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Goodyear Dunlop Names New Supply Chain VP for EU and EEMEA

Goodyear Dunlop has announced the appointment of Robert Scholte as vice president of supply chain for the company’s EU and EEMEA regions. Scholte joins the company from Nestle Purina Petcare where, for the past 3 years, he has been European Supply chain director. The appointment is effective 1 January 2008.

In a joint statement, Arthur de Bok, president EU, and Jarro Kaplan, president, EEMEA, said: “This appointment follows our recent announcement of the new supply chain organization across both regions. Robert joins us with an outstanding background, covering all the supply chain elements….he has held senior positions with responsibilities for raw materials, manufacturing, logistics, through to the final delivery of products to customers. We have underlined the strategic importance of this position and have found an individual who will work with all areas of the company to provide the most effective supply chain to our customers.“

5th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Reports Improved Third Quarter Sales & Net Income

Bridgestone announced its third quarter results on November 1, along with combined results for the first three quarters of the year. These figures revealed a 303.7 billion (£1.28 billion) or 14 per cent increase in net sales for the first nine months of the year, with sales for Q1 to Q3 2007 recorded as 2,466.7 billion yen (£10.36 billion). Operating income increased 32 per cent during the same period, rising to 162.8 billion yen (£683 million), with net income jumping 64 per cent to 82.3 billion yen (£345.6 million).

The company received 1,993 billion yen (£8.37 billion) through the sale of tyres during the first nine months of the year, 16 per cent more than for the same period of 2006. Operating income for Bridgestone’s tyre operation was 123.1 billion yen (£516.9 million), an increase of 44 per cent over 2006. Bridgestone reports that it worked to “maximise sales momentum by introducing appealing new products worldwide, while at the same time improving and expanding strategic production sites around the world in support of those products that have been identified as strategic and important to the company’s future growth.”

1st November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Patent Granted for Tyre Based Building Material

New York based company Re-Tread Products Inc. (RTP) has received a patent for a new building material it has developed; this product, known as the “Tire Log”, employs recycled tyres as its core ingredient, and the inherent flexibility in the tyre scrap used to produce the Tire Log is reported to make the product an ideal material for use in earthquake proofing and other safety related building. RTP is currently researching a number of commercial applications to which the Tire Log may be suited.

The “Tire Log” is made using a method that helically wraps a tyre’s steel belted tread around a core of tyre treads. By this means a product of any length or diameter can be produced, and RTP claims its patented design provides a high level of structural integrity. Material properties tests on the Tire Log so far appear to bear out the manufacturer’s confidence that it offers architectural and construction solutions to the civil, municipal and military sectors. The product’s ‘bend not break’ characteristics and its durability make it well suited for use in regions prone to earthquakes and flooding, and it has even been suggested that it could fulfil various “homeland security” roles in the US. More mundane potential uses for the Tire Log include as a wood, rock or concrete substitute in construction and landscaping.

31st October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Q1-3 Sales up 4%

Michelin has announced that its consolidated net sales for the first nine months of 2007 have risen 4.0 per cent to almost 12.6 billion euros, an increase of 7.2 per cent (at constant exchange rates). Third quarter sales were slightly under 4.2 billion euros, a 2.5 per cent increase at constant exchange rates that Deutsche Bank analysts report is “in line” with its estimate of 4.3 billion euros. The German bank’s Equity Research division further commented that the key positive factors driving earnings in the third quarter, a period it has described as “uneventful”, were Michelin’s price/mix, up 3.7 per cent or 153 million euros, and volume, which showed a 1.4 per cent or 59 million euro rise.

Over this same quarterly period the company’s sales volumes posted a year-on-year growth of almost 3.0 per cent. During the first six months of the year this increase was at a rate of 3.6 per cent, but during the third quarter growth slowed to 1.4 per cent; Michelin’s replacement passenger and light truck tyre business was impacted by what the company has called “less supportive European and North American markets” during the quarter, while in the US Michelin’s sales of truck tyres dropped by 39.2 per cent as a result of a sharp decline in truck OEM activity.

30th October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli to Raise Prices in Europe

The rising cost of raw materials and energy has prompted Pirelli Tyre to increase the price of their passenger car, SUV, van and industrial vehicle tyres by an average of 3.5 per cent. These revised prices will apply to all tyre brands produced by the Italian manufacturer and will commence on November 1 in Italy and Spain before implementation in other European markets by the beginning of next year.

Hand in hand with these measures is Pirelli’s decision to reduce by 25 per cent the suggested price list reference prices applied by dealers in Italy to final customers for summer car, SUV and van tyres, with winter tyres included under this arrangement from January 2008 onwards. The aim of this reduction, states Pirelli, is to “ensure a transparent price positioning to Italian customers and align the domestic market with the major European markets.”

25th October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

MRF Considers China Operations

India’s largest tyre manufacturer, MRF Ltd, has achieved a fiscal milestone and, at the same time, spoken afresh of plans to circumvent the country’s ‘inverted’ duty structure for tyres and raw materials.

The company’s chairman, K.M. Mammen, told media in Chennai on October 5 that MRF had, in the 2006-7 financial year, become a Rs 50 billion (£620.4 million) company, with turnover in the recently closed financial year up from Rs 42.6 billion (£528.6 million) during the previous year. The company added that profit is expected to be about 1.8 per cent of turnover, some Rs 900 million (£11.2 million).

Almost 20 per cent of turnover reportedly came from OEM sales. A further 10 per cent was garnered from exports and 2 per cent from sales to India’s military. The remainder came from the Indian replacement market, a £2.4 billion market of which Mr. Mammen claims MRF holds a 26 per cent share.

8th October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Imerys Trial Michelin XZM Tyres

St Austell-based Imerys Minerals Ltd has entered into a preferred supplier agreement with Michelin and ATS Euromaster, for the supply and fitment of Michelin XZM radial tyres across its fleet of 50 forklift trucks.

Imerys has been a long term Michelin customer for over 25 years, but the start of a new contract hire agreement in 2006 saw a number of new forklifts delivered with a mixture of solid and pneumatic tyres fitted from a range of manufacturers, providing the customer with an opportunity to undertake its own extensive tyre tests.

“The trial allowed us to benchmark the Michelin XZM tyres against a number of other brands which were fitted as original equipment to trucks supplied by Barloworld Hire,” explains Steve Truscott, Engineering Manager – Mobile Plant, at Imerys Minerals.

“We have always leaned towards the Michelin XZM tyres in the past due to their proven resistance to cuts and damage, combined with strong wear characteristics. We’ve run other trials in the past to ensure the Michelin tyres provided good cost-per-hour benefits, but this recent delivery gave us the chance to conduct a much broader test involving four different makes of tyre,” he adds.

5th October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Indian Domestic Manufacturers Hit by Strong Rupee

The growing strength of the Indian rupee against the US dollar has been squeezing the export margins of tyremakers in the subcontinent for some time. A more recent development, however, is the strain India’s increasingly robust currency is placing on companies producing tyres for the domestic market.

Imports have become cheaper with each rise in the rupee, and those domestic market products with cut-price overseas equivalents have struggled to remain competitive. This phenomenon is not restricted to the tyre industry; the Hindu Business Line reports that a number of manufacturing sectors, including chemicals, textiles and automotive components, have been affected.

The Indian financial daily quoted Ashish Bharat Ram, managing director of SRF Ltd, as saying, “the rupee appreciation is adversely impacting those domestic manufacturers where the product is substitutable by imports.” This even applies to imported raw materials. “Imports of raw material from China, for instance, are of special concern as the yuan has not been revalued, and this puts pressure on margins even further.”

3rd October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Cheap Chinese Imports Worry Indian Tyremakers

(Akron/Tire Review – India Business Standard) With the Indian tyre market being flooded with cheaper Chinese bus and truck tyres, the domestic tyre industry is up in arms about the under-invoicing of these imports and their inferior quality.

25th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Belshina: Growth Through Investment

The Republic of Belarus has experienced robust economic growth in recent years, with the latest figures showing a growth in GDP of nearly seven per cent. The economy is highly industrialised, with exports playing a crucial part in the growth in prosperity. One of the largest enterprises in Belarus – indeed, one of the largest in Europe – is the Belshina Open Joint-Stock Company. The tyre manufacturer operates three factories, covering an area of 173.6 hectares and employs around 12,000 staff, producing more than 200 sizes and types of tyre, from passenger car up to giant tyres for mining and construction machinery.

Belshina sells tyres on both the replacement and OE markets, having a number of OE contracts with local and foreign vehicle manufacturers across all sectors. (Valtra, Brazil – tractor manufacturer; Terex Equipment Ltd., Scotland – mining and construction machinery manufacturer; Belaz, Belarus – mining machinery; MAZ, Belarus – trucks, KAMAZ, Russia – trucks; MTZ, Belarus – tractors).

24th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Toyo USA to Increase Prices

Effective 1 October 2007, Toyo Tire (USA) Corporation will increase the prices of consumer products by 3.5-per cent. According to Steve Weinger, senior vice president, sales & marketing, “due to continued increases in raw materials, energy, and transportation costs we must adjust our prices on consumer products. As always, Toyo remains dedicated to maintaining the highest level of product quality and customer service.”

6th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Declining Material Costs may Harm Industry, Say S&P

According to a new report released by Standard & Poor’s, global tyre manufacturers may actually feel more pressure on margins and cash flow as the prices of raw materials decline. The financial and investment specialist added that the industry could suffer if manufacturers take lower costs as a signal to reduce prices in order to gain market share. The reduced income and cash flow from such a price war would in all likelihood more than cancel out the benefits of lower material costs.

“This is because pricing discipline in the industry may fade if tyre makers start reducing prices on the back of lower input costs in the expectation of gaining market share,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Werner Staeblein. “Therefore, declining raw-material prices could spark more price competition in the industry with likely more negative effects on earnings and cash flow generation than the positive effect from lower input prices.”

5th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Laurent: Retreads from Germany for the Whole of Europe

Together with its parent company in France, Laurent Reifen GmbH from Germany is Europe’s largest retreader. For more than 50 years the long established company has played a major role in Europe as an industrial retreader. The factory in Oranienburg in the German state of Brandenburg (close to Berlin) has an annual production capacity of more than 200,000 units of retreaded truck and trailer tyres. Furthermore, in Germany as well as in Avallon, France, more than 2,500 pre-cured treads are produced every day. With about 120 different treads in all the major sizes available the company can supply new treads for almost every commercial tyre application. And the German company and its French parent are not only represented in these two countries; Laurent, as a member of the French Michelin group, is also represented in Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland.

23rd August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Mine Operators Beat Path to Malaysian Retreader’s Door

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.

20th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Yokohama Q1 Results ‘Stronger than Expected’

Yokohama Rubber posted a 150.2 per cent increase in net income, to 3.1 billion yen (£12.8 million), in the three months ended June 30 (the first quarter of the present fiscal year) compared with the same period in 2006. The company’s operating income increased 130.6 per cent to 4.3 billion yen (£17.7 million) and net sales rose by 13.8 per cent to 121.6 billion yen (£502.3 million). The company reports that the overall rise in sales was led by growth in markets outside Japan and in Yokohama Rubber’s Multiple Business (diversified products) Group.

Operating income in Yokohama’s Tire Group tripled in the first quarter, to 3.1 billion yen (£12.8 million) on the back of a 15.9 per cent increase in sales to 90.7 billion yen (£374.7 million). Leading the sales growth were gains in North America, Europe, and Asian (excluding Japan) markets. The sales growth, coupled with the weakening of the yen and price increases for Yokohama tyres, more than offset the continuing upward trend in prices for natural rubber and other raw materials.

10th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors