Michelin to Extend Use of TPMS
Oxfordshire based Transense Technologies PLC has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Honeywell International Inc to extend the use of Transense’s Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS).
Oxfordshire based Transense Technologies PLC has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Honeywell International Inc to extend the use of Transense’s Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS).
After more than half a century as a publicly listed company, Bridgestone Australia Ltd looks set to privatise its operations. Bridgestone Australia directors have announced an AUD$50 million (£20 million) buyback of the minority of shares not already owned by Bridgestone Corporation. If shareholders approve the transaction, Bridgestone Australia will become a wholly owned subsidiary of the parent company.
Taiwan’s leading tyre manufacturer, Cheng Shin Rubber Industrial Co, has announced plans to invest US$120 million in China during 2007. This investment will primarily take the form of expansion in production capacity.
Sapphire Energy Recovery has announced an increase in tyre disposal charges effective from 1 February 2007. Sales and marketing manager Ryan Mifflin explained: “Sapphire and the UK cement industry have invested over £15 million in state-of-the-art equipment and accessible regional facilities. We offer the only national coverage for tyre collection and disposal service, assuring our customers of a sustainable first class service. We have recently seen an increase in tyre size and weight with more 4×4, run-flat, and low profile sports tyres. These affect the amount of tyres per tonne which are likely to lead to increased collection charges to the retailer.”
The history of the Triangle Tyre Co. Ltd goes back three decades, when the Weihai Tire Factory opened a plant in Weihai, Shandong Province, China. In 1997 it changed its name and began trading as Triangle Tyre Co; part of the Triangle Group of companies. Since then the company has grown rapidly and it is now aiming at nothing less than being a top 10 player in the global tyre market.
Triangle is currently one of the top 500 companies in China and employs 6,300 staff. Depending on which criteria you use, Triangle is the 12th, 13th or 14th largest tyre manufacturer in the world – not bad for such a young company. The turnover last year was US$980 million and has risen by 50 per cent in the past three years.
In January 2007 Alcar UK, a respected distributor of wheels and tyres, will appear at the Aftermarket Show for the eighth year running. “The Aftermarket Show is an event that has really, over the years, become recognised as the industry event. The UK aftermarket is pretty fragmented these days but this is the event that works for us because it brings so many different people and businesses together,” said Alcar UK sales and marketing director, Kevin Greer.
An investor involved in takeover negotiations with Continental earlier this year (Philipp Schoeller of General Capital Group) has denied he has any interest in pursuing the plans again. “The project is dead,” GCG co-founder Philipp Schoeller told Reuters, adding: “a resurrection of the project lacks any practical basis”. Continental’s share price rose 2.56 per cent following an earlier WirtschaftsWoche report that suggested Schoeller might again try for a takeover. Schoeller called his remarks to the German business magazine “purely hypothetical”.
(Akron/Tire Review) According to Associated Press reports, Goodyear officials said that “hundreds” of striking United Steelworkers employees have returned to their jobs at Goodyear plants. USW locals, however, dispute that assessment. A Goodyear spokesman told the AP that production levels at struck plants are increasing as strikers return to work and the company hires additional temporary workers. Some 16,500 workers at 16 of Goodyear’s North American plants have been on strike since 5 October. No master contract negotiations have been held since talks broke off in mid-November.
2006 has been a highly competitive year for the tyres, exhausts & batteries industry, although some companies have been enjoying historically high margins. But 2007 promises even tougher times, according to David Pattison, senior analyst with Plimsoll. His findings are based on Plimsoll’s Portfolio Analysis – Tyres, Exhausts & Batteries.
Looking at the tyres, exhausts & batteries market over the past 12 months, while growth was a healthy 6 per cent, well above inflation, almost a third of the 1000 companies monitored by Plimsoll saw a fall in sales. This indicates that much of the growth is being shared by a select band of firms. The effect has been that the industry has begun heading in a new direction, and the companies which have found themselves lagging behind have been slow to recognise this.
Apollo Tyres plans to set up a research and development facility in Germany, according to Onkar S. Kanwar, co-managing director of Apollo Tyres. The company plans to use the facility as a stepping-stone towards strengthening the company’s relationship with the Leipzig Institute of Polymer Science, a school of Germany’s Leipzig University which employs professionals from various global tyre majors as experts. These experts are helping to develop novel technology for tyres. News reports suggest the company is also on the look out for another two universities in Germany for similar partnerships. Apollo is also working with Indian institutes such as National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and IIT, Kharagpur, for design and development of rubber technology, respectively.
Cooper Tire has been named the official tyre supplier for the upcoming Lone Wolf Transglobal Expedition, with Cooper products being fitted to the expedition’s Land Rover Wolf Defender.
BMW-Sauber Formula One team test driver Sebastian Vettel has disclosed that he and the team are struggling to get their best out of the new Bridgestone tyres.
The United Steelworkers union have called for international support and solidarity from their overseas counterparts during their ongoing dispute with tyremaker Goodyear. The USW has recently forged strategic alliances with unions in Mexico, Brazil, Germany and Australia in order to support each other during disputes with common employers and to increase their bargaining power through coordination.
UK and international Novex dealers were recently given first-hand insight into the production of and technical knowledge behind the tyres they sell. In a visit to the Dunlop Tyres International facility in Durban, South Africa, a selected group of retailers were taken through the stages of manufacture that go into each Novex car and light commercial tyre.
On December 8 Bridgestone Firestone North America outlined its intention to invest at least US$33 million in its Aiken County, South Carolina tyre plant in the next four years as part of plans to purchase new production facilities and retool existing equipment.
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