Whether its raw materials, machinery, research and development or the latest manufacturing trends, this tag provides up-to-the-minute insights into the upstream part of the tyre industry.
Evonik Industries has developed a new, active filler for the tyre industry that significantly improves the traction of winter tyres in snowy and slushy conditions, thereby increasing safety. Ultrasil 4000 GR is the first Low Surface Area (LSA) silica that also offers very good dispersibility. This enables very high filler levels in the tyre tread, further improving traction compared to tyres using conventional silica.
The first batch of radial truck tyres rolled off the production line at Guizhou Tire Co Ltd’s Vietnam plant on 1 April 2021, marking the completion of the first phase of the factory project. When Guizhou Tire’s Vietnam tyre factory, which was funded through a share issue in September last year, gets up to speed it will produce 1.2 million radial tyres a year.
Groupe Michelin’s Capital Markets Day presentation, conducted via webcast on 8 April, set out its agenda for the next decade, putting its plans in front of leading global banks and financial firms. Circling around a central theme of sustainability, the group executive committee, led by managing chairman Florent Menegaux and general manager and chief financial officer Yves Chapot, showed how Michelin intends to “diversify while strengthening” in order to achieve its key economic and ecological targets. Chapot and Menegaux stated that expanding “non-tyre revenue” up to more than one-fifth of the group’s turnover by 2030 would make the group more agile and robust in the face of future crises. The current global health crisis has been instructive in this regard; the committee credited the development of the group’s non-tyre portfolio with assisting in its resilience over the difficulties of 2020, and now intends to continue the acceleration of its diversification. Its digital and materials innovations will simultaneously “deliver new growth,” while contributing to the overall strength of the group: a leitmotif of the committee’s presentation.
The Sailun Group is ramping up production at its plants in China and Vietnam. The manufacturer brought its newest truck tyre plant in Shenyang, China onstream in November 2020, giving it an additional 3.3 million units of all-steel truck radial capacity. In addition, Sailun plans to invest RMB 719.9 million (£81.3 million) to upgrade production at recently acquired manufacturer Shandong Anchi Tyres in Weifang, giving it the capacity to produce 1.2 million truck and bus radials and 6 million high performance passenger car and light truck tyres a year. Most recently, Sailun confirmed plans for the third phase of expansion at its Sailun (Vietnam) subsidiary.
General Tire has announced a voluntary exchange programme involving a maximum of 612 passenger vehicle tyres that were produced at the company’s Mt. Vernon, Illinois plant and sold in the UK replacement tyre market. The affected tyres are specific DOT and mould numbers of these products: General Tire Grabber AT³ LT235/85 R16; General Tire Grabber X³ LT265/70 R17. Affected tyres will be replaced free of charge.
Toyo Tire Corporation’s 2021 to 2025 ‘Mid-term ’21 plan’ indicates the brand’s intentions for its new Serbian plant, due to commence production in April 2022. The Japanese brand says the facility will not merely offer “local production for local consumption.” It says the plant will play a major role in further international expansion, becoming by far its most cost-effective.
ToP Tunniste, which supplies RFID solutions to businesses including the tyre industry, has merged with Fentec Partners Ltd. The merger, which was completed on 31 December 2020 means the company is now known as Fentec Ltd, effective 1 January 2021.
Cooper Tire wasn’t initially looking to sell when Goodyear chief executive Rich Kramer approached the company, Cooper’s president and CEO told journalists in a virtual press conference on 22 February 2021. Rather, Cooper’s management and board were convinced by Goodyear’s “compelling offer” and “strategic logic”. So, what exactly was it that convinced Cooper’s leadership team?
Following the news that Pirelli is consulting on reorganising part of its Burton tyre production, the company reaffirmed its commitment to both its Burton and Carlisle locations. But could the consultation relating to Pirelli’s Burton MIRS line mean transferring tyre production to Carlisle?
Vietnam Rubber Group says it achieved its revenue and profit targets for 2020, reporting profit of VNĐ5 trillion (roughly US$200 million) on sales of VNĐ25.477 trillion ($1 billion), according to the Vietnam News Agency. As a result of these figures, the company reports that its goals include restructuring and increased investment in the rubber sector with possible mergers that would help close the rubber tyre and tube products value chain.
The latest temporary closure of Honda’s Swindon plant because of parts shortages could be the “tip of the iceberg” for new car supply issues in 2021, the Vehicle Remarketing Association is warning. Chair Philip Nothard said that the problem, believed to be caused by poor availability of semiconductors, was potentially a sign of things to come from all manufacturers.
GRI has laid the foundation stone for the second phase of its $100 million manufacturing facility in Badalgama, Sri Lanka. The plant, in the Mirigama Export Processing Zone will expand production of speciality tyres as global demand for its products grows. The company has been expanding rapidly since its $40 million-plus investment in the “world-class” manufacturing facility, inaugurated in 2018. Phase two will include a new mixing facility, expanding the original plant by the end of 2021.
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.
Honda will next week pause car production at its factory in Swindon; the third time it has done so in a little over a month. The Japanese car manufacturer said in a statement that output would be paused from Monday to Thursday next week, the longest such pause so far. It said that global supply disruption as a result of the coronavirus pandemic was responsible for the pause.
Guizhou Tyre
Michelin
Sailun
Toyo
Cooper
MohammadAli Dahaghin; Unsplash
Geograph.co.uk
GRI
Ferentino; Facebook