truck tyres Archives - Page 200 of 206 - Tyrepress

Truck Tyres

Posts

Continental Tire: Break even will be reached in 2005

So far the acquisition of General Tire in 1987 has not been a success story. During this year the loss will amount to 100 million Euro at least. This has to be changed, according to Conti’s chairman Manfred Wennemer and Martin de Louw who is responsible for Continental’s passenger tyre division and works in the North American headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. The two set out the goal: during the last quarter of 2005 the break-even point has to be reached. Wennemer puts his hope in de Louw as a new member of the board. De Louw in his strategy focuses on new products, the extension of low cost production sites such as Mexico, and the persuasion of a multi-brand strategy that in turn is borne by the brands Continental and General Tire. For the replacement market Continental hopes for good business with the car dealers because the tyres with the prancing horse have been widely sold on the OE market during the last couple of years – there will be a pull-through effect. Wennemer states clearly that Continental will continue its business with truck tyres in North America because this division has always been very profitable.

6th November 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Toyo doubles capacity

T&A talks to Martin Sutherland, general manager at Toyo in the UK, for an update on the company development.

Toyo is perhaps one of the most recognised mid-market brands in the UK. A series of targeted media campaigns both above and below the line have gone a long way to establishing the brand as the performance tyre of choice for many driving enthusiasts. In spite of the success of the UK operation it remains answerable to Toyo Reifen in Germany, so there is no UK managing director, the head of the chain of command in the UK is Martin Sutherland. Martin Sutherland has been with Toyo in the UK for the past 21 years, joining the company from Pirelli; so he knows a thing or two about the market in the UK.

Toyo has recently moved premises at Rushden. The re-location was only about 100 yards up the road, but the new premises have doubled the available storage space allowing Toyo to improve its stock capacity and as consequentially improve its service to its customers. Martin Sutherland says, “We have virtually doubled our stock capacity by moving to this unit. It offers us 70,000 square feet, which is twice the area of the old unit. However, we have managed to relocate without too great a disruption to our service or distribution. In fact, in the past we used to hold stock at the dockside and at one point had as many as 70 containers sitting in storage. All that stock is now held here, and we still have room to expand.

“One of the limitations we had on developing the business was the warehouse capacity and our restriction on turning stock around. That is no longer an issue and that allows us to offer a full width of patterns and sizes in all ranges. That gives us the potential to further build the business and we have the capacity here to grow considerably in all areas.”

The wholesale and distribution side of the tyre trade is going through a period of expansion and we could point to a number of companies investing considerable sums in new premises and expanding coverage. Toyo, though, is probably one of the few manufacturers talking so positively of expansion. What makes Toyo such a strong developer at this stage?

“There are probably a number of contributory factors,” says Martin Sutherland, “In the last fiscal year to 2003 we had our best ever results in terms of income and in terms of unit sales. In a market said to have declined by 2 per cent we saw an across the board increase of 12 per cent. That includes passenger car, 4×4, light truck and truck tyres. In high performance car tyres we saw a 37 per cent increase in sales.”

Winning volume and value in today’s tyre market is an uphill struggle, competing against established brands and in some sectors having to fend off price-led competition from the far east means that a 12 per cent increase is no mean feat. What do you attribute the success to?

“Without doubt,” says Martin Sutherland, “Much of our success is due to the quality of the marketing campaigns we have established over the years. Mike Rignall came to Toyo with the remit to redevelop our marketing and to increase brand awareness and he has done an excellent job in raising our profile in the trade and with the consumer. The way we have marketed the brand is now paying dividends for us. We established a policy of exclusivity for dealers and we have stuck to that policy and we have ensured that our availability is good.”

9th October 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Hangzhou Zhongce to make tyres for Cooper

Cooper Tire & Rubber has signed an agreement with Hangzhou Zhongce, whereby the Chinese manufacturer will produce 250,000 – 350,000 radial medium truck tyres (RMTs) a year. Moulds and other equipment are being transferred to China from Cooper’s plant at Albany, Georgia, where all of Cooper’s RMTs are currently manufactured. Albany makes 25,000 tyres daily, of which 1,200 are RMTs and the plant employs 1,500 workers. The Chinese-made tyres will be produced under Cooper’s brand names and will be manufactured according to Cooper’s technical specifications.

8th October 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Wolverhampton car tyre production to cease

Goodyear Dunlop Tyres UK Limited has announced that it has initiated an information and consultation process with Union Representatives regarding possible redundancies as a result of the removal of car and radial light truck tyre production at its Plant in Wolverhampton, West Midlands. The company has advised the UK Department of Trade and Industry and our Unions today that we will be ceasing production of car and radial light truck tyres in Wolverhampton and that up to 420 associates could potentially be affected. The remaining production from Wolverhampton is unaffected by this decision, with tractor tyre manufacturing and other processes used in tyre production, such as mixing, calendering and retreading, continuing on the site.

23rd September 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyre manufacturers report first half results

A number of tyre companies have published financial results for the first half of the year, with figures varying from not-so-good to impressive. These are analysed in detail in the magazine, but some brief highlights are as follows:

Michelin: Sales were down 6 per cent to 7.348 billion Euro, but excluding currency effects, this would be a rise of 4.4 per cent. Operating profit rose one per cent to 578 million Euro and net income was 165 million Euro; below what was expected, but this was almost entirely due to charges of 178 million Euro for restructuring in Spain, where 1,200 jobs will go over the next three years.
At an analyst meeting, Michelin executives were extremely cautious concerning the outlook for the rest of the year, forecasting a drop in volume for the second half and only a slight improvement in the impact of currency fluctuations. Other obstacles to improvement are the continuing high costs of raw materials and the continuing losses of the recently-acquired Viborg chain. The acquisition was a major factor in the 0.1 billion Euro increase in Michelin’s debt, to 3.9 billion Euro.

Goodyear: Second quarter (Q2) figures reveal that the company lost $73.6 million, compared to a net income in Q2 last year of $28.9 m. Sales were up nearly 8 per cent at $3.8 billion (3.5 bn), but volumes were down half a million units to 52.8 million pieces. The single most important factor in the deterioration of operating performance was an increase in raw material costs of around, $124 million, said Goodyear, even though this was offset in part by cost reductions, improved price and mix and a positive currency translation benefit of some $9 million.
The net loss for the first six months of the year was $236.9 million (1H 2002: $34.3 million loss). The 2003 figures included a rationalisation charge of $78.6 million to cater for staff reductions, while the 2002 figures were boosted by an income benefit of around £10 million as a result of the Ford tyre replacement programme. Sales for the first six months of 2003 reached $7.3 billion; 7.6 per cent up on the 1H 2002 figure of $6.8 billion. Tyre unit volume was down at 105.4 million units (106.3 m).

Continental: 2Q results exceeded the forecasts of industry experts. Compared with 2Q 2002, turnover was down 3.4 per cent to 2.825 billion Euro (2.925 bn), but operating income rose 11.3 per cent to 216 million Euro (194 m), against a forecast of 187 million Euro.
Of the four divisions, Car Tyres, Truck Tyres and Continental Automotive Systems (CAS) all showed slight reductions in turnover compared with 2Q last year, while ContiTech was up slightly. When it came to operating income, however, Truck Tyres was the only sector to show a decrease, while the best performance came from Car Tyres, which posted a 44.2 per cent improvement.
The group’s operating margin was 7.6 per cent and, while the car tyre and truck tyre divisions were slightly below this (6.7 and 7.4 per cent). ContiTech and CAS achieved 8.5 and 9.0 per cent respectively. Industry analysts were pleased at the figures, saying that the group is exhibiting “improving internal dynamics and a favourable mix of businesses with some growth and some cash flow contributors.”

Trelleborg Wheel Systems: TWS achieved sales for the first half of the year of 1,470 million Swedish Kroner (SEK), or 160.2 million Euro. Operating profit was up 33 per cent to SEK 84 million (9.15 m Euro), compared with last year’s first half figure of SEK 63 million (6.87 m Euro). During the second quarter, turnover was SEK 713 million (77.7 m Euro) and operating profit was SEK 39 million (4.25 m Euro).
Operating profit was favourably affected by the company’s restructuring programme, an improved product mix and increased productivity. High raw material prices were partially offset by price increases, especially in farm tyres.

4th September 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Marangoni Tread success in Brazil

A success story for Marangoni is its activities in Brazil, thousands of miles from its European activities. Marangoni’s involvement in Brazil began in the early 90s as a partnership with Brazilian market leader UNISA for the transfer of technology for the manufacture and marketing of the Ringtread product. At its height, there was a network of 15 authorised RTS dealers in Brazil.

However, the serious economic downturn saw UNISA go bankrupt, threatening Marangoni’s progress in Brazil, but the operation in that country was kept alive by the determination of a group of former directors of UNISA, headed by Mr. Dary Fernando Figueiredo. The reason that Marangoni was so keen to remain established in Brazil is that the country is the world’s second largest market for retreads, with a monthly consumption of 12,000 tonnes of rubber, which corresponds to some 10 million retreaded truck tyres annually.

In 1998, Mr. Dary Fernando Figueiredo founded a new company with its head office in Sao Paulo, which had a small warehouse and just one customer. This eventually became Marangoni do Brasil and, in April 2001, a new facility was opened for the production of precured treads, representing an investment equivalent to nearly 12.6 million Euro at current exchange rates and covering an area of 53,000 square metres. Growth was rapid and, in 2002, the volume of treads produced reached 220,000, for 30 customers. The key to this success lies in the close partnership established between authorised dealers and Marangoni do Brasil; a relationship focused on the distribution of the product and the commercial assistance provided to the dealers in their work in the fleet market.

As far as Marangoni is concerned, the story is far from over, as future sales objectives involve a portfolio of more than 50 customers and sales of 550,000 retreads by the year 2005.

4th September 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Continental Results Exceed Expectations

Continental’s 2Q results have exceeded the forecasts of industry experts.
Compared with 2Q 2002, turnover was down 3.4 per cent to 2.825 billion Euro
(2.925 bn), but operating income rose 11.3 per cent to 216 million Euro
(194 m). The group’s operating margin was 7.6 per cent and, while the car
tyre and truck tyre divisions were slightly below this (6.7 and 7.4 per
cent). ContiTech and Continental Automotive Systems achieved 8.5 and 9.0
peer cent respectively. Conti’s CFO Dr. Hippe was cautious about the
second half of the year, although he said that annual operating profits
could “considerably exceed” the stated target of 700 million Euro.

6th August 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin’s First Half Figures – A Mixed Bag

Michelin has released financial figures for the first half of the year. Sales were down 6 per cent to 7.348 billion Euro, but excluding currency effects, this would be a rise of 4.4 per cent. Operating profit rose one per cent to 578 million Euro and net income was 165 million Euro; below what was expected, but this was almost entirely due to charges of 178 million Euro for restructuring in Spain. Truck tyre sales were better than expected, while car tyre revenues were worse. Michelin’s debt increased by 0.1 billion Euro to 3.9 billion, due largely to the acquisition of the Viborg chain.

1st August 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Retreading Legislation – Lack of direction from Brussels

“The European Truck Tyre retreading industry is healthy and provides the transport industry with high quality products which allows them to reduce tyre cost and transport cost. However, retread products are not legislatively treated equally to new tyres, and this is a growing threat to sustained growth for this industry”. The legislative problems faced by the retreading industry were outlined to T & A by Lennart Lindström – product manager at Bandag Europe – during Autopromotec 2003.The basis for the EU legislative framework is the Whole Vehicle Type Approval (WVTA) directive 70/156/EEC. This directive sets out the rules for the use and production of many vehicle parts, including tyres. Up until now, the WVTA has not taken into account the existence of retreaded tyres, nor have any of the quite numerous regulations and directives that exist for new tyres. All legislative work on tyres in the EU is solely focusing on new tyres. The WVTA does not yet exist for trucks, but work is underway to introduce this certification for trucks, and then new truck tyres must meet the same requirements.The certification principle for type approval implies that each authority grants authorisation for a vehicle, a system, a component (like tyres) and this authority remains solely responsible for the conformity of production of the certified product.For retreads ECE Regulations 108 (passenger tyres) and 109 (truck tyres) exists.Despite industry efforts to introduce ECE 108 and 109 into an EU mandatory directive, Brussels has not taken any visible initiative.In absence of the expected and desired EU directive, some member states have started to introduce ECE regulations 108 and 109 into national mandatory legislation. This is the case in France, Spain, Poland, Croatia and the Czech Republic. Other countries like the UK, Sweden and Denmark have begun the national legislative process to introduce them. This still leaves a great number of countries with no active plans to introduce these regulations. It is estimated that over 200 retread companies out of approximately 700 active companies in Western Europe have gained their ECE 109 certificate to date. Absence of equal rules creates an unfair competitive market.Bandag are suggesting that it is necessary to form a retread industry interest group, in order to proactively define potential future legislative content on matters like noise, wet traction and rolling resistance, and work in close co-operation with legislative bodies. BIPAVER and BLIC should, perhaps, take the joint initiative to the creation of such a group.The need to recruit new members to BIPAVER, including supplier members was emphasised by RMA secretariat, Sheila Ikin. This is especially relevant now that BIPAVER is focused on the interests of the retreading industry. One of the causes taken up is the unjustified ban on the importation of retreaded tyres, currently operative in 11 countries known to the RMA. There is a definite need to protect the retread industry against damaging legislation, hence the moves by BIPAVER to persuade Brussels to transpose ECE 108 and 109 from a recommendation to a directive.

8th July 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli holds its ground in the international tyre business

When Pirelli became active in the telecommunications business, there was speculation that the company might abandon tyres, or at least certain sectors, such as truck tyres.This has proved to be unfounded, however and Francesco Gori, the man responsible for Pirelli’s tyre business worldwide, discusses the results for the first months of this year. The Tyre Division accounts for 51 per cent of Pirelli’s overall turnover and, although the Tyre Division turnover in quarter one 2003 fell by 2.2 percent to 741 million Euro, the EBIT increased at the same time by 20.4 percent to 65 million Euros.Pirelli is still a mainly European tyre manufacturer. 60 per cent of its turnover (14 per cent in Italy, 46 per cent in the rest of Europe) comes from Europe. Pirelli’s Tyre division makes another 19 per cent of turnover in Latin America, while Northern America only accounts for 8 per cent. But this in turn shows the huge potential that Pirelli still has in the biggest single market in the world.And it is the new MIRS-plant in Rome, Georgia, that will be looked to to improve Pirelli’s standing in the American market.Francesco Gori can sit back and await developments because the starting point for Pirelli is much better than for that of many other tyre manufacturers. This is mainly because the UHP sector, where Pirelli sets the standards, is much more cost resistant than any other sector. And with its new MIRS-plant, Pirelli has just begun to write a long and successful history, Gori says.

8th July 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

New US Tyre Testing Standards

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has revealed details of the new tests that tyres for passenger cars and light trucks will have to undergo by 2007. The program includes speed and endurance tests, plus a test with the tyre under-inflated. The NHTSA reckons that most tyres will reach the new standards, with something between five and eleven per cent of tyres having to be re-designed. These are the first new standards since 1967 and were prompted by the Firestone recall. The NHTSA estimates that the cost to manufacturers will be $31.6 million.

25th June 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Nokian Buys Russian Retreader

Nokian has purchased the Eurobandag retreading plant, situated in St. Petersburg, Russia. Last year, net sales at the plant totalled 0.5 million Euros and the factory retreaded 2,000 truck tyres. Nokian is also re-arranging its retreading materials operations, bringing together the personnel employed at its Vianor retreading plants in Finland, Sweden and Norway under one profit centre.

13th June 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

New Production System From Sumitomo

Sumitomo Rubber Industries has revealed details of its new tyre production system, called Taiyo (“the sun”). It is a fully automatic system, integrating all the production process, from component preparation to tyre curing, into one cell. The process is very flexible and, says SRI, produces a more uniform tyre. The Taiyo system is in production at SRI’s Nagoya plant and 1,000 tyres of eight different sizes can be produced daily.

13th May 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin management optimistic for future profits

Although turnover decreased by 0.8 per cent in 2002, compared with previous year, the Michelin group outperformed even analysts highest expectations with an operating income of 1.225 billion Euros (which is 7.8 per cent of turnover, and 18 per cent more than 2001). Net profit more than doubled to 614 million Euros. At the same time, management succeeded in reducing the debt mountain by more than one billion Euros – all within one year. Consequently, Michelin continues to be the best-earning tyre company worldwide.

26th February 2003/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Profits Doubled In 2002

Japanese tyre giant Bridgestone Corporation has reported a strong rise in net profit for the year ended December 31, 2002, and predicts a gain for 2003 as well, even though it warns that business conditions are getting tougher. Bridgestone’s group net profit more than doubled to US$378 million, from US$145 million, on brisk overseas sales. Group sales climbed 5.3 per cent to US$18,700 million, with pre-tax profit jumping 99 per cent to US$1,233 million. For the year to December 2003, the company said it expects group net profit to come to US$584 million, the same mark it initially set for 2002. It forecasts pre-tax profit to shrink to US$1,042 million and sales to slip to US$18,682 million. Bridgestone is boosting its capital spending in 2003 by more than 60 per cent to US$1.6 billion. The company’s president, Shigeo Watanabe, said the investment is aimed at boosting output capacity in Thailand and Poland, as well as upgrading each plant in Japan.

25th February 2003/by Tyrepress Editors