Cordenka Ups Rayon Production
Cordenka has invested in new spinning equipment at its plant in Obernburg, Germany, in response to increased demand for rayon yarn for tyre reinforcement. Annual output will be raised by 1,500 tons to a total of 30,500 tons and the extra capacity will come on stream in the last quarter of this year.
Continue ReadingAttorney Seeks Class Action Lawsuit Against Bridgestone-Firestone
It must feel like deja vu for Bridgestone-Firestone as a Californian attorney is seeking to expand complaints about alleged defects in Steeltex tyres into a national class-action lawsuit. Two Californians are suing Bridgestone-Firestone and the lawyer claims that the tyres are responsible for a dozen deaths and more than 100 injuries. Bridgestone-Firestone deny the allegations, pointing out that an 18-month investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that the tyres out-performed some competitors tyres. Steeltex tyres are popular with owners of RVs and pickups, plus they are often fitted on ambulances.
Continue ReadingPirelli To Supply Volkswagen Racing Cup
Pirelli is to be the new official tyre supplier to the Volkswagen Racing Cup in the UK. All competitors in the 2004 championship, which gets underway in April, will run on Pirelli P Zero tyres. The Volkswagen Racing Cup joins the UKs Seat Cupra Championship and the Pirelli Maranello Ferrari Challenge in using Pirelli tyres. The company also supplies its product to the American Le Mans Series and to GT teams internationally. Since its inception in 2000, the Volkswagen Racing Cup has grown to become one of the best-supported and most successful club championships in Britain. Last season more than 30 drivers took part, handling cars ranging in size from a 1.8-litre turbocharged Lupo to a four-wheel-drive Golf R32.
Continue ReadingMore Outsourcing For Cooper
Back in October, Cooper Tire & Rubber announced that Chinese manufacturer Hangzhou Zhongce would produce 300,000 radial medium truck tyres for the US company. Now Cooper has revealed that Hangzhou Zhongce is also to make one million passenger radials for the US market; these will be in six sizes under the brand names Cooper, Mastercraft, Dean and Starfire. Dick Stephens, president of Coopers Tire Group, said that the outsourcing will help Cooper meet growing demand, especially for the Zeon high performance lines. By outsourcing some of our broadline products, we can devote more production capacity to the more exotic performance tyres, commented Stephens, adding: We have increased capacity at all of our US plants and these tyres from Hangzhou will help fill the gap between our capacity and projected demand. The tyres will be manufactured to Coopers specifications and engineers are currently in China conducting audits to ensure the highest quality standards.
Continue ReadingRaw Material Costs Hit Michelin’s 2003 Figures
Michelin has released its 2003 year-end figures. These show net sales of 15.4 billion euro (down 1.8 per cent on 2002), although sales volume (in tons) rose by 3.7 per cent. Operating income was down 6.7 per cent, to 1.143 billion euro and net income was down 47 per cent, to 329 million euro. The main impact on the figures came from sharply-increasing raw material costs, which rose by 21 per cent (in US$) during the year. Currency fluctuations and several one-off extraordinary items also had a negative effect on the figures. Michelin believes that, in the light of these exceptional cost increases, its 2003 figures show that the company is resilient, with increased investment and a strengthened global presence. The company claims a worldwide tyre market share of 19.2 per cent.
Continue ReadingGoodyear Radials On Jetstar Fleet
At the Asian Aerospace show in Singapore, Goodyear has announced that it is to supply its Flight Radial aviation tyres for the A320 aircraft in Qantass new, low-cost carrier Jetstar Airways. Donald Roulett, global marketing manager for Goodyear aviation tyres, said that the move from bias ply tyres to radials made sense for cost-conscious airlines as radials deliver more landings per tread and provide more load-carrying capacity, helping to reduce costs. In addition, radials weigh up to one fifth less than bias ply tyres and provide lower rolling resistance, and thus better fuel consumption. The Jetstar fleet consists of 23 Airbus A320 aircraft and the agreement lasts for five years.
Continue Reading$650 Million Loan For Goodyear
Goodyear has announced the successful completion of a new $650 million secured term loan, arranged by JPMorgan and Citigroup. Around $335 million will be used to partialy repay the groups existing 583 million U.S. $ term loan. Robert W. Tieken, executive chief vice president and chief financial officer, said: “Goodyear is now positioned to move forward with our plan to refinance the loans we put in place last year and to drive the companys turnaround.”
Continue ReadingTyrexpo Asia 2004 – A Resounding Success
In view of what has been happening in the fastidious world of tyre shows recently, it is refreshing to report on a successful venture. Of the four Asian tyre exhibitions to date, the Tyrexpo held in Singapore 17th-19th February was by far the best and, bearing in mind the various difficulties necessitating the postponement for six months because of the SARS outbreak, a triumphant achievement for the organisers ECI International. The show had a very strong international attendance both from an exhibitor and visitor perspective. A total attendance of close-on 3,000 from over 60 countries far exceeded most exhibitors expectations. The buying and negotiating power of visitors was also favourably commented on. Those seeking new technology were not disappointed and there were also a number of innovative products on show. The next Tyrexpo Asia will be from the 13th to 15th September 2005 and ECI advised us that many of the exhibitors from this years show have already rebooked stands. A full report on Tyrexpo Asia 2004 will appear in the April edition of TYRES & ACCESSORIES.
Continue ReadingPirelli reports 2003 year end results
The Pirelli Group has announced preliminary results for 2003 showing group revenues at 6,679 million Euro, down 0.6 per cent on the previous years 6,718 million Euro revenue. However, this still represented a growth of 7.2 per cent given comparable conditions. The operating income (EBIT) more than doubled to 266 million Euro and the Net debt was reduced to 1,755 million Euro, down by 300 million from the previous year. Overall the industrial operations staff numbers were reduced from 35,247 to 33,401 in 2003. Tyre sector sales accounted for 2,965 million Euro, an increase of 11.4 per cent; 7 per cent due to increased volume, the balance on prices and mix. Operating income from the tyre operation was 220 million Euro, an improvement of 15 per cent on the 2002 figure.
Continue ReadingBridgestone Corporation Reports Sales and Earnings for Fiscal 2003
The group recorded a 96 per cent increase in net income in 2003, to ¥88.7 billion (0.8 billion US dollars), on a 2 per cent increase in net sales, to 21.5 billion US dollars. Operating income was basically unchanged, at 1.7 billion US dollars, and ordinary income rose 13 per cent 1.6 billion US dollars. Net return on shareholders equity was 10.5 per cent, compared with 5.6 per cent in the previous year. Contrasting geographical trends characterized the operating environment. In Japan, economic recovery was weak. In the latter half of the year the weakening of the dollar affected Japanese exports adversely. Escalating costs for natural rubber and other raw materials undercut profitability in all principal markets throughout the year. Sales of tyres increased 2 per cent to 17.2 billion US dollars. However, operating income in the tyre segment declined 4 per cent to 1.4 billion US dollars. Sales in Europe rose 20 per cent to 2.7 billion US dollars, and operating income climbed 87 per cent to 0.14 billion US dollars, reflecting success in focusing sales on high-value products and the results of a financial restructuring in the previous year.
Continue ReadingMichelin to import truck tyres to India
The Indian Government is to permit Michelin to import bus and truck radial tyres for wholesale trading on cash and carry basis until its joint venture with Apollo Tyres becomes operational. Michelin Apollo, 51 per cent owned by the French firm and 49 per cent by Apollo Tyres, will take about 20 months to begin production.
Continue ReadingBridgestone 2003 Profit Up
Bridgestone Corp. has declared its 2003 full-year profit rose 95.5 per cent but forecast a decline in 2004 as the strong yen, higher rubber costs and a fire-induced output cut threaten its bottom line. Group net profit for the year ended December 31 was 88.72 billion yen (829.1 million US dollars), compared with 45.38 billion yen the year before. Recurring profit increased 13.1 percent to 167.30 billion yen. The results were better than Bridgestones forecasts, which were revised down in September to account for the fallout from the fire at one of its major domestic plants. For this year, Bridgestone has forecast a recurring profit of 130 billion yen and net profit of 75 billion yen.
Continue ReadingCooper ups production at Findlay
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company plans to add capacity at its Findlay (Ohio) plant with an equipment investment of 1.8 million US dollars. The capacity will increase by 500,000 tyres annually and add at least 30 additional jobs in the Findlay production facility. Bill Woeste, vice president manufacturing, said, We expect this equipment to be in place and at full production levels by late summer, he concluded. In January, Cooper announced investments in its other three U.S. tyre plants; with Findlay added, the total investment is nearly 34 million US dollars and an added capacity of almost 3 million units annually.
Continue ReadingGoodyear Union: Claims contract violation
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.s largest union has said the companys plans to make new passenger tyres at a non-union plant may violate the terms of their contract. The United Steelworkers of America said it wants more information from Goodyear about the Assurance tyres being made in Lawton, Oklahoma. USWA claims that the contract, which froze wages in exchange for job security measures, requires that new products developed for sale in North America be made at unionised plants. The dispute could strain Goodyears relationship with the USWA, which represents 19,000 workers at 13 U.S. plants.
Continue ReadingTiger Wheels restructures
South African Tiger Wheels has reached agreement in principle to create a uniform global ownership and management structure for its original equipment manufacturer wheel businesses. Eddie Keizan, a joint chairman of Tiger Wheels, said that this would involve the alignment of the previously unequal shareholding of Tiger Wheels and the significant German minority shareholder in ATS and TSW Manufacturing, the wheel manufacturing plant in Babelegi near Pretoria. Tiger Wheels owns 100 percent of the Babelegi plant and 74 percent of ATS and the remaining plants, including those in Germany, Poland, the US. This unequal and differential shareholding had led to conflict and difficulties in the past. Keizan said that possibly the easiest way to resolve the difficulties caused by the differential shareholding was for the minority shareholder to buy 26 percent of the Babelegi operations so there was then equal shareholding in all the manufacturing operations. As a result of the agreement with ATS, Tiger Wheels has terminated negotiations on the possible disposal of its wheel manufacturing businesses.
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