First Prize For Conti Teves
A. T. Kearney and the weekly magazine Produktion held a competition for the best factory of the year. 80 plants were nominated and the winner of the first prize for outstanding manufacturing processes was the Conti Teves factory in Rheinböllen, which produces brake components.
Continue ReadingRenault On The Expansion Trail
Renault is negotiating with Samsung Motors, of South Korea, to buy the latters Pusan plant (production capacity 200,000) for Euro 400 million. Renaults daughter company RVI, made an offer to Daewoo to buy its truck operation (production capacity 20,000) and bus operations (production capacity 6,000 units) for Euro 700 million. Renault has already bought a 37% stake in Nissan for around Euro 5 billion and the new plans will bring the companys investment in Asia to more than Euro 6 bn.
Continue ReadingAt Last The Number One Again – “Goodyear, All Systems Go!”
Imagine the scene; Goodyear chairman Sam Gibara addresses an audience of 144 leading managers from around the world, telling them of Goodyears ambition to be not only the worlds biggest tyre manufacturer, but also the most profitable. He tells them of the reasons behind the Dunlop joint ventures and spells out the goals for which the Goodyear family has to strive to achieve the companys aims. What lies in store for Goodyear? Does size matter? What changes are needed in management attitudes, distribution policy and brand strategies if Goodyear is to be the best? How important is the adoption of a mullet-brand strategy in the various world-wide markets? These and other thought-provoking questions are discussed at length. As we said earlier, imagine the scene. The truth is there was no meeting in Hawaii and Mr. Gibara did not make the speech - but he certainly could have. The article can be downloaded in full length as PDF file (size: 2.84 Mbyte, Adobe Acrobat Reader required).
Continue ReadingBridgestone Aims To Gain Market Shares In Brazil
Japanese tyre manufacturer, Bridgestone is going for more market shares, especially in the truck tyre segment. This could effect the market leader Michelin, who has about 30% of the market. Bridgestone is also increasing the prices in Brazil for the replacement market by 8% and the OE market by approximately 10%. The only option to the price increase is to walk away from a losing money business.
Continue ReadingOne Hundredth Birthday of Gummiwerke Fulda
For the 17th year running Gummiwerke Fulda held its dealer conference in March, this time in combination with celebrations in honour of the company’s one hundredth birthday. Last year Fulda boss Bernd Hoffmann had to make do with the presence of Goodyear’s top man for Europe, Valensi, but this time the management representation could not have been better. Sam Gibara, CEO of the group, made his welcoming speech to about 1,500 guests from all parts of the world, with Valensi and Gerd Grünenwald, responsible for marketing and sales Europe, also very pleased to help the company celebrate. Last year in particular and recent years in general proved to be very good years for Fulda. Until a few years ago the Fulda brand was heavily dependent on ATU and Stinnes, but that is now completely changed. Fulda’s German turnover is now spread over many small customers. Turnover with the two large ones is still important, of course, but gone are the days of total dependence. In Germany Fulda sells more tyres than Goodyear, but one has to add that Goodyear prices (trade to user) are significantly above Fulda’s. In the more recent past Fulda has had to compete with, or be measured against, Dunlop as well. It will be very interesting to see where the emphasis of Gerd Grünenwald’s and his team’s multi-brand strategy will lie. Details can be found in the April edition of NEUE REIFENZEITUNG.
Continue ReadingSuperior Repurchases Shares
Superior Industries Int., North Americas leading manufacturer of original equipment aluminium wheels, has decided to repurchase 4 million of its 26.1 million outstanding shares. New orders of more than $ 350 million in the last twelve months has allowed an aggressive expansion of capacity, but the positive developments are not reflected in Superiors stock price.
Continue ReadingTitan Announces Dividend
Titan International (Quincy, Illinois), manufacturer of wheels and tyres for off-highway vehicles, has announced a cash dividend of $ 0.015 for the first quarter of 2000. In 1999 Titans sales declined and a net loss was recorded.
Continue ReadingNo Re-arrangement Of Continental/Michelin JV
Continental spokesman Peter Schwerdtmann has denied reports that Continental and Michelin are planning to re-arrange or discontinue their two-year-old joint venture which includes combined purchasing of raw materials and Michelins share of Barum. The teamwork between both companies is excellent, he said, and the joint venture will continue. Terms to form the basis of a new settlement would have caused problems because of the brand rights for Uniroyal, owned by Michelin, but produced in Europe by Continental, under licence.
Continue ReadingCompetition Authorities Approved Nokian’s Purchase Of Retail Chain
Competition authorities have approved the purchase of Rengsmestarit-Kumi-Helenius Group. Nokian bought the retail chain with 31 outlets and a turnover of 34 Million Euros in March 2000.
Continue ReadingRecommended By Analysts: Cooper Shares
In the USA, Cooper Tire & Rubber shares have seldom been so cheap. With the recent acquisitions, the market was not convinced that Cooper was running in the right direction, but after the first quarters good results, most have changed their opinions and are regarding Cooper with more optimism. An increasing number of experts are convinced that the Cooper management might use the low share price to buy back up to 10% of its own stock, which would have a positive effect. Apart from Cooper, Continental was the only other tyre and rubber manufacturer whose shares were tipped as a buy by analysts.
Continue ReadingStock Exchange: Goodyear Is The Loser
In the first week of July Goodyear shares were down, while Bridgestone, Michelin and Toyo Tires were all winners. Only a short time before, at the end of June Goodyear and Michelin shares had gone down as well as car manufacturers Mazda, General Motors, Volkswagen and BMW lost drastically. Mid June almost the same situation: Goodyear going down (this time Bridgestone and Cooper too) leaving only Yokohama as a winner.
Continue ReadingCash Dividend For Titan’s Second Quarter
Titan International (Quincy/Illinois) has announced a cash dividend of one and a half cents per common share for the second quarter of 2000.
Continue ReadingUS Order For ContiTech
Delphi Automotive has exclusively ordered membranes from ContiTech Elastomerbeschichtungen GmbH. They are to be used in pressure sensors for fuel injection systems. This year ContiTech will produce 40,000 of these membranes for the US-based automotive supplier, in 2001 the number will be doubled.
Continue ReadingNTDA Conference 2000
The National Tyre Distributors Association held its millennium conference in Portugal. Before the conference got under way, delegates were given the news that RapidFit had applied to join the association. The 300-strong chain of Ford dealers is the first of the vehicle dealerships to enter into membership. The keynote speaker at the conference was Sir Tom Farmer, one of whose points was that the association should consider becoming more commercial and explore the possibility of setting up a buying group for members. Other speakers explored the themes of the impact of e-commerce and the internet on tyre retailing and what tyre dealers can do to take advantage of the opportunities which are liable to arise in the future. The impact of legislation – existing and forthcoming – was another topic, including the implications of the proposed End of Life Vehicle Directive. There was a different format for the second day, when delegates broke into groups to discuss the three subjects of scrap tyre disposal, e-commerce and the changing face of tyre retailing, reflecting the previous day’s subjects. The group chairmen then reported back to the meeting and the conclusions were presented to the NTDA in order to guide the association as to its future strategic direction in these areas. Debate was lively and everyone agreed that the new format had been a resounding success.
Continue ReadingContinental Number 34 In German Company Rankings
In a list of the 100 largest German industrial and trading companies, published in the newspaper Süddeutschen Zeitung, Continental was ranked in 34th place, with a 1999 turnover of 9.132 bn. Euros. This is a rise of eight places from the previous years list. The leading trio remains unchanged; undisputed leader is still DaimlerChrysler, followed by Volkswagen and Siemens.
Continue Reading