BKT’s expanded Bhuj plant enters operation
Earlier today, BKT produced the first tyre following extensions at its Bhuj site in India. The expansion project’s completion represents the culmination of an investment valued at close to £80 million
Earlier today, BKT produced the first tyre following extensions at its Bhuj site in India. The expansion project’s completion represents the culmination of an investment valued at close to £80 million
On 11 January 2021 Jiangsu Province Department of Commerce approved Jiangsu General Science Technology Co. Ltd’s (GS Tire) US$300 million investment in a new tyre factory in Cambodia. Company stock market filings had previously described that factory as a $204 million investment, which suggests the scope of the project has increased significantly.
On 27 June, Sailun Group officially inaugurated the modernised former Anchi Tyres facility in Weifang, Shandong Province. Group subsidiary Sailun (Weifang) Tire Co., Ltd. invested RMB 719.9 million (£81.3 million) to upgrade production at the acquired plant and implemented its improvements within a timeframe of just six months.
Ceat Limited commissioned the second phase of its Nagpur plant in India’s Maharashtra state on Monday. The tyre maker says the two-wheeler tyre capacity added by this expansion project will be “be ramped up over a period of time, based on market demand and our overall capacities.”
Almost 18 months ago, Bridgestone announced it would invest at least 160 million euros in its passenger car tyre plant in Poznań, Poland. A stage in this factory expansion project began on 20 January with the laying of a foundation stone for additional production buildings.
News reports from Hungary suggest Hankook Tire has put on hold plans to set up a truck tyre production unit at its Rácalmás plant. English-language publication the Budapest Business Journal writes that fellow business daily Világgazdaság shared this news with its readers yesterday.
Production capacity for truck and bus radials at Bridgestone’s Warren County factory in Tennessee, USA will increase as part of a three-year, US$40 million investment to “meet market demand and address emerging customer needs.” Bridgestone Americas says it will break ground on expansion work at the 28-year old plant before the end of this year.
A new, fully automated warehouse is to be built at the Bridgestone manufacturing facility in Joliette, Canada. Bridgestone Canada Inc. is investing CA$56 million (£32.8 million) in the project, which will give it a maximum storage capacity of 500,000 car and light commercial vehicle tyres once the facility opens in early 2020.
With an investment of approximately 290 million euros, Hankook Tire is adding a truck tyre production unit to its factory in Rácalmás, Hungary. Work on this expansion project – the fourth since the plant opened in 2007 – will begin in June, with production expected to commence in June 2020. The truck tyre production unit will have the capacity to make 550,000 tyres a year, and its opening will create around 150 new jobs.
With new factories in Europe and now also the US Nexen Tire is growing in terms of global production capacity. However, the firm is also investing in developing its brand, especially in terms of football sponsorship. Recently Tyres & Accessories looked into how the company is combining the two in order to meet its goal of entering the global top 10 by 2025.
In 1976 Kettering Tyres paid local football club Kettering Town FC to print its logo on the front of the team shirt. The move caused ructions in what was then known as the first division and didn’t last long, but it did set a precedent for sponsorship that went to the next level this year. 41 years later, shirt sponsorship in the English Premier League (called Football League First Division back then), which brought in £226.5 million in sponsor revenues during the 2016-17 season, is very big business.
A total of US$304.3 million has been earmarked for the expansion of two Bridgestone tyre factories in India. Over a period of five years, Bridgestone India Pvt. Ltd.’s Pune and Indore plants will be upgraded to accommodate the growth of India’s car parc. Production capacity at the two facilities is expected to rise by an estimated 15,000 tyres per day, giving a combined daily capacity of approximately 41,000 tyres by 2022.
Alloy wheel manufacturer Borbet has announced plans to expand its main factory in Hallenberg-Hesborn, Germany to accommodate an enlarged in-house toolmaking facility. A 1,130-square metre hall will be erected alongside the existing toolmaking centre; Borbet says the hall will be built by the end of September, and the entire project completed by the start of 2018 at the latest.
CEOs and experts from China’s leading companies gathered in Shanghai and Beijing to explore how smart manufacturing will deliver value to the manufacturing industry and support government initiatives including China Manufacturing 2025. Hosted by Rockwell Automation “The Connected Enterprise CEO Forum” was led by Rockwell Automation’s new president and CEO, Blake Moret. However the interesting point from a tyre industry perspective is that the firm revealed that it is helping any unnamed Chinese tyremaker construct a factory in the US.
In addition to celebrating the 50th anniversary of the opening of its car and light truck tyre factory in Joliette, Canada, last Thursday Bridgestone Americas officially broke ground on expansion work at the plant. Upwards of CAD$300 million (£178.1 million) will be invested over a period of five years and will see the installation of new equipment installed at the Joliette site that will lift production capacity by 3,000 tyres per day to a total of 20,000 tyres a day by 2023.
A five-year, US$164 million project to expand Bridgestone’s 42-year old Wilson passenger car tyre factory in the US state of North Carolina got officially underway yesterday with a groundbreaking ceremony at the site. During phases one and two of the investment, which will involve an investment of nearly $100 million, 167,000 square feet (approximately 15,500 square metres) of manufacturing space will be added to the plant. Daily output will rise by 3,000 tyres to 35,000 tyres a day by 2018.