Across the Atlantic they are called tires, while over here we use a “Y” and say tyres. This tag provides the latest tyre business news emanating from the United States of America (USA), whichever way you spell it.
The European Tyre Recycling Association has been named amongst the eleven most recent companies and organisations to join the Retread Tire Association. In addition to the Brussels-based association that represents more than 250 tyre recycling professionals, two other international and eight US companies recently joined the RTA.
Channel Four reality television show The Fairy Jobmother will feature a 24-year-old former professional wrestler and dancer from Birmingham now working for ATS Euromaster this evening (21 June). Sarah Baker, who has danced at the National Indoor Arena and acted at the New Alexander Theatre is now a full member of the Customer Response Team at the head office of tyre company ATS Euromaster in Aston, thanks to the Jobmother herself, Hayley Taylor, who helps people to find work on the show.
For more than 30 years Bridgestone Americas has celebrated the ingenuity of its employees at the Annual Bridgestone Americas Inventors Night. This year’s event recognised the innovative efforts of 86 employees, whose work led to 74 United States patents being issued in 2010 and the development of numerous trade secrets. These 74 patents, the tyre maker notes, are numerically sufficient to rank Bridgestone Americas in the top 300 organisations worldwide to be granted US patents according to the Intellectual Property Owners annual rankings.
Michelin has launched its new SprayBib agricultural tyre into the UK and Irish tyre market at Cereals 2011, which runs today and tomorrow. The tyre was debuted in the USA at SIMA in February; it is the first row-crop sprayer tyre to feature the brand’s Ultraflex technologies, which allow tyres to operate at lower pressures, helping to increase contact patches, in addition to increasing traction, comfort and road speeds.
Today Mitas Tires North America begins the process hiring staff for its new agricultural tyre plant in Charles City, Iowa. The company says it is interviewing job seekers with a view to hiring ten “foremen and core employees” who will be sent to the Czech Republic for training. A further 149 employees will be recruited later this year.
Yokohama Tire Corporation has announced a price increase of an average of 8 per cent on all of its light and medium commercial truck tyres sold in the USA from 1 July. Rick Phillips, Yokohama director of commercial sales, said that in addition to rising raw materials costs “other factors also influenced the increase, such as the costs associated with manufacturing and transportation, which continue to escalate.”
Additional to Toyo's US price rise reported by tyrepress.com yesterday, Toyo prices in Canada will also increase in the first week of July. Toyo Tire Canada reports prices for its medium truck tyre line-up will increase by an average of five per cent on July 1.
Toyo Tire USA Corp has announced the increase of its dealer base price list on commercial truck tyres by an average of nine per cent. “While Toyo Tires is determined to keep prices to a minimum, the continued increases in raw material costs make it necessary for us to raise our prices at this time,” said John Hagan, senior director of sales.
Pelmar Engineering Ltd has announced that its annual conference will take place Israel between 19 until 23 June 2011. The last conference was held from 12 – 13 February 2010 in Koln, Germany; held just after the Tire Technology Expo Cologne. The conference also marks the 45th Anniversary of the Pelmar Group and the change in management with Hagai Peled taking over as CEO from his father, Jacob Peled, who will remain as executive chairman of the group.
US chemicals company Solutia Inc. reports having reshaped its rubber chemicals portfolio. Although specific details about this change have not been publicised, the company says the reshaping shows a reaffirmation of its “commitment to high-value, market-leading rubber chemicals,” including its Santoflex antigradants, which are used in the production of tyres, belts, hoses, cables and other products.
As of October 1, Patrik Romberg will take over as the Trelleborg Group’s senior vice-president of Corporate Communications. He succeeds Viktoria Bergman, who leaves the company on September 30.
Towards the end of May, US manufacturer Goodyear released a statement reporting it had declared force majeure on styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) and other butadiene (BD) derivatives because its supplier is short of these substances. “While we are working diligently to identify and obtain alternative sources of butadiene monomer supply, at this time we do not know how long the situation will last,” the statement read.
Casey Stoner used the harder rear compound Potenza to win from second on the grid for the Repsol Honda Team ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies in a double podium for the Yamaha Factory Racing team. The Catalunya Grand Prix weekend was punctuated by rain showers, and heavy rain overnight left the circuit soaked for the morning’s warm-up session, which was the first time this season that Bridgestone’s hard compound wet tyres have been used. The circuit dried through the day however and the MotoGP race was run in the dry, although rain threatened at the midway point of the race and the white flags came out as drops fell in the last sector of the circuit.
Makita, the power tool manufacturer, has chosen Breast Cancer Care as its first charity of the year. Makita hopes to raise £50,000 to support people affected by breast cancer. The firm chose Breast Cancer Care for their first partnership after several staff members were affected by the disease.
Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., has announced that its racing team will use an electric vehicle (EV) in the 2011 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The event will be staged on 26 June in the state of Colorado, USA. The team refers to the race as the "Team Yokohama EV Challenge." The team's original EV racecar is equipped with prototype BluEarth tyres incorporating various environmental technologies, including orange oil compounding techniques. BluEarth tires deliver high levels of both fuel-efficient performance and gripping power.
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