Tyres can’t function without this critical raw material. Whether its natural or synthetic rubber you are interested in, articles bearing this tag feature this indispensable polymer.
Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., has announced that it will increase its bias tyre production capacity for motorcycles and light trucks in Vietnam by 2.5 times. For this, the company will begin constructing a new tyre plant in June of this year production set to start in June 2007. Yokohama Rubber plans to invest a total of 1 billion yen (7 million euros) in this construction programme.
Last year’s inaugural IQPC international congress on Intelligent Tire Technology has proved what today’s hot tyre industry topics are. Extended mobility concepts and tyre pressure monitoring systems promise to increase safety tremendously. But customers’ acceptance and satisfaction highly depends on adequate aftermarket supply. Other challenges for the tyre industry constitute the trend towards the intelligent tyres as well as the European Commission’s intention to ban highly aromatic oils as an ingredient of tyre rubber. Top-level speakers from leading OEMs, tyre manufacturers, suppliers and research centres such as Fiat, Michelin, Siemens VDO, Beru, Nira Dynamics, TSS International, Rema Tip Top and IKA, BMW and many more have confirmed that they will report about their first-hand experiences and results. The next congress will run from the 20 – 22 September 2006. Further information is available from www.iqpc.de/de-2526.
The company that brought us the Solio solar power iPod Charger has now turner its hands to tyres. Tread is a new line of digital accessories cases that are handcrafted handcrafted from discarded Columbian truck tyres and redesigned into fashionable rubber iPod and Solio cases. There is also a sleeve available for a Powerbook G4 or MacBook Pro. No-one knows why the company chose to source their tyres from Colombia, but the technology is citing the case’s water-stopping capabilities and overall durability as a strong selling points.
European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers have held the first meeting of the newly formed European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturers’ Association or ETRMA. The new association will replace BLIC (Bureau de Liaison des Industries du Caoutchouc). Francesco Gori of Pirelli was elected as president, and Groupe Michelin’s Eric de CromiÈres Michelin was named vice president. Fazilet Cinaralp was appointed secretary general.
(Akron/Tire Review) Yokohama Rubber Co. has launched a “grand plan” for the next dozen years leading up to its 100th anniversary, a three-phase management scheme that calls for 10 per cent in operating profits by 2018.
Following soaring demand and tight supply, the price of natural rubber has reached a 22-year high. Now, as a result The Times reports that speculators are pumping money into rubber futures, after fears that the supply situation could worsen because of adverse weather and “rumours of unrest in Muslim areas in Southern Thailand.” Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia produce 60 per cent of the world’s natural rubber. The International Rubber Study Group (ISRG) reports that tightness in the supply of natural rubber is likely to continue, predicting a deficit of 820,000 tons by 2010, up from 250,000 tons this year.
Continental Sime Tyre Sdn Bhd is targeting to raise its output of passenger car tyres to 5.5 million by the middle of 2007, up from last year’s 3.5 million units. The company, a 70:30 merger between Continental AG and Sime Darby Bhd, said it is attempting to increase production at its Alor Star factory to 4.5 million tyres by the end of this year and move passenger tyre manufacturing to Alor Star as well.
(Akron/Tire Review) Claiming they were lied to by Continental Tire North America (CTNA) management, the United Steelworkers (USW) blasted the tyremaker’s decision to end tyre production early at its Charlotte, North Carolina plant. “They flat-out lied to us,” USW executive vice president Ron Hoover said. “It’s now apparent that Conti never intended to keep making tyres in Charlotte,” he continued, accusing the company of pillaging active and retired members.
A Volvo FH12 4×2 tractor unit operated by Kent-based Laser Transport International reports to have clocked-up 630,000 kilometres on the same Michelin Energy drive-axle tyres, before they needed replacing. The tyres were fitted as original equipment when the Volvo was delivered new in February 2003, and have been replaced with a set of Michelin Energy RemiX tyres.
Commenting on the impressive performance, Jon Palmer, Fleet Engineer at Laser Transport International, explains: “We have only just fitted the RemiX tyres, and these should see the vehicle through its fourth and final year’s service on our fleet.
Liberian labour minister, Kofi Wood, has given managers at Firestone’s Harbel, Liberia rubber plantation 90-days to improve workers’ living conditions. “We have asked the Firestone management to improve the living conditions of the workers,” Wood told Reuters by telephone. “We have given them 90 days.” The minister did not say what the consequences of failing to meet the deadline might be.
(Akron/Tire Review) Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. has taken the first steps toward closing its Athens, Georgia, retread rubber and racing tyre plant by the end of summer. The news comes after the yremaker filed paperwork with the Security and Exchange Commission outlining the write-down it expects to take as a result of the action.
(Akron/Tire Review) Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. announced the 10 finalists for its Name the Blimp Contest, launched last month. Consumers submitted more than 21,000 unique names for the tyremaker’s newest airship, according to Goodyear.
Continental Tire North America will stop tyre production at its Charlotte plant in July, earlier than its previously announced date of September, because of “worsening business conditions,” local news sources have reported
Under this plan, the company will lay off more than 700 workers between this Friday and July. Previously, Continental had said it would cut 172 workers Friday, 50 in June and 478 in September. The company plans to shift production to its non-union plant in Mount Vernon, Illinois, and to its factories in Mexico and Brazil.
Next month T&A will also cover the recent developments in the Russian emerging market. Focusing on the recent Tires & Rubber Moscow exhibition, our coverage will look at how the show is increasingly becoming a trade orientated show. It is also growing. A whopping 40 per cent of this year’s exhibitors were new to the show, meaning the exhibition remains Russia’s leading tyre industry show by some way.
A type of rubberised road surface is being trialled for the first time in the UK on a Nottinghamshire footpath. It is hoped that the new coating, which is made using the rubber from old car tyres will make it easier for disabled people and runners to use the paths.
Scott Wilson, in collaboration with Nottinghamshire County Council, Charles Lawrence International Ltd, the Countryside Agency and the University of Nottingham, was awarded the funding as part of WRAP’s (the Waste & Resources Action Programme) Tyres Programme, which seeks to support demonstration trials where recycled rubber is being used in new applications utilising existing technologies.
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