The 40th annual Tire Society Conference on Tire Science and Technology will again be held virtually this year, from 30 August to 3 September 2021. This year’s theme is “The Virtual Tire” and many conference papers each year are chosen for publication in the critically reviewed Journal of Tire Science and Technology, published quarterly by The Tire Society.
As part of a range of structural changes taking effect on 1 April, Toyo Tires will draw upon its experiences making tyres for the demanding European market in order to benefit its development programme for other regions. The tyre maker is integrating its Europe/Module Development department, which currently operates under the Technology Development division within its R&D Headquarters, into the R&D Headquarters’ Replacement Tire Development department.
In December 2020 French group UTAC CERAM announced that it was buying British test specialists Millbrook, which also owns well-known tyre test centres such as Test World in Finland. The plan is to merge the two companies, creating “a market-leading group in vehicle testing, vehicle type approval and emerging technologies for autonomous, connected and electric vehicles”.
AB Dynamics is showcasing its ability to replicate simulated swarm tests quickly and accurately in the real world and vice-versa. According to the company, this work enables the testing and development of ADAS and autonomous systems to be significantly accelerated whilst also reducing risk and cost.
Qingdao Sentury Tire Co., Ltd. has appointed Martin Winter as global technical director OE. Winter has more than 20 years’ experience of working in original equipment tyre development with Continental, Goodyear, and most recently Hankook. Sentury Tire states that Winter will work to establish relationships with leading original equipment manufacturers. Sentury is seeking to “establish and increase a competitive partnership and relationship” with European and global light vehicle makers. Manufacturing from its base in Qingdao, China and in Thailand, Sentury is primarily known for its Landsail brand in the UK and Europe.
Davanti Tyres is opening a European Development Centre at Applus+ IDIADA. The brand, owned by the UK’s Oak Group, says the centre will “spearhead its next-generation tyre design.” Davanti has previously used the Spanish facility, located in the northeast of the country near Barcelona, in the development of its tyres. It says the facility will allow its research and development team to experiment more with innovative new designs and materials, speed up new product development, and enhance ongoing testing and improvement of its existing range. General manager Peter Cross calls the move “the biggest step Davanti has taken since we brought our first tyre – the DX390 – to market.”
South Korea’s Ministry of Science and Information & Communications Technology has given Hankook Tire and its Hankook Technodome R&D centre its ‘Certification of Exemplary Laboratories in Safety Management’, a distinction given to laboratories that have passed an expert assessment by leading professionals. Hankook comments that this is the first time a tyre company has received this certification in Korea.
Analysis of the latest data from the Office of National Statistics by R&D tax relief specialists Catax shows that R&D spending in the UK motor industry has slumped 9 per cent annually. Total motor sector spending on R&D fell to £3.42bn last year, a decrease of £338m from a record high of £3.75bn registered a year earlier. The industry now employs 22,000 people directly involved in R&D, however, the latest spending figure is a dramatic turnaround from the 4.2 per cent increase seen in 2018.
Nexen Tire has shared details of how it has used Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data-driven methodology to help reduce tyre noise. The big data research for Noise, Vibration, and Harshness (NVH) was jointly conducted with Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group and Inha University in Korea. The results of the braking test performance on snow, hydroplaning, and wet surfaces showed internal and external noise generated by cars can be reduced by 1 dB (decibel) and 3 dB (decibel), respectively.
Kumho’s next generation e-NIMF and e-TOPS tyres have been honoured with 2020 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA). Having already received iF and Red Dot accolades in February and March respectively, has now won three of the world’s top design awards in the same year.
The 39th Tire Society Conference on tyre science and technology, which runs from 28 September to 2 October, will be held entirely
virtually for the first time this year, due to the Covid pandemic. However, it will still feature 27 original works of tyre technology presented by the authors and a special topic paper on the 40+ year history of the Tire Society as well as a keynote address, plenary address, invited lecture and panel discussion.
Michelin is coordinating 7 industrial partners, 5 Research & Technological Organizations (RTOs) and an innovation cluster into a European consortium designing pioneering processes to produce new tyres from end-of-life tyres (ELTs). The project, called BlackCycle owing to its focus on developing a circular economy for tyres, is run across five countries.
Linglong Tire signed a cooperation agreement with the Jinan Municipal People’s Government on 17 July 2020. As a result, Linglong Tire will settle its research and development and technological innovation base in the central district of Jinan. According to the agreement, the two parties will cooperate in terms of science and technology as well as personnel matters. The relevant leaders of Jinan and Linglong’s chairman and president Wang Feng attended the signing ceremony.
Triangle Tire USA has named Brad Wurst as senior development engineer of A3T, the company’s technical centre in Akron, Ohio. Wurst joins Triangle from Smithers where he has worked since March 2018. Prior to Smithers, Wurst spent more than seven years with Cooper Tire & Rubber, including a one-year assignment as a truck tyre development engineer at the company’s facility in Shanghai, China. Before that Wurst was spent 20 years with Bridgestone Americas.
Chinese manufacturer Qingdao Sentury Tire received approval for an initial public offering (IPO) on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange earlier in the month. The tyre maker is mainly known in the UK for supplying Landsail tyres through wholesaler Grouptyre, as well as being a manufacturing partner of Davanti Tyres. Tyres & Accessories asked Sean Maddocks, Davanti sales director for UK and Ireland, what the IPO would mean for its own relationship and growth plans.
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UTAC Ceram
AB Dynamics
Sentury Tire
Davanti
Nexen
Kumho
Michelin
Linglong