According to the latest report from Reifen 2010 organiser Messe Essen GmbH, more than 500 exhibitors have now confirmed their participation at the trade show. Firms from more than 40 nations will thus present their tyre related products and services when the doors open at the exhibition in Essen, Germany open on June 1. This year’s show, the 26th to be held, includes the Innovation Award, which honours pioneering new developments within the industry.
The Aiken County, South Carolina passenger car and light commercial vehicle tyre manufacturing plant operated by Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (BATO) has earned LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver Certification from the US Green Building Council. This certification, explains BATO, recognises outstanding environmental building design and utilisation, and is rarely given to existing manufacturing sites. The Aiken County facility is the second BATO tyre plant to gain LEED certification – the company’s Warren County, Tennessee truck and bus tyre factory earned this distinction in November 2008. The two plants are the first LEED certified tyre manufacturing facilities in the US, and indeed the world.
The Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, (DJSI) published by SAM, have since 1999 given global indices that track the financial performance of the world’s leading sustainability-driven companies. Providing a basis for the DJSI is the Sustainability Yearbook 2010, published by SAM and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The Sustainability Yearbook 2010 contains sustainability insights into 58 sectors, with the top performers in each sector qualifying as “SAM Sector Leaders”. In addition, the companies that have achieved the most significant year-to-year improvement in their corporate sustainability performance in each sector are recognised as “SAM Sector Movers”.
Belgium’s Bekaert reports with pride that its CEO, Bert De Graeve, has been voted the country’s Manager of the Year by a jury panel made up of industry and academic specialists. Commenting on the jury’s report, the steel cord manufacturer notes that De Graeve is “praised for his strong leadership skills with which he guided Bekaert through a crisis year and his pro-active management and entrepreneurship which added to the company’s resilience.” Other qualities specifically singled out, Bekaert adds, were De Graeve’s “future-oriented approach focusing on innovation and internationalisation, the sustainability demonstrated in his work and the societal role he takes up in his function as CEO.”
Pirelli & C. SpA reports that in December the company’s credentials as a socially responsible firm for investors were confirmed by its addition to the ECPI Ethical Index EMU, the ethical finance index produced by Italian investment bank E. Capital Partners (ECPI), a leader in the rating of socially responsible investments.
Pirelli has been confirmed in the twice-yearly review of Financial Times sustainability indices FTSE4Good World and STOXX, for the seventh consecutive year. The indices measure corporate performance in terms of respect for international standards of economic, social and environmental sustainability. British independent research provider Eiris, working for the Financial Times, evaluated corporate characteristics including: sustainable supply chain management, ethical behavior rules, means of prevention and management of risk, environmental impact management and relations with stakeholders. The review did not admit new companies to the Automobiles & Parts segment of the indices, continuing to include Pirelli as the only Italian company included in that segment.
The Ford Motor Company recently held its 11th Annual World Excellence Awards, during which 36 suppliers were recognised for helping the company achieve superior quality, delivery, and cost performance, and for initiatives that improve customer satisfaction. One of the firms singled out for this honour was Michelin, recipient of the Corporate Responsibility award. The tyre major reports it received the Recognition of Achievement-Corporate Responsibility award for demonstrating innovation in reducing the environmental impact of Ford’s products and for leadership in three key areas: environmental and social considerations in business; human rights and working conditions; and corporate governance.
Back in March, Banbury-based Norbar Torque Tools Limited was named the regional winner in the £5-25m turnover category of the Coutts Prize for Family Business 2008/9. On 24th June, the company went one better when it was awarded the national title of Best UK Family Business in the same category. Norbar won the national title against strong competition from knitwear manufacturer John Smedley and specialist pharmaceutical and medical supplies distributor Durbin Plc. The national finals were held at the Coutts headquarters on the Strand in London.
Norbar employs 200 people in Banbury, with a further 90 staff within its sales companies in North America, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and China. The company's philosophy is about providing customers with high quality value for money products and services whilst being committed to the principals of environmental sustainability.
Hankook Tire is set to arrive in millions of homes across Europe courtesy of a new advertisement to be screened by BBC World News. The 20-second commercial, produced by the BBC Worldwide Client Solutions, focuses on Hankook’s enfren and Optimo 4S tyres, the first of which is due for its European launch next year.
The new campaign will run on BBC World News’ European feed from April to December 2009 in conjunction with Hankook’s global TV clip. “It’s great to welcome Hankook Tire as a first-time advertiser on BBC World News, and we hope that it will be the first of many campaigns they choose to broadcast on the channel,” commented John Williams, regional director Global Advertising Sales, BBC World News.
This month Hankook Tire began supplying Volkswagen’ Jetta, Jetta SportWagen and New Beetle cars manufactured at Volkswagen’s Puebla, Mexico plant and destined for North America with Optimo H725A tyres. Hankook already has fitments on Volkswagen cars in other global markets, but this development represents a significant increase in VW fitments on Volkswagens to be sold in Canada and the US, where the Jetta is the highest selling VW model vehicle.
“We are extremely excited to supply the Optimo for Volkswagen Jetta, Jetta SportWagen and New Beetle exports to the U.S. and Canadian markets. By leveraging our Kontrol Technology in the development of UHP products, Hankook Tire is able to tailor its products to current environmental sustainability standards, and this in turn allows Hankook Tire to deliver quality products to our consumers,” said Seung Hwa Suh, CEO, Hankook Tire, adding: “After working closely with Volkswagen as an OE supplier in other world markets, we have created excellent relationships, and we look forward to earning even more fitments on VW vehicles to be sold in the US and Canada.”
Norbar Torque Tools Limited from Banbury, has been named ‘Best UK Family Business, Southern England and Wales Region’, in the £5-25m turnover category of the Coutts Prize for Family Business 2008/9. The company will now go on to compete in the same category at the national finals to be held in central London on 23rd June 2009.
Established in 1942, Norbar as a third generation family business became the first company in Britain to commercially manufacture a torque wrench. The initial demand was driven by the need for the gasket-less cylinder head of the Rolls Royce Merlin engine to be accurately tightened. Since then, Norbar has continued to invest in the latest design, manufacturing and quality control technology to achieve the highest level of innovation and precision in the field of torque control and equipment. The company now employs 200 people in Banbury, with a further 90 staff within its sales companies in North America, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and China. The Company’s philosophy is about providing customers with high quality value for money products and services whilst being committed to the principals of environmental sustainability.
Tyre recycling firm PYReco plans to build a pioneering £80 million tyre recycling plant in North East England, the first of its kind in Europe. The scheme is underway thanks, in part, to the support of Renew, an organisation tasked with driving a low carbon and sustainability agenda with industry in the region.
The plant will be built at the South Tees Eco Park (STEP) in Tees Valley by 2010. It will use the relatively novel process of pyrolysis, a method of degrading material through heat, to recycle 60,000 tonnes of used tyres a year, the equivalent of 7.5 million tyres, without waste or harmful emissions. It is estimated that plant will create 90 jobs for the region.
Traditionally the uncompromising properties of the material have meant that tyres have been difficult to re-cycle, most often burnt in cement kilns. PYReco’s plant will provide a closed loop recycling route, breaking down used tyres into their component parts capable of being used in the production of brand new units.
Hankook Tire’s figures for 2008 reveal global tyre sales of KRW 4.07 trillion (£2.04 billion) during the year. This is, in the Korean currency, an increase of 25.8 per cent over 2007 tyre sales. Certain regions displayed a significant growth rate in sales: Russia saw an increase of 98 per cent, followed by a 50 per cent increase in Central and South America. In terms of product sales, the company UHP sector sales for 2008 were 35 per cent up on the previous year, and up 48 per cent in Europe.
Amtel Vredestein N.V. (AVNV) has announced that its subsidiary company OJSC Amtel-Vredestein (OJSC AV), the holding company of the group’s Russian business, is no longer able to satisfy its creditors’ demands. The AVNV executive board has determined that, due to the financial difficulties AVNV faces, it will not be able to provide any additional finance to OJSC AV. This development, says the company, may have “consequences for the going concern status of AVNV”, given a number of guarantees provided by AVNV in favour of the creditors of OJSC AV.
A Canadian family in Gravenhurst, Ontario is making ready to build a new family home with a distinctive new twist; it will be made from recycled tyres. “Tyres absorb the heat all day long, then release it at night as it gets cooler on the outside,” an excited Paul Punshon told local news sources. The architect of the scheme says that the used rubber has been easily sourced – people have paid him to get rid of them.
The tyres will be stacked and covered in concrete, which should allow them to provide the heating Punshon suggests they can. The entire home will be made from recycled objects and will attempt to reach self-sustainability. As for the building work, Paulson appears to have a willing and eager pool of potential helpers: “We are getting e-mails from all over Canada, the East Coast, (and) West Coast that say they will work for free, they just want to learn how to do it.”
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