Bridgestone Aircraft to Land in North Carolina
Bridgestone Aircraft Tire has announced that it will open a plant in Rockingham County, North Carolina, creating 95 new jobs and investing $13.5 million over the next three years. Bridgestone will move operations to Rockingham County from its Miami, Florida facility. The company will manufacture tyres for commercial jets at a new, 160,000-square-foot building in Mayodan. While wages will vary by job function, the expected average weekly wage of the new jobs will be $680 plus benefits, according to Governer Mike Easley. The Rockingham County average weekly wage is $547.
Continue ReadingViking Appoints Business Development Director
Viking International is pleased to announce the appointment of Jim Walsby as Business Development Director for division three covering the South. Jim has been with Viking for 10 years in various sales and operations roles before securing his current position where he will be focussing on building and maintaining customer relationships in the Desborough area.
Continue ReadingLease 360 Evolution Signs with Kwik-Fit Fleet
Established contract hire, leasing and fleet management company lease 360 evolution plc has signed a new three-year solus tyre management and fast-fit services contract with Kwik-Fit Fleet. Wakefield-based lease 360 evolution, which was launched almost four years ago, now has 3,500 vehicles on its books. Kwik-Fit Fleet, which already supplied a raft of fast-fit services to lease 360 evolution customers through both its nationwide centre network and mobile operation, will additionally now supply fixed monthly cost tyre management under the terms of the new contract, which went live in April.
Continue ReadingLiberia Gives Firestone Management 90-day Ultimatum
Liberian labour minister, Kofi Wood, has given managers at Firestone’s Harbel, Liberia rubber plantation 90-days to improve workers’ living conditions. “We have asked the Firestone management to improve the living conditions of the workers,” Wood told Reuters by telephone. “We have given them 90 days.” The minister did not say what the consequences of failing to meet the deadline might be.
Continue ReadingFree Michelin Pressure Gauges
Michelin is running a consumer promotion offering a free digital alloy pressure gauge worth £19.99 to anyone purchasing a pair of its Pilot Power tyres from 1 June. Dealers wishing to take part need to buy a minimum of five pairs of Pilot Power tyres and will get their name and contact details on Michelin’s website. During July and August there will be supporting advertisements in the September issues of Fast Bikes and Superbike Magazine telling readers to visit the website for details of participating stockists.
Continue ReadingPirelli and Schrader to Develop New Tyre “Check-Up” Sensor
Pirelli and Schrader have agreed to join forces to take “intelligent” tyre production a step further. The new system, based on a mini-sensor capable of generating its own power, can for the first time be located within the tyre itself and allows the tyre identification data and its temperature and pressure to be monitored in real time and transmitted to the car and driver. Schrader took on 100 new staff at its Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland facility at the beginning of April. This move was supported by £3.5 million of funding from Invest NI and brings the total number of staff at the plant to 160.
Continue ReadingVianor and Amring to Cooperate in Sweden
The Nokian-owned Vianor AB tyre retail chain is to partner with Amring Verkstäder AB in Sweden. Following the agreement, nine Amring outlets have joined the Vianor tyre chain and become Vianor Partner outlets as of 2 May 2006. The agreement gives Amring outlets the rights to utilize Vianor brand and chain marketing, Vianor’s call centre services and personnel training programmes.
Continue ReadingBlimp Naming Finalists Announced
(Akron/Tire Review) Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. announced the 10 finalists for its Name the Blimp Contest, launched last month. Consumers submitted more than 21,000 unique names for the tyremaker’s newest airship, according to Goodyear.
Continue ReadingCam Systems Launches New Website and Corporate ID
Cam Systems has launched a newly designed website at www.cam-systems.co.uk. To mark the occasion, the company has also introduced a new corporate identity as part of a marketing campaign to build greater awareness and understanding within the UK tyre industry. “Initially the site is aimed at introducing Cam’s people, products and services. All of our resources are in regular communication with our customers and we feel it essential that they have the opportunity to put faces to the names in our 30-strong team,” explained Steve Bazeley, Cam’s Business Development Director.
Continue ReadingMichelin Plant Makes 200 Millionth Radial
(Akron/Tire Review) There is one P225/50R17 Michelin Pilot HX MXM4 that will never see the open road – the 200 millionth tyre produced at Michelin North America’s (MNA) Greenville, S.C., US1 plant last week. And Richard Simmons, the man who helped build the plant’s very first tyre – a BR78R13 – in 1975, was on hand to help produce that landmark radial. According to MNA, some 100 employees at the plant have been at US1 since day one.
Continue ReadingBrityrex 2007 – Tuning In With the Tyre Business
As the UK’s only independent biennial tyre-trade event both national and international exhibitors are now actively booking their stands for May 2007. Specifically targeted at tyre manufacturers, tyre wholesalers, tyre importers and retailers, Brityrex ’07 will feature tyres and tyre technology, retreads, tyre production equipment, tyre repair and changing equipment, fast-fit and garage equipment, wheel alignment and balancing technology, alloy wheels, valves, tools, workshop management software and tyre recycling and disposal technology. In short, everything relating to the tyre from car tyres through to commercial, industrial, agricultural, off-road and recreational tyres.
Continue ReadingViking “Ready For Anything”
Viking, the quality mid-range tyre brand, has launched a new advertising campaign as part of the brand’s recent development. The new ad depicts a Viking tyre amid bold images of stormy and unpredictable weather with the strapline: “Ready for Anything”.
Continue ReadingCTNA to Cease Tyre Production in May
Continental Tire North America will stop tyre production at its Charlotte plant in July, earlier than its previously announced date of September, because of “worsening business conditions,” local news sources have reported Under this plan, the company will lay off more than 700 workers between this Friday and July. Previously, Continental had said it would cut 172 workers Friday, 50 in June and 478 in September. The company plans to shift production to its non-union plant in Mount Vernon, Illinois, and to its factories in Mexico and Brazil.
Continue ReadingContinental Launches Wide-base Trailer Tyre
Continental Truck Tyres Europe has announced the launch of its wide-base tyre for the growing Megatrailer market. Designated 445/45 R 19.5 HTL1, the new tyre offers fleet operators the benefits of fuel-saving, higher mileage and maximising load-carrying volume. According to the company, fleet users will gain fuel savings of five per cent, higher tyre mileage and maximised load volume.
Continue ReadingRubberised Road Surface Trialled
A type of rubberised road surface is being trialled for the first time in the UK on a Nottinghamshire footpath. It is hoped that the new coating, which is made using the rubber from old car tyres will make it easier for disabled people and runners to use the paths. Scott Wilson, in collaboration with Nottinghamshire County Council, Charles Lawrence International Ltd, the Countryside Agency and the University of Nottingham, was awarded the funding as part of WRAP’s (the Waste & Resources Action Programme) Tyres Programme, which seeks to support demonstration trials where recycled rubber is being used in new applications utilising existing technologies.
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