Falken manufacturer SRI debuting Active Tread next year
Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) confirms that it will introduce tyres featuring its ‘Active Tread’ technology in 2024. Active Tread will arrive with SRI’s next-generation all-season tyre.
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SRI to “optimise” tyre business portfolio
Tyre-related business profit at Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) stood at 67.9 billion yen in 2016 and was still a respectable 41.4 billion yen in 2021, but last year dropped to 12.3 billion yen (£76.2 million). It’s therefore no surprise that SRI believes it has been investing too much capital in unprofitable businesses, and the company intends to change this.
SRI investigating vulcanisation to improve tyre performance
Sumitomo Rubber Industries has provided an update on research undertaken together with two partners, reporting they have “shed new light on the mysteries” surrounding the rubber vulcanisation process in tyre production. This knowledge may help the Falken brand manufacturer “further improve overall tyre performance” in future.
Tomatoes & fuel-efficient tyres: SRI announces another breakthrough
Sumitomo Rubber Industries, manufacturer of the Falken tyre brand as well as Dunlop tyres for many markets outside Europe, reports a breakthrough that will “accelerate the development of the ultimate fuel-efficient tyres.” This breakthrough involves tomatoes.
SRI tyre research benefits lithium-sulphur battery development
Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) and its research partners have developed a technology for measuring the structure and chemical state of matter at a nanoscale level and have employed this to visualise the sulphur compounds within lithium-sulphur batteries in greater detail than ever before. SRI anticipates not only improving the performance of lithium-sulphur batteries – the technology may also lead to better-performing tyres.
SRI investing in “advanced” tyre capacities, cutting “unprofitable” SKUs
Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) intends to raise production capacities at a number of its facilities around the world, but at the same time will remove some products from its portfolio in order to address rising costs. It will also aim for more “flexible” production allocation in response to changes in the business environment.
ISO 50001:2018 for SRI facility in Turkey
Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) reports that its tyre factory in Turkey has gained ISO 50001:2018 certification for its energy management system. The Sumitomo Rubber AKO Lastik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. facility in Çankırı, which produces passenger and light commercial vehicle tyres under the Falken and Dunlop brand names, is the third factory in the Sumitomo Rubber Group to obtain ISO 50001 certification, following the previous certification of factories in China (Changshu) and Brazil.
Better tyres – SRI says research “opens door” to rubber bioengineering
Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) reports progress in its joint work with professors from three universities to improve natural rubber yields and create new strains of rubber that will enhance tyre performance.
SRI: Testing breakthrough will lead to higher rubber yields
Japanese tyre maker Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. (SRI) says its collaboration in a research project has resulted in a technique that may improve natural rubber yields and even enable natural rubber biosynthesis within a laboratory.
SRI: Better tyre rubber through tomato research
Tyres and tomatoes. At first glance these have little in common apart from the same initial letter, but Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. may beg to differ. The Japanese manufacturer shares news of joint research work focusing on an enzyme that is found in tomatoes and has a similar structure to those involved in the biosynthesis of natural rubber.
Golf: SRI bolstering Dunlop brand equity
In addition to producing Dunlop tyres in certain international markets, Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) has held the global trademark for the Dunlop brand’s use on sporting goods and licenced products since 2017. In a move intended to enhance brand equity amongst golfers and fans of the sport, SRI is adding the Dunlop name to the caps worn by its contracted players. Starting with the Japan Golf Tour in March 2022, Dunlop will appear in place of the Srixon logo currently found on the back of these caps.
Sumitomo Rubber switches to green energy in China
The Sumitomo Rubber Group’s two tyre factories in the People’s Republic of China are now operating on 100 per cent renewably sourced energy. The transition to renewable was completed this month, and Sumitomo Rubber Industries says additional measures will further increase the Changshu and Hunan plants’ sustainability credentials.
SRI: Lower full-year forecast despite profit bounceback
Although Sumitomo Rubber Industries’ (SRI) sales revenues and particularly profit for the first nine months of 2021 were healthily above those achieved a year earlier, the Japanese firm has downwardly revised its sales and profit forecast for full-year 2021.
SRI technique makes sidewall lettering more distinctive
Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. (SRI) has unveiled its ‘Nano Black’ design technique. The company behind the Falken brand shares that the use of Nano Black is a process of applying a deeper black colouring to letters, logos and patterns on tyre sidewalls. This newly developed technique involves adding extremely fine ridges to the sidewall surface in order to inhibit the reflection of light, thereby producing a deeper shade of black than conventional hues.
SRI trialling hydrogen energy in tyre manufacture
This month, Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. (SRI) begins a proof-of-concept study to determine the viability of harnessing hydrogen energy for tyre manufacture. The study will take place at SRI’s plant in Shirakawa, Japan and is being supported by national research and development agency the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).
