Tag: investment
Bridgestone looking to increase capacity in South Africa
Bridgestone is considering increasing production capacity at its tyre factories in South Africa in order to gain market share in the country’s minibus taxi segment. It appears to be looking at investing around ZAR 300 million (£16.1 million) in its plants, a capex additional to the ZAR 400 million investment it is currently completing at the company’s main production site in Brits.
Report: Yokohama has signed ‘no shop contract’ with Prometeon
Rubber industry news sources have confirmed earlier reports that Yokohama Rubber is in acquisition talks with Prometeon.
Hankook Tire postpones Hungary truck tyre plant
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.
New warehouse, increased capacity at Bridgestone’s Hungary tyre plant
Bridgestone has inaugurated the newly expanded warehouse at its tyre production plant in Tatabánya, Hungary. The new 10,000 square metre addition to facility’s warehousing was set up as part of a HUF 9.2 billion (£25.2 million) investment to develop the Tatabánya site and increases storage capacity by 180,000 tyres. The plant’s warehousing can now store up to 600,000 tyres, a growth that is expected to aid Bridgestone’s business with original equipment customers.
Sailun Group extends capacity expansion project
Sailun Group Co., Ltd. has issued a new timetable for the completion of its project to add capacity for larger rim passenger car and light commercial vehicle tyres at its Dongying factory in China. The self-funded investment to add 15 million units of capacity will now be implemented by December 2020 rather than this year, as originally planned. According to Sailun Group, the level of investment in the project and proposed usage of the funds remains the same.
Transense confirms Bridgestone cooperation
In February, TPMS and sensor-maker Transense announced it had received an order for 50 of its iTrack II tyre monitoring systems for installation in mines in North America. On Tuesday 13 August the company confirmed that Bridgestone is the cooperation partner.
Quick Lane Reading invests £40,000 in MOT equipment
Quick Lane Reading, the tyre and autocentre chain’s first franchise branch, has made a £40,000 investment into new MOT test equipment.
Toyo investing 390 million euros in Serbia tyre factory
Toyo Tire Corporation has announced that it is investing 390.5 million euros in the construction of a new tyre manufacturing facility in Indijia City, Republic of Serbia. Construction of the Serbia plant will start in May 2020, with a view to initiating tyre manufacturing operations in January 2022.
TrustFord opens two more PartsPlus sites
TrustFord has opened two new PartsPlus sites as the dealer group nears the completion of its new wholesale parts network expansion. The new sites, in Hull and Lincoln, were both opened on 17 July by Stuart Foulds, chairman and chief executive of TrustFord, accompanied by Dean Kemsley, general manager, and members of the board. The openings follow investment in Ford’s Quick Lane tyre and autocentre chain and brings the total number of TrustFord-operated PartsPlus sites to 14 across England, Northern Ireland and Scotland. A further site is due to open later this year.
Cooper investing US$4 million in Tupelo mixing
Cooper Tire & Rubber is investing a further $4 million into its plant in Tupelo, Mississippi. Local news sources, citing documents filed with the city said the money will be invested in upgrading the Tupelo plant’s mixing facilities.
Kobe Steel makes Germany-based Kobelco Europe its European HQ
Kobe Steel, Ltd. established Kobelco Europe GmbH (KEU) earlier this month to serve as the European headquarters for the Kobe Steel Group. Tsuyoshi Uesugi, will serve as managing director. According to the company, KEU has grown out of the existing Kobelco Machinery Europe GmbH (KME) which is based in Munich, Germany. KME was established in 2012 as a base for Kobe Steel’s Machinery Business in Europe, mainly the marketing of nonstandard compressors and tyre and rubber machinery.
Nokian Tyres: Investment in capacity, R&D on schedule
Plans announced over the past year and a half to extend the Nokian Tyres commercial factory in Nokia, Finland and construct a new R&D centre on the site are “taking shape on time”, reports the tyre maker. Nokian expects the R&D facility to be ready this year and for the factory to achieve full capacity in 2021.
Northvolt raises US$1 billion for Europe’s first gigafactories
Northvolt has raised US$1 billion of capital to build Europe’s first homegrown gigafactory for lithium-ion battery cells - Northvolt Ett, in Skellefteå, Sweden. At the same time, in cooperation with the Volkswagen Group, the company also announced plans to establish a second gigafactory with an intended location in Lower Saxony, Germany. The news of both factories was announced on 12 June 2019.
Conti investing 100 million euros expanding OTR tyre production in Portugal
Continental is investing roughly 100 million euros in the expansion of its Lousado, Portugal radial earthmoving and port tyres production facilities. As a result of the investment, the newly-expanded plant, which will continue to focus on production of tyres with diameters over 24 inches, more than 100 new jobs will be created.
New chapter in politics parallels new chapter in UK automotive manufacturing
As we all now know, Boris Johnson became the United Kingdom’s new Prime Minister on 24 July. The first thing he did was replace almost the entire cabinet, with a reshuffle of unprecedented proportions. Next, he gave his maiden speech on the steps of 10 Downing Street, with an address that sought to build a platform for economic and political optimism against the recent backdrop of Brexit stagnation. Not only will we leave the EU by 31 October, we are going to do it in style, he effectively said. In doing so, Boris – as he is affectionately known – revealed as much about the changing nature of the automotive manufacturing industry and its suppliers as he did about British politics.
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