Fire At Thai Goodyear Plant
A fire that started early Wednesday at a tire factory owned by Goodyear (Thailand) PCL damaged a raw material warehouse, but other operations weren’t affected, a policeman told Dow Jones Newswires.
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A fire that started early Wednesday at a tire factory owned by Goodyear (Thailand) PCL damaged a raw material warehouse, but other operations weren’t affected, a policeman told Dow Jones Newswires.
In its latest move to cut costs, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. has transferred 100 human resources jobs in Akron to a sub contractor. The company has signed a 10-year agreement with Affiliated Computer Services Inc. of Dallas. All employees affected have been offered jobs at similar conditions with ACS. Some human resources functions will stay in house under the agreement, ACS will provide a wide range of human resources services, including payroll, medical benefits administration, training, recruiting and staffing for all Goodyear employees in North America.
Rodney O’Neal, the president of Delphi Corporation’s Dynamics, Propulsion, Thermal and Interior Sector, has been elected to the Board of Directors of The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. “Rodney has demonstrated outstanding leadership throughout his many business management successes at General Motors and Delphi,” said Goodyear Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert J. Keegan. “We are confident he will make significant contributions to our board.” In his present position, which he has held since 2003, O’Neal is also responsible for Delphi’s operations in Europe and South America and serves as executive champion for its Ford Motor Company customer team. He is a member of the Delphi Strategy Board, the company’s top internal policy-making group. The election of O’Neal brings the size of Goodyear’s board to ten members, nine of whom are independent..
Bridgestone Corporation has announced that it has begun raising tyre prices by around 5 per cent in Asia, Oceania, the Middle East, Africa and Russia to offset the rising cost of natural rubber and other raw materials. The price increases vary by product and by market and largely apply to radial and bias tyres for passenger cars, light trucks, trucks and buses sold under the Bridgestone and Firestone brands.
Cooper Tire and Rubber has announced increased capital equipment investments in three of their four US tyre manufacturing facilities. This increase provides additional production capacity of more than 2.4 million units. The 32.1 million US dollar investment will include the purchase of new tyre building machinery and presses and add 116 additional manufacturing employees.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s newest blimp, the “Spirit of America”, which crashed during a landing six weeks ago, will fly again. The company has announced that it will rebuild the damaged airship and return it to the skies by late summer. The rebuilding project will take place at Goodyear’s Wingfoot Lake airship hangar in Suffield Township. The blimp will keep its name, and will not undergo any design changes. The blimp’s envelope sustained a large gash when it hit a fence. Workers will replace the damaged envelope with a spare envelope, which the company already has on hand, spokeswoman Jennifer Arnold said. The gondola suffered minor damages, and will be repaired, she said. The engine, fins and propellers were undamaged, she added.
Goodyear’s process preserves the rubber’s chemical composition and molecular weight, leaving the rubber suitable for re-compounding and re-curing into new products. It uses an environmentally friendly, recyclable solvent. “Initial tests resulted in a 40 percent recovery rate of the raw polymer with its structure essentially preserved, and through process improvements, we’ve been able to achieve an 80 percent recovery level. This demonstrates that the chemistry to recover polymer close to its original state is possible.”
Mark Emkes says his top priority as the new chief executive of Bridgestone Americas Holding Inc. is to make the division he headed the past year turn a profit. As the Nashville-based business continues its turnaround from a devastating tyre recall in 2000, three units are making money. Not Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire, which includes tyre manufacturing and sales of wholesale and original equipment. “We’ve made nice progress over the last 12 months, but the goal for 2004-2005 is to make that business profitable,” said Emkes, who will continue heading that division even as he takes over the entire company after John Lampe retires on March 31st.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has announced that it has reached global supply agreements to become a major tyre supplier to the Volvo Group in Europe and Brazil. Last month, Goodyear was named standard equipment tyre supplier for the Volvo Group’s Volvo and Mack truck operations in North America. Goodyear, with the three-year contracts, will now be a key supplier to the Volvo Group’s three major truck brands – Mack, Renault and Volvo – on three continents. “Reaching this global agreement with a world-class customer such as Volvo is a major accomplishment and a testament to Goodyear’s product quality, technology and customer service – not only on one continent, but on three,” said Robert J. Keegan, Goodyear’s chairman and chief executive officer.
Toyo Tire & Rubber has published its figures for the first half fiscal 2004 (six months ended 30.9.2003), which show a decrease in turnover to 900 million Euro. For the year as a whole, Toyo anticipates a turnover of 1.93 billion Euro, with tyres accounting for 1.233 billion, or 64 per cent. The full year operating income is predicted to be half the previous year’s level, at 50 million Euro, of which 75 per cent will come from tyres.
Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. intends to establish a sales network of more than 400 stores in China within two years in and plans to take a 10 per cent share of the Chinese tyre market by 2010. The company, whose first tire factory in China will go onstream in April, aims to develop a customer base in China, where it currently has almost no sales. Sumitomo Rubber teamed up with Tyre Pacific (HK) Ltd. of Hong Kong to create a joint venture to oversee sales in China. The joint venture, SRI-TP JV Co., is capitalized at 6 million US dollars.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company announces that Freightliner LLC, North America’s largest manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks, has named Goodyear as its standard tyre supplier. Officials of Goodyear and Freightliner recently signed the agreement, and Freightliner has begun communicating this decision to its network of truck dealers. “Being awarded new business is a testament to what Goodyear offers, in terms of products, service and a network of commercial outlets. And having a customer like Freightliner choose Goodyear to be its standard tyre supplier really makes us proud,” said Steve McClellan, Goodyear’s vice president of commercial tyre systems. Goodyear is supplying a variety of truck tyres for Freightliner LLC’s various commercial vehicle needs. This includes supply to the company’s commercial vehicle brands Freightliner, Sterling, Western Star, American LaFrance and Thomas Built Buses.
Ernest H. Zielasko has died after a short illness. He was 84. Zielasko was for many years editor and publisher of Modern Tire Dealer and in 1971 was co-founder of Rubber & Plastics News. He sold the publication in 1976 to Crain Communications to finance the best possible medical treatment for his son Jeff, who died at the age of 19. In the book ‘Jeff’s Denial’ he described his memories and son’s fight against leukaemia. Until his retirement in 1986 Ernest Zielasko worked as Vice President for Crain’s Rubber Industry Publications. His son David is editor of Tire Business.
Cooper Tire & Rubber announced that John F. Fiedler (65) has stepped down from his post on the board. Fiedler had been a director of the Company since April 2002. Upon the announcement of his resignation, Fiedler commented, “It has been a privilege to serve on the Cooper board. This is truly a quality organization with solid leadership. I am proud of my affiliation with Cooper and the time I invested here.”
Standard & Poor’s has said it may cut its rating on Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. deeper into junk territory, following the company’s announcement on Wednesday of possible accounting problems in Europe. “The announcement raises potential accounting concerns in a Goodyear operation that has been seen as solidly profitable,” S&P credit analyst Martin King said in a release. “Ratings could be lowered if the investigation results in material accounting adjustments, leading to substantial financial reporting delays, or has a negative impact on the company’s prospective liquidity and access to capital,” he said. S&P said it may cut Akron, Ohio-based Goodyear’s corporate credit rating of “BB-minus”, its third-highest junk rating.
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