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.
Senior managers from Westlake Tyres, which are manufactured by ZC Rubber in Hangzhou, China, are visiting Europe in a move intended to bring the company closer to its customers. Among others, the visiting committee will include import and export manager Johnson Su, European and Oceania regional manager Nick Zhou and representatives from the factory’s tyre engineers.
In addition to presenting its newest premium touring tyre at the motor show in Geneva, Bridgestone showed off two new technologies currently in development – one of which is currently being prepared for evaluation in the market. During the show, Tyres & Accessories spoke with Gert Meylemans, senior manager of the Bridgestone Europe EU Coms office, and Wilfried Rulands, marketing & communications manager at Bridgestone Germany about the tyre maker’s innovations and what is planned for them.
As you can imagine safety is a key concern for tyre buying consumers all year round, but it is an even more critical influencing factor in the winter months. However, what is interesting to learn from the Michelin research behind the recent Pilot Alpin 4 launch, is that the very same consumers that actively sought out expensive cars that allow them to drive towards their performance limits and tyres that allow them to safely feel the thrill of this experience have a different view when the weather’s cold. In the summer months it seems that it is all systems go, with handling and performance (which Michelin sums up as “control”) the order of the day. In the colder months what Michelin terms “mobility” is amongst the most desired characteristics. The same consumer that was impatient to hit the limits in summer is impatient to hit the road while other drivers are stuck at home in winter.
Fleet management company sgfleet, which manages over 70,000 cars and vans worldwide and more than 2,000 in the UK, has switched to a Michelin tyre policy for its British fleet. Previously sgfleet fitted an alternative brand of premium tyre, however the company’s UK CEO David Fernandes made the change to Michelin after better results were obtained in tests.
Television viewers in the US, should they so wish, can enjoy weather-related information and entertainment around the clock courtesy of The Weather Channel. This themed content is naturally interspersed with spells of advertising, and Cooper Tire & Rubber will soon become a familiar name to those chomping on their breakfast toast and cereal after entering into a partnership with the broadcaster.
Almost a year ago, PT Multistrada Arah Sarana Tbk announced plans to ensure a reliable supply of raw materials through the acquisition of up to around 30,000 hectares of rubber plantation land. In the end the tyre maker purchased 33,800 hectares in Kalimantan, Indonesia for around Rp3 trillion (£209 million) through its subsidiary PT Multistrada Agro Internasional. During a press conference held in Jakarta on 11 March, company president Pieter Tanuri shared details of this acquisition, stating that this year Multistrada aims to plant up to 1,000 hectares of rubber trees there, a project the firm has budgeted Rp398 billion (£27.7 million) for; 26 per cent of this will come from the proceeds of a recent rights issue. This is expected to be ready for harvest in the next five years.
Only a week after Cooper Tire & Rubber stated it will partner with Yulex Corporation on the development and evaluation of guayule as a source of natural rubber, Bridgestone Corporation has announced plans of its own to develop the plant into a commercially viable alternative to the hevea tree. The research project will be conducted in the United States as a joint collaboration between Bridgestone Corporation and Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations; the Japanese parent company will provide funding and strategic input, while the American subsidiary will be responsible for finding the suitable location and operating the pilot farm and process research facility. Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations will also leverage the resources of the Bridgestone Americas Center for Research and Technology and its Akron Technical Center to provide technical and research expertise.
A report from analysts Morgan Stanley reveals that preliminary figures released by the US Rubber Manufacturer Association (RMA) show a decline in aftermarket tyre sales in February of passenger car, light truck and commercial truck tyres.
Sino Legend (Zhangjiagang) Chemical Co., Ltd., purportedly the largest Asian manufacturer of resins for the tyre and rubber industries, has begun showcasing its state-of-the-art production facility as it looks to establish a greater presence in North American and European markets.
The company broke ground on its Zhangjiagang City plant in mid-2007, located approximately 80 miles from Shanghai. Built with future global expansion in mind, the facility has already doubled its production volume owing to increased demand.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has declared a quarterly dividend of 73.44 cents per share of mandatory convertible preferred stock. The payout represents an annual rate of $2.9375 per share.
In the last Michelin Annual and Sustainable Development Report that group managing partners Michel Rollier and Jean-Dominique Senard will jointly present, the two leaders of the French company commented on a 2011 punctuated by the start of the tyre maker’s new four-year business plan and rocketing commodity prices. For this year they share that growth is anticipated in emerging markets and North America, while Europe will most likely deliver more modest results. Rollier also expressed his “full and absolute” confidence in his successor, who is expected to take over sole leadership in May.
In a guest editorial for Reuters, Lanxess CEO Axel Heitmann has described low rolling resistance tyres as being a primary focus for the specialty chemicals company. “As the fastest growing sector in the tyre industry, “green tyres” have enormous growth potential and increase globally by around ten per cent per year. In Asia demand is currently increasing by as much as 14 per cent annually,” he stated. “Our position is therefore clear: Lanxess will continue to build on its leading position and expand its production capacities, particularly in Asia.” Heitmann expanded upon the Asian theme by sharing that Lanxess will produce 140,000 tonnes of Nd-PBR-rubber per annum at a new site in Singapore by 2015.
The internet was rife with theories about why some of Pirelli’s Formula One tyres at the Circuit de Catalunya appeared without the usual colour-coded sidewall markings. The favourite was that at the final test before the first Grand Prix in Australia teams would be keen to keep their testing programmes and therefore potential tyre strategies from other teams. The real reason was much less clandestine – Pirelli’s Motorsport manager, Paul Hembery explained to French magazine, Auto Plus that the tyres had been manufactured at a site other than its usual F1 manufacturing plant in Izmit. The tyres were provided as prototypes to test Pirelli’s ability to provide current F1 rubber if Turkey’s output was compromised by natural disaster.
With the increasing use of cold weather tyres across many European markets as a result of legislation, recent harsh winters, and increased product awareness, the development cycle for new models has reduced in length. The world’s biggest manufacturer, Bridgestone has responded to the increased interest in the segment – and the resultant quickening of technological improvements – by signing a long-term lease on its new Sweden Proving Ground (SPG), located in Vidsel in the north of the country under 100km from the polar circle, and an hour’s drive north of Lulea airport. Its representatives told tyrepress.com that the estimated new seasonal product cycle would now be “no more than two winters”, since the “life cycle of a winter tyre is getting shorter”.
Parthenium argentatum, or guayule, is a flowering shrub native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, and can be used as an alternative source of latex. It is precisely this quality that has piqued the interest of Cooper Tire & Rubber. The tyre maker has looked into alternative latex sources for a couple of years now and on 29 February it announced having entered into an agreement with Yulex Corporation to jointly evaluate and develop guayule polymers and resins for tyre applications.
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