens of competitiors. In order to comprehend the changing realities of the Indian market it is important to have a close look at the companies involved and major trends. The years to come will witness many changes – however the eventual outcome is still open for change.

5th January 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Continental Donates to Tsunami Victims

Continental is contributing $500,000 dollars for the tsunami victims in Asia. According to reports the company is currently working with aid organisations to determine whether a proportion of the donation should take the form of material resources.

The provision of portable 300,000 liter fuel tanks made by ContiTech AG for use in the crisis region is a possibility. Tyres for off-road vehicles or trucks from the Continental production in Malaysia could also be contributed. In addition, the company is also asking its employees throughout the world to contribute to the public fundraising campaigns for the victims.

4th January 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

New World Braking Record

An Ultima GTR sports car has broken the production car world record by accelerating to 100 mph and back to a complete standstill in a mere 10.3 seconds; half a second better than the previous record and more than a second faster than the McLaren F1. The car was fitted with Mintex Racing F4 compound friction on both front and rear and was fully street legal. 0-60 mph was achieved in 2.7 seconds and 100 mph in 5.5 seconds, then the car braked to a halt in only 82.2 metres.

21st December 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Dr Reinhard Meschkat Joins BERU’s Executive Board

Dr Reinhard Meschkat has been appointed to BERU AG’s Executive Board. In his new position he will assume responsibility for production, logistics and quality control of the Ludwigsburg-based automotive supplier. Dr Meschkat, holds a doctorate in manufacturing systems engineering, and has substantial experience in several executive positions as plant manager and managing director at Faurecia Autositze GmbH, a subsidiary of the French group Faurecia S.A.

Prior to his employment at Faurecia, he had worked for Brose Fahrzeugteile as a production manager at a manufacturing plant, responsible for production planning, logistics and quality. He had also successfully implemented Kaizen principles into the production system.

16th December 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Mayfield Plant Produces Last Tyre

After pleas from unions to reconsider its closure plans, Continental General Tire finally closed the production side of its Mayfield plant this week. The closure will result in about 800 jobs losses. Continental announced in June that the plant would close on Dec. 31. Plant manager Hank Eisenga said the facility was scheduled to go on its standard two-week winter shutdown on Monday. The production facility will not be reopening in the new year. The end of production was a bittersweet occasion for workers who discovered that the Continental will keep on 200 workers after initially saying it would only re-employ 130.

16th December 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Indonesian Tyre Production up 18 per cent

Indonesia’s car production total for the first eight months of 2004 was up 18 per cent compared with the same period last year, reported the Indonesian APBI tyre association. In addition to the production increase, which equates to 23.37 million units, APBI chairman, A Aziz Pane explained that exports also rose to $301 million in the first eight months of 2004, from $247 million in the same period the previous. Mr Pane said exports contributed more to the sales total as sales on the domestic market had been depressed with large imports of cheap second hand tyres from China.

14th December 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Transfers Formula 1 Boss

Michelin’s Formula 1 boss, Pascal Vasselon, has changed jobs into serial tyre production. The move is an apparent reaction to the fact that Michelin has failed to achieve a world championship in four years of commitment, online news portal F1total.com reports.
It has not yet been decided who will be the 41 year old’s successor. The exact reasons for Mr Vasselon’s displacement also remain unclear, as he was generally regarded as an integral and highly esteemed part of Michelin’s Formula 1 team.

30th November 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Alliance Continues to Profit

In its recently published third quarter results, Alliance Tire has announced a net profit of $102,000 for the third quarter of 2004, compared with a net loss of $1.66 million in the corresponding period last year. Although this period represents the company’s third successive profitable quarter, quarter-on-quarter figures show a slight drop in growth.

Compared to 2003, Alliance reports that sales grew 26.3 per cent to $29.7 million. In the second quarter Alliance’s sales totalled $31.6 million. The company’s export figures continue to show impressive levels of growth. Alliance’s export sales grew by 37 per cent to $21.8 million compared with the same time last year. Agricultural, multi-purpose and industrial tyres for export make up approximately 75 per cent of Alliance’s export. Local market sales increased 4 per cent to $7.9 million, a figure that represents 27 per cent of total sales.

In the first nine months of 2004, the tyre manufacturer reports that net profits grew to $3.7 million compared with losses of $8.3 million in the corresponding quarter of last year. In the same period, sales increased to $93.4m, an increase of 29 per cent compared with the corresponding period in 2003.

Alliance chairman Isia Tchetchik said the third quarter growth was hindered by the port strike that prevented sales of $1.9 million. Despite this, he said, the company managed to achieve positive results that prove that Alliance is experiencing an improvement in business performance.

Joseph Anglister, Alliance’s president, said the break-through in sales to Central and South America continued in the third quarter, in particularly in Brazil where sales doubled to $5.1 million in the first nine months of the year. The company president also stated that Alliance continues to implement efficiency measures, something that likely to prove useful in the face of rising raw material costs. According to Mr Anglister, production costs per ton of output fell 2.5 per cent to $2.38 per ton, while production increased 19.4 per cent, to 27,527 in the third quarter of 2004.

29th November 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Continental and USWA Bargain Over Severance Package

Continental and the USWA are in the process of negotiating a severance agreement for the workers affected by the closure of the company’s Mayfield plant. The two sides are at loggerheads over the package, which the company sees as generous, but the union calls an insult.

The union is unhappy about the company’s proposals. These include a lump-sum severance payment of up to $8,000 per worker, a maximum 30 day health insurance cover and a special fund of more than $1.1 million to help displaced workers find jobs, retraining, health care, relocation and other transition expenses.

Continental plans to cease production by 31 December and shift work elsewhere, leaving 60 workers in tyre mixing and warehousing and hundreds unemployed.

22nd November 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Suffers Court Defeat

Michelin employees made redundant at the company’s Soisson plant have won their court case. The employees lost their jobs when the company sold its bicycle plant to Wolber. The new owners subsequently moved production to India. In the meantime the number of employees still disputing the situation shrank to 115. Now a court has ruled in the employees’ favour, stating that Michelin should offer the employees adequate jobs in other business premises and that they should receive remuneration from the company.

11th November 2004/by Tyrepress Editors