Industrial Tyres
Several leading tyre repairers have joined the National Tyre Distributors Association (NTDA) following the launch of the association’s Responsible Repairer Group (RRG) on 23 March. Midland Tyre Control Ltd, TRS Tyres Ltd, TS Tyre Repairs Ltd, and Jade Tyre LLP have all joined the NTDA over the last three weeks. The team in Aylesbury adds that many more membership enquiries from across the UK have been received from repairers too.
The National Tyre Distributors Association (NTDA) is launching a new Responsible Repairer Group for companies providing major repairs for commercial vehicle, OTR, agricultural as well as plant and equipment tyres. Tyres & Accessories understands that “several major repairers” have expressed interest in the group.
In addition to working towards expanding capacity for all-steel truck tyres at its Nizhnekamsk Truck Tyre Factory (NZGSh) by a further 1.2 million units a year, Russia’s Tatneft Group is giving the plant the capability to produce up to 33,000 large-sized industrial and agricultural tyres annually. This project is being financed with a 10 billion ruble (£99 million) loan.
Ferentino Tyre Corporation’s Horana, Sri Lanka tyre factory was officially opened by Sri Lankan president Gotabhaya Rajapaksa on 14 January 2021. The facility was constructed with an investment of US$250 million and can reportedly produce 2.4 million tyres annually. Tyres made at the Ferentino factory will cross a number of sectors including radial car, SUV, bicycle and even three-wheelers. These include a “Mythos” product line reminiscent of the Marangoni passenger car tyre range previously produced in the same place (see below). Of the 2.4 million tyres produced annually at the Ferentino factory in this phase, 80 per cent are destined for export markets. A second phase is scheduled to be completed in March 2022.
At the start of 2021 GRI managing director Prabhash Subasinghe reflected on 2020 and shares his focus for 2021. Beginning with a reflection on the true meaning of resilience – something that is only put to the test only when you go through a year like 2020 – Subasinghe spoke proudly about GRI and the company’s home country Sri Lanka:
“I am humbled and proud of how resilient we were as people, a company, and a country. Our fortitude drove the way we interacted with society and the way we managed our relationships with our stakeholders. GRI showed an incredible amount of resilience in all facets.
Trelleborg Wheel Systems has expanded its Brawler HPS (High Performance Solid) Telehandler Tire range to include the Comfort line, which offers tyres engineered to reduce vibration and improve the driving experience of telehandlers and compact wheel loaders in waste and recycling applications. The manufacturer says this new line of solid tyres maximises ride comfort, while delivering the best possible performance in demanding environments.
Magna Tyres Group has added to its material handling tyre line up with the introduction of the 18.00-25 Magna M-Stacker tyre. This is a tyre for use on reach stackers, empty container handlers and heavy-duty forklifts and is designed to improve the efficiency and productivity of cargo and port operations.
Continental is launching ContiConnect Live, a digital tyre pressure monitoring solution designed to complement ContiPressureCheck and ContiConnect Yard. With ContiConnect Live, the collected data on tyre pressure and temperature are sent in real time to the cloud using a central telematics unit. In addition, the unit transmits the vehicle’s location using GPS and records the operating hours of the tyres. Fleet managers have a quicker and more comfortable overview of the condition of the vehicles regardless of their location. By evaluating the information, the fleet benefits from reduced downtime, lower maintenance costs and an extended operating time.
Goodyear’s Off-The-Road division has launched a new radial EV-3G tyre intended for industrial applications such as airports, in and around ports and intermodal platforms. The tyre maker says it developed this latest product to provide optimal handling on aircraft tractors, automated guided vehicles, shuttle sprinter carriers, reach stackers, container handlers and other industrial vehicles.
GRI is supplying tyres to Joskin, the agricultural Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) based in Belgium. Announcing the news at the end of October, Joskin said it has been in operation since 1968 and is one of the world’s leading producers of agricultural trailers, tankers, and related equipment to meet the changing needs of global farmers.
During the last 18 years GRI has expanded significantly. Across the material handling, agricultural and construction segments, GRI now produces a total of 100 tonnes of tyres a day. Most recently the company added new mixing capacity in a bid to expand the company’s overall production output. So how does this particular action fit into the wider strategy? Tyres & Accessories interviewed GRI managing director Prabhash Subasinghe in order to find out.
Camso, the off-road tyre specialist acquired by Michelin in 2018, has grown its off-highway transportation tyre service and distribution presence in North America with the acquisition of two material-handling solutions businesses from Metro Industrial Tires. These businesses are based in Chicago and provide service to the market via their own press truck fleets.
Today Yokohama announced that it is consolidating its OTR tyre businesses into Yokohama Off-Highway Tires, which could be read as a prelude to the announcement Yokohama’s bid for the Prometeon tyre business. Roughly a year after the story broke, Yokohama’s bid for Prometeon isn’t the best kept secret in the tyre industry. Tyres & Accessories first heard talk of Yokohama’s bid for the ex-Pirelli industrial and commercial vehicle tyre business back in July 2019. The news was reported world-wide after we broke the story in September 2019, followed days later by third-party confirmation from the Chinese side of the deal. At that time, the deal was set to go public by the end of 2019. A few months later at the start of 2020, the timeframe switched to an end-of-first-quarter 2020 deadline. Then the coronavirus pandemic happened. And in the months that have followed things have gone quiet. So, where is Yokohama’s bid for Prometeon up to? The latest news is that deal is still on-track, but that there have been a few changes along the way. Here, Tyres & Accessories brings an update on the status of the acquisition and offers a different view on the deal by looking at it from a South American perspective.
Nigel Durrant; Pixabay
Tatneft
Continental
Ferentino; Facebook
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Trelleborg Wheel Systems
Magna Tyres
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