Sumitomo Rubber reports that the company has developed a new tyre-sensing technology called Sensing Core. Sensing Core is designed to detect road conditions, tyre load and other information by analyzing the wheel speed signals that are generated by the rotation of the tyres. Sumitomo says the technology will play a role in the advancement of autonomous vehicle technology.
A further evolution of the proprietary DWS (Deflation Warning System) technology from Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. (SRI) makes it possible to detect road conditions, tyre loads and other information without the need for dedicated sensors, the Japanese manufacturer reports. SRI calls this new tyre sensing technology ‘Sensing Core’, and says it obtains the above information by analysing the wheel speed signals that are generated when a tyre rotates.
Researchers from Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) and two Japanese universities have received an award from Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The Science and Technology (Development Category) award was bestowed upon the five researchers during the 2017 Commendations for Science and Technology and was given for their contribution towards tyre development through the coordinated utilisation of advanced technologies.
Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. (SRI) has completed the process of acquiring the Dunlop brand business of the UK based Sports Direct International plc (SDI). As announced on 27 December 2016, SRI reached an agreement with SDI to acquire their trademark rights to the Dunlop brand in various countries and territories, as well as SDI’s Dunlop sporting goods and licensing business, for the purchase price of US$137.5 million. The transaction was finalised on 3 April 2017.
Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. (SRI) has completed its acquisition of Micheldever Group Ltd., having purchased 128,787 shares from Graphite Capital Management LLP – an enterprise value of £215 million. Upon the transaction’s closure, SRI owns a business that generated sales of approximately £320 million in the last financial year and is the holding company of Micheldever Tyre Services Ltd, an operation that employs 1,574 people and sells some 6 million tyres a year.
On 5 January, Micheldever announced that it was being purchased by Sumitomo Rubber Industries of Japan (the company behind Falken, one of Micheldever’s key exclusive brands). While it was no surprise that the business had been sold, the idea that Sumitomo would be the successful bidder was not widely foreseen. With Micheldever having grown into a leading position in the UK wholesale sector with a multi-brand, independent retailer-focused strategy, the acquisition raises many questions for the business’s staff, suppliers and customers. With this in mind, a week after Sumitomo’s purchase Tyres & Accessories met with Micheldever managing director, Duncan Wilkes; wholesale director, Alan Baldwin; and wholesale marketing manager Rory Carlin to find out more about the background to the deal.
Sumitomo Rubber Industries’ (SRI) £215 million acquisition of the Micheldever Group from Graphite Capital, including Micheldever Tyre Services (MTS), the UK’s second largest distributor of tyres, “ensures continuity” of the management and multi-segment brand strategy, according to MTS chief executive Duncan Wilkes. The move also extends the trend of tyre manufacturers buying into – or indeed buying back into – retail through the acquisition of the UK’s largest chains. In April 2016, Tyres & Accessories pointed out that Micheldever’s Protyre chain was the largest growing in the annual survey of the market’s retail landscape – a factor that will have informed the purchase – and three of the top five (Michelin’s ATS Euromaster and Goodyear Dunlop’s HiQ franchise chain) are now manufacturer controlled.
Japan’s Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. has announced its intended acquisition of Micheldever Group Ltd. from Graphite Capital Management LLP. for an enterprise value of £215 million. The tyre maker states its decision to purchase Micheldever is closely linked to the aim of strengthening the market position of its Falken tyre brand in the UK.
On 27 December, Japan’s Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. entered into an agreement with UK-based sporting goods retailer Sports Direct International plc to acquire the international trademark rights for the Dunlop brand and the brand’s sporting goods and licencing businesses. The transaction carries a purchase price of US$137.5 million.
Since gaining a much greater degree of freedom to conduct business in North America and Europe with the dissolution of its global alliance with Goodyear in October 2015, the Sumitomo Rubber Group has striven to enhance its R&D, production and sales infrastructure to better serve these markets. As part of these efforts, the tyre maker has built a new, 3,500 square metre USA Technical Center on the grounds of its Tonawanda factory in New York State. Sumitomo Rubber Industries reports that this facility will become fully operational in January 2017. The company is also moving forward with the preparations for a Europe Technical Center, which it expects to be fully operational as of September 2017.
Sumitomo Rubber Industries has announced a name change for SRI Europe GmbH. As of 1 January 2017, this Germany-based subsidiary will be known as Sumitomo Rubber Europe GmbH. All contact details remain unchanged, and the wholly-owned subsidiary will continue to be located at Donaustraße 23, 63452 Hanau, Germany.
Open access scientific journal eLife has published the result of joint research into Hevea brasiliensis rubber particles conducted by Sumitomo Rubber Industries and the Graduate School of Engineering at Japan’s Tohoku University. In addition to their publication in eLife, the results were also presented at the International Rubber Conference (IRC 2016 Kitakyushu) in Japan on 26 October.
Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. has begun supplying its Falken Sincera SN250 A/S to Volkswagen AG for use as a factory standard tyre on its Golf Alltrack, which goes on sale in North America this autumn.
On 5 October, Sumitomo Rubber (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (SRT), the Sumitomo Rubber Group’s tyre manufacturing and sales subsidiary in Thailand, celebrated the tenth anniversary of operations at its passenger car and agricultural/industrial tyre plant in Rayong Province. The festivities were attended by around 300 guests, including the Governor of Rayong Province, representatives from various government agencies, business partners, customers and factory staff, as well as Ikuji Ikeda, president of Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd (SRI).
Japan’s Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) has signed up as a participant in the International Rubber Study Group’s Sustainable Natural Rubber Initiative (SNR-i). As a result, the tyre maker says it has “now committed itself to enacting measures in conformity with the initiative’s guidelines.”
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