Cooper Tire Counts Cost of Production Halt
Cooper Tire & Rubber Co has warned that a production halt at its Texarkana, Arkansas, facility on 12 March will affect first-quarter earnings by 5 cents to 7 cents a share, Market watch has reported.
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Agreement Reached On Cooper Strike
Product News(Akron/Tire Review) Reports out of Texarkana, Arkansas, indicate that a tentative agreement has been reached between Cooper Tire & Rubber Co and striking United Steelworkers of America (USWA) employees. No details of the agreement, believed to be a three-year deal, are available.
Joint Venture Maxxis International UK
Product NewsBickers plc (Felixstowe/Suffolk, England) issued new shares and formed a joint venture company with the long-term tyre supplier Cheng Shin Rubber Ind. Co. Ltd (CST). The new company will trade as “Maxxis International UK plc“ and be located at a new 3.5 acre site in Felixstowe, Britain’s biggest container port.
Indian Rubber Industry Consumes 1 Million Tonnes
Product News(Rubber Asia/India) The Indian rubber industry used up a total of over a million tonnes of various types of rubber during 2003/04, according to data compiled by the Automotive tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA).
Of this, the tyre industry alone (including cycle tyres & tubes and camelback) consumed 478,734 tonnes of natural rubber — 66.5 per cent of all natural rubber (NR) consumed by the Indian industry as a whole. The tyre segment was also by far the largest consumer of synthetic rubber (140,960 tonnes out of a total of 210,190 tonnes) and reclaimed rubber (38,532 tonnes out of 70,460).
More importantly, the Indian auto tyre segment still has 73.34 per cent of its rubber consumption in the form of natural rubber with synthetic rubber (SR) accounting for 23.73 per cent and reclaimed rubber 2.93 per cent. This NR:SR ratio is almost the reverse of the pattern elsewhere in the tyre-making world.
Cooper Expansion Plans Gain Boost
Product News(Akron/Tire Review) Cooper Tire & Rubber Co’s planned expansion of its Athens, Georgia, tyre plant got a big boost from local government which authorised some $12 million in bonds to aid the expansion effort.
NHTSA Issues Final TPMS Regulations
Product News(Akron/Tire Review) The National Highway Traffic safety Administration (NHTSA) this morning issued its final regulations concerning installation of tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) on all new passenger vehicles sold in the US.
The precise details of NHTSA’s new regulations must still be determined as a copy of the 187-page document was released only a few hours ago. NHTSA did note that final rule requires automakers to install “a system that can detect when one or more of the vehicle’s tyres are 25 per cent or more below the recommended inflation pressure.”
Goodyear Named North American Highway Hero
Product News(Akron/Tire Review) Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. named a Texas truck driver who saved a family trapped in their car in a water-filled ditch as its 22nd North American Highway Hero. The award was announced Mar. 31 at the Mid-America Truck Show in Louisville, Ky.
160 back at Goodyear’s Tennessee plant
Product News(Akron/Tire Review) With business picking up, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. will recall some 160 workers previously laid off from its Union City, Tenn., tire plant.
A Goodyear spokesman said there was no timetable for the laid off workers to return, and that they would be brought back over time. The workers being brought back were laid off last October when Goodyear cut 250 jobs at the plant.
Master Contract Proposal Sent To Striking Cooper Workers
Product News(Akron/Tire Review) According to reports, Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. sent a summary of its latest master contract proposal directly to striking Texarkana, Ark., plant workers last week, urging them to seek union permission to vote on the proposal.
The Texarkana Gazette reported that in the proposal and a letter from Cooper negotiating team to members of United Steelworkers of America (USWA) Local 752, Cooper officials said “it is important for you to see the entire final proposal that is on the table so you can make your own decisions as to whether this is a fair contract.”
Bridgestone North America Raises Prices
Product News(Akron/Tire Review) Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire (BFNAT) announced that it was raising prices on its Bridgestone, Firestone, Dayton, associate and private brand tire lines by up to 8%.
Goodyear’s Asia Pacific HQ in Shanghai
Product News(Akron/Tire Review) Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s push into the Chinese market will include a significant increase in its purchasing there, according to reports in China Daily. Chairman and CEO Robert Keegan was in China last week to announce Goodyear’s planned move of its Asia-Pacific operational headquarters from Akron to Shanghai.
Yokohama Rubber to Participate in Aircraft Interiors Expo 2005
Product NewsThe Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., will participate in the three-day Aircraft Interiors Expo 2005, which starts today at the Hamburg International Exhibition and Conference centre. The annual event is the world’s largest for aircraft interiors. The company will exhibit its lavatory modules and water tanks in its first appearance at the exposition.
Goodyear Increases Chinese Sourcing to $800 million
Product NewsGoodyear Tire & Rubber Co, will increase buying in China to a tenth of its global sourcing by 2010 from just 1 per cent now. That could boost sourcing in China to about $800 million within the next five years, chief executive Robert Keegan told Reuters, as the firm, which carries a heavy debt load, strives to lower costs.
“We purchase about $8 billion of both raw materials and other products and services…10 per cent would be $800 million, so it’s a considerable increase for us,” Mr Keegan said. The American firm is racing against rivals Michelin and Bridgestone Corp to supply China’s $6 billion tyre market, which state media has said is half controlled by foreign companies and grew about 30 per cent to some 239 million units in 2004.
Keegan said the firm would invest $120 million to double the capacity of its factory in the northern port city of Dalian to 5.3 million tyres annually. The expansion is expected to be completed by early 2007, he said.
Bridgestone Officially Opens Chinese Plant
Product NewsBridgestone has officially opened its Chinese Jiangsu Province facility that produces rubber anti-vibration components for automobiles in China. The plant is in the city of Changzhou, about 160 kilometres west of Shanghai.
Present at the ceremony were representatives from the Chinese government and municipal officials, as well as from Bridgestone. Tatsuya Okajima, a Bridgestone board member responsible for original equipment, and Hiromichi Odagiri a vice president and senior officer who serves as chief representative of Bridgestone tyre operations in China attended the event.
Toyo Fund Supports Overseas Projects
Product NewsThe Toyo Environmental Protection Fund has decided to expand its giving to not-for-profit orgnisations beyond Japan. Coinciding with the 60th anniversary year of Toyo Tire & Rubber’s foundation, this move demonstrates the collective commitment of the Toyo Group to playing a public service role commensurate with its growing presence in the world.
