A groundbreaking ceremony held today marked the start of construction work on a new testing and technology centre being set up by Nokian Tyres in Spain. Festivities to celebrate the occasion were held at the site in Santa Cruz de la Zarza. Nokian Tyres anticipates the completion of the first test tracks next year ahead of the technology centre attaining full operational status in 2020.
Since gaining a much greater degree of freedom to conduct business in North America and Europe with the dissolution of its global alliance with Goodyear in October 2015, the Sumitomo Rubber Group has striven to enhance its R&D, production and sales infrastructure to better serve these markets. As part of these efforts, the tyre maker has built a new, 3,500 square metre USA Technical Center on the grounds of its Tonawanda factory in New York State. Sumitomo Rubber Industries reports that this facility will become fully operational in January 2017. The company is also moving forward with the preparations for a Europe Technical Center, which it expects to be fully operational as of September 2017.
The Spanish municipality of Santa Cruz de la Zarza, some 50 miles southeast of Madrid, has been selected as the location of Nokian Tyres’ new technology centre for the testing of summer and winter tyres. The Finnish tyre maker will invest approximately €16 million to build the facility on a site of some 300 hectares. Construction work will begin early in 2017, and while the facility will not be finished until 2019 the first project stage is expected to be completed next year.
The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) is to invest £200,000 in the first stage of four-month project which aims to develope smart tyre pressure system (commonly called TPMS) at MIRA. According to the two parties, the project aims to help increase the fuel efficiency and reduce emissions of all heavy duty land vehicles that use pneumatic tyres.
A ceremony held on 20 January marked the official opening of Yokohama Rubber’s new winter tyre testing facility in Japan. The ribbon on the Tire Test Center of Hokkaido (TTCH) was cut by a number of dignitaries, including Yokohama Rubber president Hikomitsu Noji and Masahito Nishikawa, mayor of host city Asahikawa.
The formal agreement to acquire Test World was preceded by the establishment of a “strategic collaboration” between Millbrook and the Finnish facility in June 2015. The collaboration was announced at Automotive Testing Expo Europe 2015, in Stuttgart which ran from 16 – 18 June. There the growing partnership between the two companies could be seen in their adjoining exhibition stands designed to demonstrate the range of facilities and services the two businesses can offer.
Compared with other international tyres, ZC Rubber reports that its Goodride Sport SA-37 has “obvious advantages”, especially in terms of wet braking test and with relation to the 225/45 R17 size.
Camber Ridge LLC has announced its financial partnership with Teton Capital LLC of Jackson, Wyoming, to launch a new state-of-the-art facility for vehicle tyre characterisation, which will begin operations in 2016. The facility aims to offer all the advantages of testing real tyres on real surfaces, but with the precision, environmental control and repeatability of a laboratory environment.
Continental will reach an important milestone in its research project for the industrialisation of dandelion rubber in tyre production when it tests its first WinterContact TS 850 P with a Taraxagum based tread at its Swedish testing facility. Continental unveiled its first test tyres made from the raw material (the botanical name for dandelion is taraxacum) in a limited series last autumn. The use of the material in its WinterContact TS 850 P takes Continental “an important step closer” to its long-term sustainability goals, reducing its dependence on traditional raw materials.
Sami Toljamo has been appointed managing director of well-known Finnish test centre Test World effective 3 November 2014. According to the company, Toljamo has strong background in international business and in managing test facilities.
On 1 July Linglong Group signed a strategic agreement with IDIADA to partner in the construction of a central Asian tyre proving ground. The agreement was signed between Josep-Maria Farran, COO (chief operating officer) of IDIADA, and Wang Feng, vice president of Linglong Group, marking the start of this strategic cooperation.
Maxxis International has held a grand opening ceremony attended by nearly 400 domestic dignitaries and overseas partners for its new Maxxis Proving Ground in Kunshan City, directly adjacent to the company’s Shanghai manufacturing plant. The 860,000sqm comprehensive testing facility is estimated to have cost more than US$150 million, and is thought to be the first proving ground on such a large and all-encompassing scale in China. Cheng Shin Rubber Ind. Co., Ltd., doing business as Maxxis International, calls its new testing facility the country’s “first international standard proving ground”. Backing up this claim, Tyres & Accessories/Tyrepress.com was informed at the opening that at least one European original equipment manufacturer – Mercedes – had given Maxxis input into the facilities required at the proving ground to continue to build its OE supply, while a construction firm from Japan was consulted, though it was built by the Chinese.
Test World Oy, the well-known winter tyre and vehicle test operation in Finland has announced plans to build a year-round winter test centre which to fulfil the needs of vehicle and tyre manufacturers. According to the company, the first phase of construction will start in May 2012 and this part of the site will be in operation before the end of the year. The three-phase project to create the 30,000 square metre test centre will be completed by the end of 2015.
When financial analysts said that 2009 was a “banner year” for Cheng Shin Rubber Ind. Co., Ltd. in a report published back in May, the market watchers weren’t overstating the facts. But in 2010, when the 2009 results were made public, the Taiwan-based tyre manufacturer which is responsible for the Maxxis brand and Maxxis International companies, announced plans for two new factories, an international standard proving ground and some high profile OE contracts. It was also the year that saw the company move into 10th place in Tyres & Accessories’ annual ranking of tyre manufacturing companies. With all this in mind T&A recently visited Cheng Shin/Maxxis’ Kunshan tyre production plant near Shanghai, China and asked if 2010 was the real breakthrough for Maxxis? And if so what happens next?
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.