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ContinentalKraussMaffei continues modernisation strategy with new Laatzen plant
Machinery and systems manufacturer KraussMaffei, whose product portfolio includes production and recycling equipment for the tyre industry, has received the keys to its new plant in Laatzen, Germany. After two years of construction, the symbolic handover of the 97,000 square metre facility took place on 1 September.
VMI: Healthy order books & on track for UNIXX launch
According to parent company TKH Group NV, business at Netherlands-based machinery manufacturer VMI was very healthy during the first six months of 2022, with tyre building equipment contributing in no small way to TKH’s 24.0 per cent year-on-year increase in turnover.
Eldan & Pyrum intensify tyre recycling, pyrolysis collaboration
Under an expanded cooperation, end-of-life tyre (ELT) recycling equipment manufacturer Eldan Recycling A/S and pyrolysis technology developer Pyrum Innovations AG will include each other’s products in their complete recycling solutions. The Danish and German firms say they’ll distribute these solutions “actively”.
Materials, machinery suppliers feature strongly in Pirelli Supplier Awards
Every year, Pirelli awards just nine of the more than 14,000 suppliers throughout its global chain for distinguishing themselves in making the tyre maker’s supply chain even more sustainable, innovative and of the highest possible quality. Announcing the recipients of its 2021 Supplier Awards, Pirelli says the main selection criterion was care for the environment through an increasingly sustainable supply chain – with lower CO2 emissions, high quality, innovation, speed and global presence.
KamaTyresKZ secures funds for automated machinery
Work on Tatneft’s joint venture tyre factory in Saran, Kazakhstan began several months ago, and the project has now taken a further step forward with the signing of a financial lease agreement aiding the purchase of modern, automated tyre production equipment for the plant.
Salvadori supplying downsizing system to Michelin/Enviro recycling plant
Earlier this year, Michelin Group and Scandinavian Enviro Systems announced they were building a facility for extracting raw materials such as carbon black, oil, steel and gas from end-of-life tyres, with Michelin holding 90 per cent equity in the Antofagasta, Chile-based joint venture. Michelin has selected Italian tyre recycling solution provider Salvadori Srl to supply and install the plant’s downsizing system, and also to train local staff in its operation. The plant will use Salvadori’s technology to reduce tyres into pieces of predetermined dimensions before further processing them.
VMI looks back at 25 years in China
Often when we see the words ‘VMI’ and ‘China’ used in the same sentence, the context is a court ruling or copyright infringement. But although such issues are significant, they tell by no means the entire story of VMI in China. The company is now looking back at its 25 years in this market, a period it describes as one of “extraordinary change in the Chinese tyre industry” – change that “VMI has been at the heart of it.”
Cimcorp joins MHI AS/RS Industry Group
Cimcorp, manufacturer and integrator of turnkey robotic order fulfilment and tyre handling solutions, has joined US-based trade association MHI’s Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS) Industry Group, a collective of the world’s leading AS/RS suppliers that focuses on collaboratively growing and supporting the AS/RS market. As part of the Industry Group, Cimcorp says it will leverage its knowledge and expertise to help MHI members and customers discover efficient, safe, and innovative solutions to their most pressing material flow challenges.
Patent infringement case: VMI applauds Safe-Run ruling
VMI Holland says it “strongly welcomes” the decisions made by the Higher People’s Court of Jiangsu Province in its favour in two final judgements, delivered on 3 November 2021. The court has not only refused Safe-Run’s application to set aside the first instance judgements that a lower court made against the company; it has also maintained the damages for Safe-Run’s continued infringement of one of VMI’s patents in China.
Safe-Run pays VMI damages after China appeal court IP judgement
Sora Shimazaki from PexelsLeading tyre building machinery manufacturer VMI Holland B.V. has issued a firm rebuke to Safe-Run Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd after the latter issued a press release on 31 July claiming victory in the companies’ ongoing legal dispute. Contrary to Safe-Run’s view, VMI said the Jiangsu High People’s Court of China’s ruling represented “a major defeat for Safe-Run and almost total vindication of VMI’s position.” VMI first announced it had won “a significant lawsuit” against Safe-Run relating to its intellectual property in February 2021. Subsequently, the Netherlands-based firm said the appeal court finalised its judgement that Safe-Run were infringing on VMI’s two key patents relating to tyre building machines. Safe-Run was ordered to stop infringements immediately and pay VMI damages totalling RMB 2.46 million (around 320,000 euros). VMI notes that these payments are “very high [compared] to the average damage awards of around RMB 100,000 in similar cases in China.” Safe-Run’s statement is not currently available.
Vipal Machinery sales growing in the USA
VipalVipal Machinery is reporting growing sales in the USA, having sold five machines so far this year in the world’s largest tyre retreading market. According to the company, four major North American retreaders acquired the five pieces of machinery including Pete’s Road Services based in Corona, California.
TireTech introduces patented tyre examination system
TireTechTireTech GmbH isn’t known to many in the tyre market, as Bernhard Brain and Karl Staudinger only set up the company last year. The two founders, however, each boast 25 years of professional experience and are experts in mechanical engineering and automation. The German company is now presenting an automated solution to grade used tyres for reuse or disposal: The new and already patented, modularly configurable TP1 with Tire Measurement Reporting System (TMRS) can examine up to 400 used car tyres per hour and – according to customer specifications – sort and dispatch these for further application, such as retreading. With this solution, Brain and Staudinger claim they’ve finally “brought automation to arbitrary, manual car tyre testing.”
Siemens partners in Michelin’s MaRCoPoLo upgrade
Michelin commissioned a test bed specifically for truck tyres at its Ladoux production site in France back in 2000, its Machine de Recherche en Comportement Poids-Lourd – or MaRCoPoLo, for short. When deciding to modernise this facility 16 years later, the tyre maker chose Siemens as a partner for updating the automation and process control […]
Safe-Run equipping Linglong’s Serbia tyre plant
China’s Safe-Run Group will supply smart factory equipment to the plant Linglong Tire is setting up in Serbia. The company says it won the contract to fit out the Linglong plant in Zrenjanin, a project valued at more than RMB 700 million (£79.2 million), after beating Finnish, South Korean, Japanese and other rivals in a tender process.
