Bridgestone Again GM’s Supplier Of The Year
The Bridgestone group, suppliers of Bridgestone and Firestone tyres to General Motors plants around the World, has received the Supplier of the Year Award from GM for the fifth year in succession.
Continue ReadingChanges in Goodyear Management
Edward T. Fogarty (62), former Chairman, President and CEO of Tambrands, Inc., has been elected to the twelve-strong board of Directors of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Comp. After 37 years of service James Boyaziz (63) will retire on July 31, his responsibilities as Corporate Secretary will be assumed by C. Thomas Harvie (57), who is currently Senior Vice President and General Counsel.
Continue Reading10% Share Of Sumitomo Rubber Industries for Goodyear
As part of the global alliance between Goodyear and Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) Goodyear now owns 10% of SRI making the Americans the second largest shareholder of the Japanese company. The biggest one is Sumitomo Electric Industries owning 29.5%.
Continue ReadingFirestone Recall Hysteria Fuelled By Advocates
Firestone has been forced, for the second time in the companys history, to recall tyres in North America. 22 years ago, the recall of 14 million f 500 tyres, almost ruined Firestone. The current situation refers to the recall of 6.5 million SUV tyres, the ATX, ATX II, and Wilderness line in the size P 235/75 R 15. About 2/3 of these tyres are earmarked for Fords OE demand for the Ford Explorer and the Ford Ranger. Bridgestone already announced that it would take a one-time $ 350 million charge and informed analysts that earnings estimates, $1 billion before the recall situation, had to be reduced by the amount of the taken charge. Whether this is the only financial impact that BFS will have to encounter is more than doubtful. In the US a horde of consumer advocates stand ready to sue BFS, all in the name of consumer advocacy. The likely cost of litigation is not included in the $ 350 million charge. The extent of the damage to BFS and its Firestone brand cannot be evaluated, it remains to be seen how the entire industry will be affected by this recall. Without any doubt, the Firestone brand has suffered a serious blow despite the fact that up until today it has not been demonstrated that the tyres were the cause of accidents investigated by NHTSA. BFS, so it seems, never really had a chance to manage the ensuing crisis in an optimal way. Although the crisis didnt hit BFS completely out of the blue, BFS had to take into consideration the interests of its largest OE customer Ford on the one hand, and its own interest to protect the Bridgestone brand from any spill-over effects. One thing became abundantly clear: two kinds of tyre manufacturers currently exist. One the one hand, there are those who have already had to deal with a disastrous recall situation and on the other hand are those that will have to do just that at some uncertain time in the future.
Continue ReadingOpinion Poll: Continental After Bosch And Siemens
In a recent opinion poll, by the magazine Automotive Engineering Partners, 200 car producers and supplier experts regarded Bosch, DaimlerChrysler and the FEV-Motorentechnik as the most innovative companies in the automotive industry. Continental was third, behind Siemens, in the supplier section.
Continue ReadingViborg Acquires Pneu-Stössel
Pneu-Stössel AG (Schlieren) has sold its eight outlets to the strongest independent tyre dealer organisation in Europe, Danish Viborg Gruppen. With its subsidiary Pneu Matti AG (Dietlikon), Viborg Gruppen was already one ofthe leading Swiss tyre dealers. Integrating Pneu-Stössel creates Switzerlands market leader among independent tyre dealers with 21 outlets and more than 140 employees.
Continue ReadingComplaints In The US About Bridgestone Tyres On Audi S4
More concern for Bridgestone; reports in Business Week say that the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received around a dozen complaints concerning sidewall bulges on Bridgestone Potenza RE040 tyres, fitted to Audi S4 sedans. An Audi spokesman said there was no cause for concern and the NHTSA said that there was no safety investigation planned.
Continue ReadingIntelligent Tyre From Nokian Links To Driver’s Mobile Phone
Nokian Tyres has developed an intelligent tyre technology system that sends real-time data on tyre pressures and temperature to the drivers mobile phone. No extra display is required inside the vehicle.
Continue ReadingFoundation Of The Next MIRS-Factory In Höchst/Germany
The foundation stone for a MIRS-factory was laid in the presence of Ministerpräsident Koch from the area of Hessen/Germany. Pirelli is investing 100 million Euro to produce about 1.5 million ultra-high-performance tyres by the year 2005. MIRS will create 200 more jobs. In addition to its own investment, Pirelli will receive an additional government grant of about 15 million Euro for meeting special environmental requirements.
Continue ReadingMulti-brand Salesforce From Hanover
From the beginning of 2001 the Continental Group will be working with a multi-brand salesforce on the German tyre replacement market. The salesmen will represent Continental, Uniroyal, Barum and Semperit. The aim is to streamline and improve relationships with trade customers. Gislaved (Reiff) and Viking (Meyer Lissendorf) will keep their exclusive distribution in Germany, while Mabor will be supplied almost exclusively to Volkswagen.
Continue ReadingNokian Ends Cooperation With Tofan
Nokian Tyres has terminated the agreement, made in November 1997, with Tofan, under which the Romanian manufacturer produced some agricultural and industrial tyres for the Finnish company. The reason given was that Tofan was unable to meet quality expectations.
Continue ReadingBridgestone Links Up With French Antivibration Specialist
Bridgestone has announced the formation of a strategic alliance in antivibration automotive components with Paulstra, the automotive antivibration sector of Hutchinson, a subsidiary of TotalFina in France. The objective of the alliance is for both companies to jointly develop new antivibration products at both the companies manufacturing plants around the world.
Continue ReadingConti Teves Joins ADC
The European Commission has agreed the accession of Conti Teves to the joint-venture Automotive Distance Control Systems ADC (Temic Telefunken Microelectronic/parent company: DaimlerChrysler and Leica Geosystems/Switzerland).
Continue ReadingMichelin Cuts 473 Jobs At Stoke
Michelin is to lose 473 jobs from its workforce of 2,700 at its factory in Stoke-on-Trent in the UK, mostly among those producing passenger car tyres. This is part of Michelins overall European strategy to improve efficiency. Michelin sees a long-term future for Stoke and this year will invest £11 million in updating the factory, which was opened in 1927.
Continue ReadingBridgestone Opens Fourth Japanese Plant For Diversified Products
On February 15th, Bridgestone opened its fourth plant in Japan devoted to the production of diversified products such as high performance functional films and precision components of rubber and plastic. The factory, sited in Iwata, covers an area of 17.3 hectares, of which 2.3 hectares are under cover, and employs 130. It is Bridgestones 15th factory in Japan.
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