A New Day for Tyre Recycling in Kazakhstan
A new facility owned by the Kazakhstan Rubber Recycling company has become the Central Asian country’s first end of life tyre recycling plant to enter operation. The facility, located in the capital city of Astana, is equipped with machinery built by Germany’s MeWa Recycling Maschinen und Anlagenbau and holds a capacity of around 11,000 car and truck tyres per annum.
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Kwik-Fit Gains Presidential Support in Viral Video
Tyre change by Presidential decree… the man in America’s top job pauses from world affairs to discuss a topic of true importance. Of course, its just a bit of fun from Kwik-Fit, but the viral film of President Obama does deliver a message worth listening to. The viral video, titled “Obama calls for tyre change”, was produced by advertising agency DDB London.
Continue ReadingTyre s-marking statutory instrument delayed
I had to say it, didn’t I? I should have known better than to put proverbial pen to paper and write “unless there is an unlikely 11th hour stay of execution at the European parliament.” I should have known better because no sooner had these words gone to print then exactly this happened. I am, of course, referring to the wonderful s-mark legislation (also known as regulation 2001/43), which has become the subject of so much coverage in Tyres & Accessories recently. Apparently, tyres won’t necessarily need an s-mark to comply with regulation 2001/43 and, er, be s-marked. However, it doesn’t end there. The latest from the Department for Transport is that there has been a “delay in putting into place the statutory instrument which is required for the new s-marking regulations to become law.” In short, there won’t be any means of enforcing the new law in the UK until March 2010. This fact doesn’t affect the other European markets, which will all have to comply by the original 1 October 2009 deadline.
Continue ReadingSentaida Opens New China Tyre Plant
Sentaida International has opened its new tyre plant, Cenchelyn Tire Co. in Qindao, China. The building of the “state of the art” plant was reported on Tyrepress.com when it was two-thirds of the way through its development in September last year. The marketer said the new plant features “state-of-the-art machinery from Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands.” Sentaida said that in 2010 the plant’s production capacity will increase to 6 million tyres with a focus on the 17- to 30-inch UHP segment. Company sources suggested last year that the total production would touch 10 million units in 2013. The manufacturer concluded that as a result of the new facility, it will offer the Delinte UHP brand exclusively throughout the US, and offer customers the opportunity to create their own personal private brands. (Tire Review/Akron)
Continue ReadingKinforest Tyre: Putting On A Show
Kinforest Tyre is one of Chinas ever-growing legion of tyre manufacturers. Although the company Kinforest Tyre Co. Ltd was set up only at the end of 2007, the organisations history goes back to 2000, when it bought tyre-making technology from Firestone. In 2006/2007, there was co-operation with Continental until the establishment of Kinforest Tyre at the end of the year. The Kinforest factory employs around 2,500 workers, producing passenger, UHP, light truck and winter tyres under the brand names Kinforest, Mayrun and Starlake. The tyres comply with a number of test requirements, including DOT, ECE, NOM, INMTRO, SABSAND and GCC. Kinforest also says that it was the first Chinese tyre manufacturer to achieve the ECE rolling sound certification.
Continue ReadingNigeria Moves to Ban ‘Tokunbo’ Tyres
Lawmakers in Nigeria are acting to ban the importation of ‘tokunbo’, or used tyres, into the country. A committee attached to Nigeria’s House of Representatives is said to be working on legislation that would prohibit the entry of tyres more than three years old – a move intended to ensure that tyres sold and used in Nigeria meet international standards. Tokunbo tyres are typically sold with around 40 per cent of their original thread remaining. Initiator of the legislation, Ekperikpe Ekpo, noted that 80 per cent of road accidents were caused by burst tyres and not less than 60 per cent of vehicles, especially commercial vehicles, use either sub-standard or tokunbo tyres.
Continue ReadingFormer Vredestein UK MD Stellinga Now with Conti
Former Vredestein (UK) Ltd managing director Bert Stellinga has held the position of business unit director for Continental Banden Groep B.V. in the Netherlands since 1 February.
Continue ReadingLow Demand For Cars In Thailand Boosts B-Quik
B-Quik Co, Thailands leading operator of car service centres, has increased its revenue target this year to 2 billion baht (42.1 million euros) from 1.8 billion (37.9 million euros) as sluggish demand for new cars has been a windfall to the maintenance market. Eight to 10 B-Quik service centres will be added this year to the existing network of 56 sites nationwide, said chief executive Henk Kiks. The market has been surprisingly good for us with revenue surging over 30 per cent in the first half, said Kiks. We earlier projected sales of 1.8 billion baht, growth of 21 per cent from last year, but now we are aiming for over a 33 per cent rise to 2 billion by the end of the year.
Continue ReadingEnjoy The Best of China
Enjoy Tyre is a young, Chinese company trading in the wheel and tyre sector, which has built up an export business supplying companies in more than 60 countries in less than five years. Turnover in 2008 was US$ 46 million. The product range includes good quality Chinese tyres, including a number of brands that are becoming increasingly familiar names in Western Europe. Among these are; Linglong, Chengshan, Westlake, Goodride, Taishan, Double Star and Jintong. Miss Xu Xia, managing director of Enjoy, told T&A that the company has global exclusivity for the distribution of the Rotalla brand of passenger car and high/ultra high performance radial tyres, which are being actively marketed across Europe.
Continue ReadingChem-Trend Launches Curing Bladder Treatment for Tyres
Chem-Trend, a global manufacturer of release agents and other process chemical specialties, has announced the launch of Mono-Lube 1111, a new high performance tyre-curing bladder treatment for the tyre manufacturing industry. Chem-Trend states that initial field tests have shown that tyre-curing bladders coated with Mono-Lube 1111 can extend bladder life up to 40 per cent. Mono-Lube 1111 cures in one hour at room temperature and provides similar performance to coatings that are baked onto the surface of a curing bladder. It can be applied by various methods including brush, sponge or spray application. The new product is the latest addition to the Mono-Lube family of products for the tyre manufacturing industry. Chem-Trend’s full line of products includes inside tyre paints, outside tyre paints, curing bladder coatings and the Mono-Coat brand of tyre mould treatments.
Continue ReadingChinese Retreading Volumes to Grow 30% This Year – CRI
According to Shanghai based research company China Research and Intelligence (CRI), increased vehicle numbers are causing scrap tyre levels in China to grow at a rate of 10 to 20 per cent per annum. Last year, CRI reports, more than 200 million tyres in China reached the end of their useful lifespan, yet only 11.5 million were retreaded.
Continue ReadingOnline Retailers Amongst Those Supporting Tyre Labelling Rules
On April 22 the European Parliament approved – by a large majority – a number of draft measures that will see tyre performance in fuel efficiency, wet grip and noise levels explained on a standardised label attached to new tyres. The new rating system, pencilled in for implementation by late 2012, will use a scale similar to that utilised on the EU Energy Label or “fridge mark” as it has affectionately been dubbed. Now that the tyre labelling measures first published in November have been approved, it has been proposed that tyres generating particularly low levels of noise be given an extra insignia, imprinted on the outer sidewall. Another proposed change is an upping of the level of information provided in tyre advertisements – the aim is to better inform consumers and provide a stimulus for the development of safer and more environmentally friendly tyres. However, specific details of the labelling scheme have yet to be finalised, and the draft text still awaits the scrutiny of the Council of Ministers, the body representing the 27 EU member states.
Continue ReadingRubber Prices May Plummet 35% as Tyre Sales Slow
Global sales of passenger car and commercial vehicle tyres may decline to 1.32 billion units in 2009 from 1.41 billion last year, said No Dock Moung, an analyst with the Singapore based International Rubber Study Group. The drop of almost 6.4 per cent would be the steepest since at least 1975, he said. And according to a Singapore based trading manager from Marubeni Corp., Japan’s largest rubber trading company, this could lead to natural rubber prices weakening by as much as 35 per cent.
Continue ReadingIs Conti’s Truck Tyre Production Heading East?
Tyres & Accessories sister publication Neue ReifenZeitung recently published reports that Continental has been considering moving its truck tyre production East and linking it with certain Russian tyre makers in the wake of the announced closure of its high tech Hannover-Stoecken truck tyre production plant. For a number of years the Russian tyre manufacturer Nizhnekamskshina has worked together with Continental within the framework of a technical agreement, having previously been involved in a technical partnership with Pirelli. The possibility of forming a 50:50 joint venture has been talked about since 2007, however to date the entire result of this joint effort is that the Russians are building a truck tyre factory and Continental is “only” contributing know-how and organising production processes, as well as delivering all the required equipment. The target is said to be for production capacity to exceed one million all-steel tyres per annum.
Continue ReadingGfK to Analyse Key Asian Tyre Markets
GfK Asia is planning to expand its market research coverage to include tyre reports in China, Korea and Malaysia, followed by Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand at a later stage. The Korean market information is scheduled to be processed first with Malaysia following after that. In the first instance the reports will specifically focus on the tyre market with a view to exploring engine oil and other spare parts markets in the future. GfK Korea, a subsidiary of GfK Asia, is to record data from 4400 shops across five regions (Seoul, Inchon, Kyunggi, Kyungbuk, Kyungnam). Meanwhile GfK Malaysia’s survey analyses the sales of the 17,800 spare parts shops, garages and tyre specialists that serve the pool of more than 12 million motorcycles, passenger and commercial vehicles. GfK Malaysia will launch its first passenger car tyre retail tracking report in June 2009 and the company hopes to expand both studies as the reports gain momentum.
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