Kumho has announced that its three tyre plants in South Korea will be closed until Monday 20 April following a sustained period of slowing sales. The measure is designed to keep company inventories under control, according to a press release.
Following four years’ of development South Korean company Teong Kim Enterprises has announced the successful testing of a new tyre design that it says “significantly improves” performance in wet conditions. During a press conference in Seoul on April 1, company representatives outlined the fundamental technology used in the experimental ‘wTyre’, and the potential benefits tyre manufacturers may reap from it.
A decision taken by the European Commission on March 2 means that the way is clear for JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s ‘One Equity’ private equity unit to take on sole ownership of carbon black manufacturer Columbian Chemicals. The former minority shareholder will pay US$150 million for a 66.75 per cent chunk in the Columbian Chemicals, which is currently owned by South Korea’s DC Chemical Co. Ltd. The South Korea based Columbian Chemicals facilities will, however, continue to be owned and operated by DC Chemical.
Equity Investment company One Equity Partners has agreed to pay $150 million to acquire the remaining 66.75 per cent stake in Columbian Chemicals Holding LLC that it does not already own. Columbian Chemicals, based in the US state of Georgia, manufactures carbon black for use in tyres and plastic products.
The payment of bonuses to approximately 3,000 Kumho Tire employees in South Korea have been delayed due to, according to a company official, the “company’s liquidity problem.” South Korean vehicle manufacturers are currently experiencing a sharp decline in sales, the affects of which have been passed onto tyre makers.
The annual bonus payment, said the official, has been indefinitely postponed, however the company “will make its utmost efforts” to pay the bonus of 2.5 million won (£1,350) per worker.
South Korea’s Kumho Tires has appointed Byung Choo Kim to the newly created position of president of Sales and Marketing. BC Kim, a BSc graduate from Sopang University, commenced his career at Daewoo Industrial in 1978. A variety of international roles for the Daewoo Corporation then followed before he joined Kumho as head of its China Office in January 2007.
On November 24th, Kumho Tire announced the winners of the 10th ‘Kumho Tire College Ad Contest’, a competition it says is held with the aim of inspiring passion and creativity among college students in South Korea. This year’s contest attracted more than 3,000 entries, from which 12 winners were selected.
In addition to nurturing passion and creativity in college students, Kumho Tire says that its advertisement contest has also played a vital role as a communication channel that has aided the company in understanding the needs of consumers. The contest themes range from corporate brand and Manchester United sponsorship advertisements to corporate public relations about the company’s environmental protection activities, with a focus on delivering a social message.
According to South Korea’s Yonhap news service, the production of truck and bus tyres began today at Kumho Tire’s new facility in China. The US$100 million plant in Nanjing has a capacity to produce 300,000 bus and truck tyres per annum, the company said in a statement.
The Kumho Asiana Group has held its ‘5th Kumho Asiana Group Technology Awards Ceremony’ in South Korea. The ceremony in Seoul was attended by some 150 executives, including Kumho Asiana Group chairman Sam-Koo Park. This year the company’s technology award was presented to three employees from the Kumho Petrochemical rubber research team, along with team director Young-Hoon Koh. In total, ten teams were honoured with awards at the ceremony.
South Korea’s second largest tyre manufacturer, Kumho Tire, said on October 21 that its third-quarter net loss had increased from the previous year, the result of rising raw material prices and a tyre surplus. The AsiaPulse news service reports that Kumho recorded a loss of KRW 30.8 billion (£13.6 million) in the three months ending September 30, compared with a net loss of KRW 10.7 in the corresponding quarter of 2007.
The Korea Times reports that four Hankook Tire employees have been named victims of a chemical used at a company facility between 1999 and 2003. In an article titled ‘Hankook Tire Cornered’, the South Korean English-language daily says that the government’s acknowledgement, according to lawmakers, shows a “possible relation between the solvent HV-250, a non-benzene compound, and the workers’ health.”
One of the victims is said to have contracted peripheral neuropathy after he was exposed to the solvent, stated the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency on October 13. The agency said another 48 year-old worker’s acute leukemia seems to have also been caused by his 20 years of being exposed to a solvent the company previously used. This particular substance formerly contained benzene.
Rising fuel costs have prepared fertile soil for hybrid vehicles to enter the motoring mainstream, and this in turn is creating an unprecedented demand for lithium-ion batteries, the fuel cell of choice for hybrids. To meet this anticipated surge in demand, Robert Bosch GmbH and Samsung SDI Co. Ltd. are establishing a development, manufacturing and sales joint venture. The new South Korea based company is to be named “SB LiMotive Co. Ltd.” and will start operations in September 2008.
Each company will hold a 50 per cent shareholding and be equally represented on the board of management and on the board of directors. The venture’s foundation is, adds Bosch, still subject to approval by antitrust authorities.
Hankook Tire Co., share price corrected today after the price soared yesterday on the back of speculation that Michelin was gearing up for a takeover. Speaking to Tyres & Accessories and other news sources, Michelin denied this and Hankook’s share price today fell 5.2 per cent to 15,450 won after a 12 per cent gain yesterday. According to Bloomberg, the stock has dropped 14 per cent this year, compared with an 8.2 per cent decline in South Korea’s Kospi index. “Investors are selling Hankook Tire shares because they realize the chance of a takeover is very low,” Seoul-based Bookook Securities analyst Ahn Joong Hoon told Bloomberg. He continues to rate the stock as “buy.”
Kumho Tires makes no secret of its ambition to stand amongst the world’s top five tyre companies by 2015, and one channel the company says it will use to achieve this is to strengthen the Kumho R&D network. One key part of the South Korean manufacturer’s strengthening programme is the planned Kumho central R&D centre in Yong-in, Gyeonggi Province, and on May 15 an official ceremony was held to mark the start of construction work at the site. Numerous company executives and employees, including CEO Sae-Chul Oh, attended the ceremony.
The anticipated completion date for the central R&D centre is the latter half of next year. A sum of 70 billion KRW will be invested into the project, which will cover a floor space of 24,092 square metres and a land area of 34,842 square metres. The facility is planned to be, says Kumho, one of the world’s top three central R&D centres.
Kumho’s new tyre manufacturing plant in Vietnam’s Binh Duong province was inaugurated on March 5, reports the Vietnam Economic Times. Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung and South Korea’s Ambassador to Vietnam, Lim Hong-che, were present at the ceremony, during which a memorandum of understanding regarding investing a further US$300 million in stage two of the facility was signed.
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