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.
Cooper Tire is supporting a charity expedition travelling across the world to highlight the plight of children living in poverty. Dubbed the “Rambling Rat”, Tim Dennis has travelled all the way across Europe, Asia and North America in a Toyota Land Cruiser equipped with Cooper’s rugged Discoverer STT tyres, which have successfully taken him some 44,000 miles across the harshest terrains on Earth.
The prolonged weakness within the commercial vehicle segment continued to impact upon Accuride Corporation during the second quarter 2009. A statement released by the commercial vehicle component manufacturer and supplier reports net sales of US$135.2 million in the three months to June 30, as opposed to $244.9 million in the second quarter of 2008. Sales decreased in the company’s wheels and components segments by 48.4 per cent and 42.6 per cent respectively.
Yokohama Rubber reports that the Yokohama Tire Corporation factory in Salem, Virginia (USA) has been formally recognised by the non-profit organisation "Clean Valley Council" for the tree planting carried out there as part of the "Yokohama Forever Forest" Project.
Schaeffler reports a “successful reconciliation” of its interests has been achieved. The company’s Executive Management Board and plant management representatives, in talks with labour representatives, have agreed upon a package of measures to reduce personnel costs at Schaeffler’s German locations. The total adjustment volume, required due to slack demand, amounts to €250 euros per annum. Schaeffler now reports these savings can be achieved through natural fluctuation, voluntary redundancies and partial retirement along with the continued use of short time work and reduced working hours including adjustment of salaries and wages.
The changes that have occurred in global markets since last year have prompted Pirelli to mothball its planned US$100 million investment in China. In July 2008 the company announced it would invest this sum in China over a two-year period in order to double production capacity by 2011. Yet despite at 40 per cent year-on-year increase in sales within China during the first half of 2009, weak global demand has led to a rethink in Milan.
Taray International Corp. introduced team USA, headed by Craig Russell (formerly of Multi-Seal Corp.), to serve as the company’s domestic sales, marketing and service group. “For the past 30 years, Taray has provided its international customers with top quality products and unrivaled service at very competitive prices. With the introduction of Team USA, our domestic clients can now enjoy the same level of service and quality as our international clients,” the company said in a press release.
Team USA is a group of field representatives divided into three territories across the U.S., allowing Taray to meet the needs of customers much faster, according to the company. Taray supplies tyre retreading supplies, automotive service equipment and commercial tyre products, including Bosch rubber extruder sales and repair; expandable rim sales and refurbishing; hand and pneumatic tools; and much more. For more information, visit www.taray.com. (Tire Review/Akron)
Kidderminster-based parts distributor Universal Automotive provides its customers a range of well-known OE quality branded products and parts under its own VECO brand name. In the brakes category this branded range of pads, shoes, discs and drums is complemented by the globally repected Brembo name, for whom Universal Automotive acts as UK logistics partner. Through this arrangement the company is able to supply the complete Brembo programme of top-of-the-range aftermarket discs and drums, including the Brembo Max performance range.
Alcoa chairman, Alain Belda, and CEO, Klaus Kleinfeld, rang the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange this morning, celebrating Alcoa’s 50 years as part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). Ringing the opening bell also forms part of the company’s year long celebrations – 2009 is the 120th anniversary of Alcoa’s founding.
Yesterday (July 24 2009) NHTSA announced new US braking standards requiring most truck tractors to cut stopping distances by a third. As Tyres & Accessories/Tyrepress.com reported yesterday the new regulations will be phased in over a four year period beginning with 2012 models. However, if you would like to read the details and assess their impact your business, you can download the complete report here.
A year-long trial with Michelin’s XZM tyres fitted to a single forklift unit has led to animal feed manufacturer Frank Wright Trouw Nutrition International taking the plunge and switching to the Michelin brand across its mixed fleet of 20 diesel and electric powered forklift trucks.
During each day the test unit operated for an average of ten hours on a range of surfaces from asphalt to concrete and grit. The Michelin shod forklift was carefully monitored during the entire period, with monthly tyre inspections to check for wear and damage.
The supply of electricity to Dunlop India’s factory in Sahaganj is still disconnected, and company chairman Pawan Kumar Ruia has threatened to close the plant if the power is not restored during the first half of August. The chairman indicates that Dunlop India is ready to resolve the matter with the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company out of court.
The factory’s electricity supply was severed earlier in the year due to the non-payment of dues amounting to Rs 130 million (£1.66 million), and the company claims responsibility for this lies with the previous owner. “The electricity dues got accumulated much before we took over the company. We do not know why the electricity connection was not disconnected when the dues remained unpaid for five years before we took-over. We heard lot of people ran business taking illegal connection from Sahaganj unit,” Ruia stated.
The adoption of automated sort-and-palletise systems and all three of Cooper Tire’s US factories is saving an estimated US$10 million a year, the company reports. Installation of the first of such systems, which use towering gantry cranes and conveyors to sort and stack tyres by bar code, began in Findlay in May 2007 and the final system in Texarkana was signed off in February 2009.
The Findlay automation system has reduced the number of manual tyre lifting touches from five to zero, and pallets of tyres previously handled three times by a forklift are now handled just once. “It’s an ergonomic improvement by having the tyres handled automatically versus people lifting them by hand,” points out Findlay plant engineer Scott Forry. The installation of the system is, comments Forry, “the largest single automation change that the Findlay plant has undertaken.”
On July 24 the US based National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced new braking standards that will require the “vast majority” of heavy truck tractor units to achieve a 30 per cent reduction in stopping distances compared with current levels. The new regulation, which will be phased in over a four year period beginning with 2012 models, sets out that these vehicles should be capable of stopping from sixty miles per hour in not more than 250 feet when loaded to their gross vehicle weight rating. Previous standards required a complete stop within 355 feet. When lightly loaded, the stopping distance from sixty miles per hour should be within 235 feet.
Indonesia’s PT Gajah Tunngal has said a plan for restructuring its debt will probably gain approval with investors following changes made to a bond exchange offer. A second bondholder meeting was held on July 21 after a quorum was not previously reached. The company intends to swap US$420 million of 10.25 per cent bonds due in 2010 for new notes maturing in 2014.
“In the absence of any substantial blocking votes, the issuer and the company expect to reach the requisite quorum and approval,” a company release stated.
In its interim report for the months between April and June 2009, Trelleborg reports that “in a difficult market situation, we have successfully managed to generate a continued strong cash flow and improved our operating margin compared with the first quarter of 2009.” The company also states that effects of its “capacity adjustments” are gradually increasing, although the sense of uncertainty regarding the future remains “great”.
Net sales in the second quarter of 2009 totalled SEK 6.867 million, down 17.5 per cent on the same period a year earlier. Operating profit, at SEK 159 million, decreased 52.8 per cent year-on-year.
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