The European Institute of Purchasing Management (EIPM) has granted the 2013 EIPM Peter Kraljic Excellence Award for ‘Value Creation – Extended Enterprise’ to steel cord manufacturer Bekaert during the 2013 annual EIPM Purchasing Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
According to an article published in Italian newspaper La Repubblica today, Pirelli intends to divest its ‘Steelcord’ business and has attached a €250 million price tag to it. The publication says Pirelli is now in the final stages of negotiations with Bekaert regarding a potential sale.
Tyre maker Continental says a machine it has co-developed offers a new approach to recycling the rubberised steel cord scrap that arises during the manufacturing process. The unit, which has been named the ‘Hurricane Machine’, separates uncured rubber compound and steel cord by a process Continental that claims is a tyre industry world first.
Within the coming 12 months, Bridgestone Corporation will close its steel cord facility in Kuroiso, Japan and consolidate production into its remaining Japanese steel cord plant, Saga. The company says these measures will commence immediately and it expects to complete them by late September 2014.
Hankook says it is rejuvenating its line-up for the refitting/tuning market and in spring 2014 will introduce a new high performance wide tyre, the Ventus V12 evo². In addition to considerable improvements in all performance parameters over the prior-generation Ventus V12 evo, the manufacturer reports that environmental characteristics were also a key element for the development team when creating the V12 evo².
Current estimates place the global container trade at around 600 million teu, or 20 foot container equivalents, per annum. And if the experts’ predictions pan out, this business will grow significantly in the coming years. Continental has thus identified harbour and port users as an interesting segment and has developed a completely new product range catering to their requirements. At this week’s TOC Container Supply Chain Europe exhibition in Rotterdam, the company launched its new harbour tyre portfolio, and explained the technology it hopes will optimise end-user total cost of ownership.
Hankook unveiled several new commercial tyres at the CV Show, including the bead to bead retread truck tyre the Alphatread. Additionally Hankook’s latest truck tyres, which aim to fill a gap it identifies between medium and long haul transportation, were displayed, while the brand raised interest in its stand through its sporting sponsorships. Tom May and Phil Dowson, players from Northampton Saints RFC visited the stand, while Hankook also ran a competition to win VIP tickets to football’s Europa League semi-final, a partnership that was announced at last year’s show.
If the weather in Europe is anything it is fickle, and the last couple of years have thrown several extremes our way. Hankook recognises that all-season tyres may be very much at home in our unpredictable conditions and has introduced an entirely new range of medium to long haul truck tyres for all-season purposes. The range is called Smartflex and consists of each three main sizes for steer and drive axle tyres. Hankook says the M+S marked tyres are designed to handle increased load capacities and to provide driving safety under changing weather conditions.
The newest addition to the Mitas ERL earthmover tyre range has been unveiled at Bauma 2013. Like other products in the ERL range, the 20.5R25 ERL-50, which will be released globally in July, is intended for use on loaders, dozers and graders operating in rocky conditions. With the addition of the ERL-50, the ERL line-up now covers 12 sizes with tread depths ranging from 28 to 90mm.
Dutch tyre manufacturing equipment maker VMI Group has announced plans to launch a new “Flexx” belt builder in February. According to the company, this technology offers the ability to produce OE quality belts for products up to UHP tyres in “a flexible and cost effective way.” VMI reports that one way it does this is by utilizing an extrusion process rather than calendaring.
Michelin says it is setting its sights on the pan-European Euro 6 coach market with the launch of a new 7.5-tonne load capacity X-Coach HL Z tyre, a product that incorporates the company’s patented InfiniCoil technology. The new tyre is available solely as a 295/80 R22.5 fitment, a size Michelin expects will become the dominant tyre on the majority of Euro 6 coaches sold across Europe.
When Goodyear sold its steel tyre cord factories in Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg and Asheboro, US to Korea’s Hyosung Corporation in mid-2011, the tyre maker reported entering into a multi-year agreement for Hyosung to supply it with finished wire products. Now, less than 18 months after Goodyear sold the plants and the right to use certain patents and know-how for US$50 million, Hyosung Corporation has announced the closure of the Asheboro facility. Some 310 employees will be affected by this decision.
Pirelli & C. SpA has announced first quarter revenues of 1.556.5 billion euros, up 11.1 per cent compared with 1,400.9 million euros in 31 March 2011. Pre-tax profits (EBIT) after restructuring charges grew by almost half to 209.4 million euros (up 46.1 per cent compared with 143.3 million in the first quarter 2011).
In recent times run-flat champion BMW has spurned this particular sort of tyre for a number of entry-level models, and now it is offering its 316d to 320d and 316i to 320i with standard tyres. Hankook has been selected as a supplier for this more affordable end of the range; its Ventus S1 evo² has will be fitted in size 205/60 R16 W as original equipment. Following on from the Mini and the 1-Series, the new 3-Series is the third BMW Group model to be fitted with the Korean manufacturer’s tyres.
Continental has expanded its range of second generation long haul truck tyres first introduced in 2010 with the launch of two new products, the HDL2+ and HSL2+. In releasing the new drive and steer tyres, the manufacture shares that they offer greater overall mileage than the previous generation tyres and offer optimised driving properties and handling thanks to new micro-sipes in the longitudinal grooves.
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