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(Akron/Tire Review) Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. is voluntarily recalling 79,857 tyres, which had been manufactured at its Albany, Georgia, plant earlier this year. The company said that during an eight-day period, the tyres in question were produced using “a non-comforming component.” The company said the recall is a “safety precaution” and came about when “our inspection and surveillance system detected a tyre component that did not meet company standards.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has significantly enhanced its cash position by borrowing nearly $1 billion under an existing revolving credit facility. The company said it borrowed approximately $675 million on October 13 and $300 million on October 5 under its $1.5 billion U.S. First Lien Credit Facility. Thus, this particular facility is almost fully drawn, when including its $500 million deposit-funded facility.
Brian Smith is to leave Continental Tyre Group Ltd at the end of December, after 13 years as managing director. Since he joined in 1993, Continental’s UK turnover has more than doubled to £250 million and profit has reportedly reached record levels. His successor as managing director of the Continental Tyre Group will be announced before the end of 2006.
The results of a recent Auto Express test show that motorists with cars set up for and fitted with run-flat tyres must not replace them with standard tyres. The test, carried out in summer 2006, demonstrated that fitting a standard tyre to a car which was designed and set-up for run-flat tyres can cause a loss of performance and ultimately a reduction in the safety of a vehicle. The results published 11 October show that using a standard tyre with the same tread pattern can severely increase braking distances and reduce overall wet and dry handling.
Michelin picked up two prizes at the 7th annual Greenfleet Awards yesterday. The Stoke-on-Trent based company won tyre manufacturer of the year (the runner-up was Bandvulc Tyres) and the Industry Innovation award. The 2006 GreenFleet awards were held on 11th October at Arsenal football club’s new Emirates stadium. The awards recognise local authorities, manufacturers and innovators for their efforts to reduce the environmental impact of transport. Around 500 guests saw racing driver and TV personality Tiff Needell present the awards in 25 different categories.
(Akron/Tire Review) With most of its North American tyre plants on limited production, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is temporarily laying off some 330 hourly workers at its Asheboro, North Carolina, steel wire plant. The tyremaker is reducing steel wire production due to the United Steelworkers’ strike. The temporary layoffs will begin Friday and will last until the strike is settled and Goodyear’s tire plants are back to full production.
(Akron/Tire Review) Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. named Franklin Schrum Jr. as project manager for corporate facilities engineering. The 16-year Cooper veteran will oversee capital improvements, waste reduction, energy cost reduction programmes and other facility-related programmes.
The Indian government has put provisional anti-dumping duty (ADD) on tyres imported from China and Thailand, with effect from 9 October the Business Standard reported. According to the newspaper, 300,000 imported tyres brought in mainly from China for the commercial vehicle (CV) segment are sold in India annually. Domestic manufacturers sell over 10 million tyres.
Apollo has published un-audited financial results showing second quarter sales of 7.67 billion rupees (£90.5 million), up 21 per cent year-on-year. Net profits grew 3.8 per cent to 193 million rupees (£2.28 million) despite global raw material increases. Sales improvement was reflected in the half-year results. Net sales were up 27 per cent to 15.246 billion rupees (£180 million). Operating profit grew 2.8 per cent in the six-month period to 1,167 billion rupees (£13.78 million).
Delticom AG, known as mytyres.co.uk in the UK, is aiming to make its debut on the Frankfurt stock exchange this Autumn. In 2005 Delticom reported 129 million euros in sales, an increase of approximately 60 per cent. Roughly 5.6 million euros of this was EBIT, according to German newspapers.
“We see good possibilities of developing our already strong international operational readiness further in the coming years around the good growth opportunities that are opening in the online tyre market,” commented Delticom director, Dr Andreas Pruefer.
(Akron/Tire Review) There has been more talk than talking as the United Steelworkers’ strike against 16 Goodyear plants reached its sixth day yesterday. Formal talks between the tyremaker and the union have not resumed, and while both sides say they are ready to restart negotiations when the other party is ready, neither side seems to be in a hurry to get back to the bargaining table.
DME Tyres has scooped an accolade by winning the Tyre Recovery Association (TRA)’s Audit Excellence Award for 2006. The award, which recognises and rewards the most professional approach to compliance and best practice in waste tyre collection and reprocessing, was presented to DME’s managing director Ken Plaster and commercial director Bill Clarke at the Rubber Industry Dinner held in Solihull last month.
(Akron/Tire Review) Thomas Climes was named sales manager for Oliver Rubber Co.’s western region, and will be responsible for commercial sales and development of tread rubber and retreading systems. Climes will be based in Salt Lake City.
(Akron/Tire Review) Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.’s largest single stock owner, Shapiro Capital Management LLC, cut its stake in the Findlay, Ohio-tyre company by some 73 per cent. The sell off reportedly occurred in the third quarter of this year. As of Sept. 30, Shapiro held 3 per cent of all of Cooper’s outstanding shares – 1.87 million shares, down from 7.01 million four months earlier. Shapiro is now the 17th largest Cooper shareholder.
ExxonMobil Chemical Company and Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. (YRC) have developed DVA (dynamically vulcanised alloy) advanced tyre inner liner technology based on proprietary Exxpro polymers as well as alloys and application technology developed by YRC. The DVA advanced inner liner technology used in the film liner materials combines the flexibility and elasticity of a rubber with the low-air permeability of a plastic.
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