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Firestone Name Dropped by Bridgestone America

As a final addendum to the numerous Bridgestone-based restructuring announcements made today, the company has decided to retire the Firestone name from its corporate identity in many territories of the Americas. The manufacturer said that the removal of Firestone, which will come into effect on 1 January, 2009, is designed to reflect the place within Bridgestone of the Japanese giant’s subsidiaries and simplify the brand for the public.

Mark Emkes, chairman and CEO of Bridgestone Americas Holdings in Nashville, TN, said that the Firestone name will be retained “with its own identity as a historic product and service brand” within the new corporate structure. It was also pointed out that in the case of Bridgestone Firestone Diversified Products – the subsidiary making Firestone-branded roofing materials, air springs, textiles and natural rubber – the name to be dropped will be Bridgestone’s. The company will be renamed Firestone Diversified Products at the beginning of next year.

15th October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Hankook Employees Named as Chemical Victims, says Korea Times

The Korea Times reports that four Hankook Tire employees have been named victims of a chemical used at a company facility between 1999 and 2003. In an article titled ‘Hankook Tire Cornered’, the South Korean English-language daily says that the government’s acknowledgement, according to lawmakers, shows a “possible relation between the solvent HV-250, a non-benzene compound, and the workers’ health.”

One of the victims is said to have contracted peripheral neuropathy after he was exposed to the solvent, stated the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency on October 13. The agency said another 48 year-old worker’s acute leukemia seems to have also been caused by his 20 years of being exposed to a solvent the company previously used. This particular substance formerly contained benzene.

14th October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

European Truck Market to Fall 20.7% in 2009

Europe’s heavy truck market is predicted to slow 20.7 per cent to 255,800 units in 2009 according to some forecasts. According to Automotive World’s research 2009 will prove to be “the worst for truck sales in recent history.” No return to the almost 350,000-unit market witnessed in 2007 is seen on the forecast horizon that extends to 2013. The report also warns that the positive impact on sales derived from a boom in Eastern Europe is now on the wane and that the 2004 EU accession countries “now appear to have entered a replacement rather than a growth cycle.”

14th October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Motors.co.uk Poll Reveals Car Gadgets Driving Us Crazy

Used vehicle website motors.co.uk is urging manufacturers to go back to basics after a survey of 726 UK motorists revealed 70.6 per cent of drivers polled are being ‘driven to distraction’ by car gadgets and would feel safer if they had fewer accessories in their vehicles.

The survey, which motors.co.uk said canvassed attitudes towards 21st century driving distractions, highlighted that more than half (52.9 per cent) would like to see fewer ‘non-essential’ features in cars to help avoid confusion. In-car add-ons were cited as greater distractions than noisy passengers, convoluted road signs and even the family dog.

13th October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Amerityre Ships Five New Light-Weight Fill Machines

Amerityre corporation – the Boulder City, Nevada-based research and development company working with proprietary polyurethane technologies – has reported the shipment of five light-weight fill machines for its high-quality polyurethane foam for use in the commercial tyre fill market.

Each fill machine is expected to pump between 100,000 to 200,000 lbs of fill material annually, although the capacity of each machine is more than 500,000 lbs per year. The company expects to place an additional six machines with other potential customers this fall. The fill machines are being sold to new customers in combination with Amerityre’s tyre fill material, which is marketed under the name Amerifill. The material is based on Amerityre’s “flat-free,” closed-cell, environmentally friendly polyurethane foam technology.

8th October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Kwik-Fit Reveals ‘7 Blunders of the MOT World’

So your car didn’t pass its MOT inspection…according to Kwik-Fit, odds are better than half that the vehicle failed to make the grade due to problems with one (or more) of seven very everyday components.

The company’s research showed that seven most common MOT ‘fails’ account for 55 per cent of all failures. The most common of these is tyres, accounting for 13 per cent of all failed MOTs. This is followed by brakes, at 11 per cent, windscreens 8 per cent, headlamps 7 per cent, registration plates 6 per cent and suspension and exhaust systems both accounting for 5 per cent of failures.

2nd October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

New MIDaS Interface Designed to Boost Online Retailing Efficiency

A new software module developed by Cam Systems for its MIDaS program is designed to help retailers improve the efficiency and accuracy of their online sales. The MIDaS tyre retail and wholesale stock management system now handles somewhere in the region of £140 million worth of product transactions, equating to more than 3 million tyre each year. Using the same system, Cam says it has responded to growing market demand by developing a B2C (business to consumer) solution for website stock, pricing and order processing functions.

Typically, website stock and pricing details are entered manually using a spreadsheet system, which is extremely time intensive, prone to inaccuracies and needs to be repeated on a regular basis as pricing and stock details constantly change. The MIDaS B2C module makes that process redundant as it is fully integrated with the Cameo operating system, which allows it to set up and export product and price data direct to the website. This is a vastly more efficient and accurate process than a paper-based system and gives retailers complete control of data which appears online.

2nd October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Active Wheel Spectacle at Paris Motorshow

Visitors to the Paris Motorshow are witnessing what Michelin developers hope is a vision of the future of the wheel, as two cars fitted with the French manufacturer’s Active Wheel (instead of the traditional engine, suspension and transmission fixtures) are presented for the first time. The Venturi Volage is a roadster with an electrical drive motor freed from the constraints of the traditional prerequisites, while the new WILL – built in partnership with Heuliez, Michelin and Orange – is an electric car capable of competing with traditional cars in addition to providing a practical solution to road transportation concerns in the areas of energy resources, urban pollution and personal safety.

The Active Wheel has been enabled through the substantial reduction of component size, making it possible – Michelin says – to “reinvent the wheel”. The energy that powers the integrated motor is always electric, whether it comes from a lithium ion or other type of battery, a fuel cell, and/or super-capacitors. In all cases, these power sources offer two important benefits—zero pollution and optimal comfort—since vehicles equipped with the wheel emit no greenhouse gases. The WILL’s two engines housed in the front wheels make the car extremely responsive. As for the Venturi Volage, with its four motorised Active Wheels, it offers impressive performance in the areas of acceleration and road holding.

2nd October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Continental Executive Board Announces Reorganisation

Executive Board of Continental AG says it has opened up broader future options for itself by reorganising the duties of its members to greater concentrate on two core business fields. As of October 1, 2008, Continental Executive Board chairman Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann will take the reins of the Automotive group, consisting of the Chassis & Safety, Interior and Powertrain divisions. On the same day, deputy chairman Dr. Alan Hippe will take on management of the Rubber group, made up of the Passenger and Light Truck Tires, Commercial Vehicle Tires and ContiTech. Conti’s Supervisory Board of the company took assenting note of this new task allocation as decided by the Executive Board on September 30. The Supervisory Board also extended Executive Board member Dr. Hans-Joachim Nikolin’s term of office until May 2014.

1st October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Company Veteran First Bridgestone Firestone Research Fellow

Dr. William L. Hergenrother has been promoted to the newly created position of Research Fellow by Bridgestone Americas Center for Research and Technology (BACRT), effective October 1, 2008. This achievement recognises Hergenrother’s 45 years of contributions to Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire (BFNT).

Hergenrother joined Firestone Central Research in 1963, at what was then The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, after obtaining his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from The University of Notre Dame. In this new role, Hergenrother will continue advising BACRT management on strategic technical issues. He will also continue serving as both an internal technical resource for all BACRT projects and a technical resource for all parts of Bridgestone Corporation.

30th September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Possible Site for New Ceat Plant Named

According to an unnamed government official, India’s Ceat Ltd is considering the northeastern state of Gujarat as the location for its new LCV and truck radial facility. The Thaindian news reports the source as saying the company will invest RS 5 billion (£57.76 million) in building the facility, however Ceat has not confirmed any such detail.

29th September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Credit Crunch Impacting Tyre Sales

With new car registrations at a historic low point, new evidence suggests money conscious consumers are cutting corners when it comes to tyres. According to a report released by independent tyre dealer network Protyre, there is mounting evidence that motorists are delaying replacing worn and defective tyres. This false economy is putting drivers, passengers and other road users in danger of an accident or the potential for prosecution.

Protyre’s survey reveals that over three quarters of motorists visiting their 31 outlets had at least one defective or badly worn tyre, up dramatically on a year ago. Protyre technicians have also discovered that drivers of family cars seem to be more responsible than owners of premium vehicles, with a lower percentage of family cars having more than one defective tyre compared with premium models – the cars usually fitted with lower profile tyres.

25th September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

‘Exhaustive’ Report Available from Research and Markets

In response to market changes, a tighter regulatory environment and pressure on costs, exhaust and after-treatment system suppliers face both opportunities and challenges in the next five years. This growth will occur in part due to the overall increase in the world market for passenger cars, which is expected to grow in volume by 34 per cent from 66 million units in 2006 to around 85 million by 2014. This will create increased demand for more exhaust and after-treatment systems. But on top of this organic increase in sales, other factors will create additional growth, taking exhaust and after-treatment system supplier revenues to an even higher level.

23rd September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Student’s Discovery Removes Zinc Oxide from Tyre Manufacturing

Research conducted by a South African PhD student could prove a boon to the global tyre industry. While working on his chemistry doctorate, Robert Bosch, 32, from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth discovered a means by which Zinc Oxide can be replaced as a catalyst in tyre manufacturing, a much sought after substitution.

The global tyre manufacturing industry uses 600,000 tonnes of highly toxic Zinc Oxide each year. The substance is poisonous to aquatic organisms and accumulates in the environment. The newly discovered chemical compound catalyst, Rubber Nano Products Liquid Activation (RNPX), is said to be environmentally friendly and only one third of the volume of Zinc Oxide is necessary to do the same job.

16th September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear to Collaborate in Development of Isoprene Substitute

On September 16 the announcement was made that Goodyear has entered into a research collaboration with Genencor, a division of Danish company Danisco A/S, to develop a bio-based process for producing isoprene using renewable raw materials.

Goodyear and Genencor are working on a product called BioIsoprene, a bio-based alternative for the petroleum-derived chemical compound isoprene. BioIsoprene can be used for the production of synthetic rubber and other elastomers. The development of BioIsoprene could, says Danisco, make the tyre and rubber industry less dependent on oil-derived products, such as synthetic rubber made from petroleum-derived isoprene monomer.

16th September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors