Shandong Linglong plans to increase the capital of its Linglong International Europe Serbian unit by US$174.1 million (146.6 million euros) for the construction of its tyre factory in Zrenjanin, northern Serbia. When finished the factory will require 1,200 employees and produce 13 million tyres per year.
The first truck tyres made at Continental’s greenfield factory in Clinton, Mississippi, US are being delivered four years after the company broke ground on the project. The Clinton plant is Continental’s first new plant for the truck tyre business globally in more than 10 years. It produces large truck and bus tyres for the North American market and will employ 500 people by the end of 2020. Clinton is Continental’s second location producing truck tyres in the US. The other can be found in Mount Vernon, Illinois. According to the Continental, more than 280 employees collaborated safely to deliver the first shipment of tyres.
Askar Mamin, the prime minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, recently hosted the general director of PJSC Tatneft, Nail Maganov, for talks relating the construction of a new tyre factory in Kazakhstan.
Despite the fact that the UK was in the middle of lockdown, Michelin Tyre Plc’s ultra-modern retread manufacturing operation resumed production at the end of April. In fact, according to the company, there were only two reasons that the Campbell Road, Stoke-on-Trent site paused manufacturing at all: because the coronavirus-related closures coincided with a pre-planned maintenance stoppage; and because – again due to Covid-19 – there was trouble securing deliveries of the right raw materials from the continent prior to April (see “Michelin Stoke up-and-running, looking forward to ‘steady market growth’” for Michelin UK factory manager Francois Levert’s view on how things have progressed after reopening). Therefore, Michelin UK’s retread manufacturing operation only actually endured a three-week factory shutdown. The neighbouring UK headquarters opened in mid-July and so now its truck tyre and retreading business is putting the focus on success in the new normal. This began with a communications drive that has seen the manufacturer promote the ecological benefits of retreads. Tyres & Accessories spoke with Michelin Plc managing director Chris Smith in order to find out more.
Mahansaria Tyres Private Limited (MTP) commenced manufacturing at its greenfield off highway tyre factory in Panoli, in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
GKN Wheels’ multi-million-pound investment programme at its Telford factory has resulted in the achievement of record targets. Despite a number of obstacles, not least the impact Coronavirus pandemic has had on the plant’s operational capabilities, the new manufacturing plant is now producing more than three times as many wheels as the old plant, with 55 high-quality off-highway wheels now being manufactured every hour. With the new line now fully operational, the old lines and assembly cells have now been decommissioned and disposed of.
The Serbian state is set to give Japanese tyre manufacturer Toyo 637,455 square metres of land worth roughly 3 million euros for its newest factory. According to a Serbian State Aid Control Commission decision, the countries Tax Administration calculated that – based on a land valuation of 5 euros per square metre, Toyo will have to employ 523 workers indefinitely by 2023.
Having received approval back in June, Qingdao Sentury Tire has successfully completed its Initial Public Offering (IPO) and is now listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (China) as of 11 September 2020. 11 per cent of the company’s shares were valued at 1.31 billion yuan (162 million euros; £149.859 million) by investors, resulting in a theoretical total valuation of 1.47 billion euros. The offered shares offered were oversubscribed 2887 times over. But what is the company planning to do with its newly-raised funds?
Speciality tyre manufacturer Maxam Tire has opened a new advanced and automated solid tyre production facility. It said the new facility represents “a major commitment to the speciality solid tyre segment.” Maxam added that the plant is “strategically aligned to better serve today’s market demands through compound advancement and automated technology.” Sources within the Sailun Group told Tyres & Accessories that the factory is located in Vietnam.
PJSC Tatneft and JSC Allur Group of Companies are establishing a joint tyre manufacturing facility in Kazakhstan. The factory will produce passenger car, light truck and truck tyres. The planned production capacity is 3 million passenger and light truck tyres as well as 0.5 million truck tyres per year. Production is expected to start in 2022. The project will create about 800 jobs, according to Tatneft.
Pyramids Tires, a new tyre manufacturer based in Port Said, northeast Egypt, saw its first tyres roll off the production line on 9 May 2020. The factory currently manufactures motorcycle, forklift and agricultural tyres as part of the first phase of the plant’s development. The second phase, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2022, will see the company add passenger car, truck and OTR tyres to its portfolio.
Kenda Rubber Industrial has been producing bicycle and motorcycle tyres at its Indonesia plant since 2015. According to local media reports, the Taiwanese manufacturer now wants to move production capacity from China to Indonesia.
Nokian Tyres’ new Dayton, USA manufacturing plant has been awarded ISO 9001 certification. The certification requires companies to meet specific quality management system requirements and thus affirms the company’s commitment to premium quality.
Apollo Tyres has commissioned its seventh tyre factory globally and its fifth in India, with the first tyre rolling off the production line from the Andhra Pradesh greenfield facility in the southern part of the country on 25 June. Chairman, Onkar S Kanwar, vice chairman and MD, Neeraj Kanwar, supervisory board members along with the entire senior management team participated virtually in this momentous occasion.
Lay-off talks between Vredestein and employees at its Enschede factory in The Netherlands have not resulted in an agreement. The talks were prompted by the management’s announcement in early March that the firm is moving much of its production to Hungary. Since this will result in laying off around 750 of the 1,200 employees, a works council was developed in order to formulate an alternative proposal. However, according to various local news reports, the proposal was not received positively by the company management.
Zrenjanin city government
Continental AG
Information office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Michelin
MTP
GKN
Maxam
Tatneft
Pyramid Tires
Nokian