Tag: tyre manufacturing
Experts gather for 4th FTire User Meeting in Aachen
For the 4th time, vehicle engineers and tyre experts from around the world visited Aachen, Germany between 11 and 13 September to exchange experiences of the FTire model and discuss varying applications and future demands for the tyre model together with its creator, Professor Gipser.
Continental, Kordsa to make tyre production greener
A collaboration between Continental’s Tire division and Kordsa, the Sabanci Group’s textile reinforcing materials business, is expected to result in a new, sustainable system of bonding textile reinforcing materials to rubber-based compounds. Specifically, the two companies are working on a technology that replaces resorcinol and formaldehyde with more environmentally friendly chemicals. Continental reports that to-date the joint work has delivered “very promising” results, adding that the technology will be available to others under a free licensing concept.
ZC Rubber, Bekaert sign strategic cooperation agreement
ZC Rubber has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Bekaert, the global top steel cord supplier. The new arrangement will focus on the development of steel cord on green tyre.
Apollo Tyres opens €475 million greenfield Hungarian plant
The opening of Apollo Tyres’ Gyöngyöshalász plant, 100km east of Budapest, marks a significant event for both the company’s global aspirations and the Indian tyre industry – the 72 hectare greenfield factory, begun in April 2015, is the first inaugurated by an Indian tyre company to come online outside the domestic market. The importance was reflected in the event itself, with some of the plant’s cavernous warehousing housing around 1,300 guests, among whose number was the prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, who declared Apollo’s sixth global tyre manufacturing plant – its second in Europe after the existing Netherlands facility acquired alongside Vredestein – open on 7 April.
ZC Rubber still number one tyre manufacturer in China
The latest CRIA data, which was released by Chinese tyre industry association CRIA on 12 April, shows that Zhongce Rubber Group (also known as ZC Rubber) remains the number tyre manufacturer in China in terms of income, with 2016 sales of 18.38 billion yuan (RMB). Giti Tire’s Chinese operation (Giti Tire [China] Investment Co., Ltd.) trails by more than 6 billion yuan, but is a clear second place with 13.14 billion yuan in 2016 ahead of Sailun Jinyu Group, which reported income of 11.19 billion yuan last year.
Smithers upgrades tread wear testing facilities
Smithers Rapra has enchanced its tread wear testing capabilities for passenger, light truck and commercial vehicle tyres at its test centre in Ravenna, Ohio, USA. According to the company, the upgraded equipment and software can run a wide variety of drive profiles while supporting benchmarking and development requirements.
Kobe Steel Librota-GS tyre uniformity machine
Kobe Steel, Ltd. has launched a new tyre testing machine, a tyre uniformity machine called the Librota-GS. According to the company, the new model has the world’s fastest cycle time of 18 seconds per tyre and the world’s highest repeated measurement accuracy. Kobe Steel is regarded as a top manufacturer in the field of uniformity machines, with an estimated 30 per cent global market share. Kobe Steel plans to supply the new model to tyre makers in North America, Europe and regions throughout the world, aiming to capture further share of the market.
Reifen China 2016 ready for 1 December opening
Reifen China, which is described as “the trade fair for the Asian tyre market” is ready to run from 1 to 3 December 2016. The show is being held at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre in the Pudong area of the city. Reifen China, which is organised by China United Rubber Corporation and Messe Essen will present wheels, tyres, repair material, valves, garage equipment and accessories amongst other products.
Cimcorp supplying automated handling system to Petlas
Cimcorp is supplying a fully automated handling system to Petlas Tire Corporation at its factory in Kirsehir, Turkey, about 100 miles southeast of Ankara. Based on Cimcorp's Dream Factory solution, the automation will handle finished passenger car radial tyre-finishing and palletizing areas. Work on the order – Cimcorp’s first project for Petlas – is already underway and the turnkey material handling system will become operational in the autumn of 2017.
Safe-Run: The legal ‘war’ with VMI has just begun
Following VMI’s statement saying it had won the latest round of legal wrangling related to a patent dispute with Safe-Run, the Chinese firm, which describes itself as “one of VMI’s biggest competitors in China” put out a counter statement questioning VMI’s perspective.
Shangdong Hengyu making graphene tyres
Shangdong Hengyu Technology has become the latest tyre manufacturer to announce that it is making tyres based on the Nobel Prize-winning material graphene. Other firms using graphene in tyres include bicycle tyremaker Vitorria and fast-growing Chinese manufacturer Sentury Tire. According to the company supplying Hengyu with Graphene (The Sixth Element Materials Technology), Shangdong Hengyu has developed “tyre formulations” that the companies say demonstrates the positive impact of graphene on the performance of tyres.
Aria Tire breaks ground on new Iranian tyre factory
Local sources report that Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, the Iranian minister of industry, mine and trade attended the ground-breaking of Gostaresh Aria Tire’s new tyre production facility in Zabol City, Eastern Iran on 10 March. The ground-breaking marks the latest development in a significant expansion of the Iranian tyre industry.
Cimcorp opens US office
Cimcorp, a manufacturer robotic gantry-based order fulfilment and tyre handling solutions, is opening a new US-based operation – Cimcorp USA, Inc. (Cimcorp USA) – based in Norcross, Georgia. The firm is making the announcement at the Modex trade show taking place from 4-7 April in Atlanta.
Hankook China workers protest shift changes
On 1 March 2016 around 100 Chinese Hankook tyre workers protested against the decision to move to a three-shift rather than a four-shift working pattern. However while some sources described this as strike action, Hankook representatives denied these claims and said production has not been affected.
Nokian announced ‘operational structure and management team’ changes
Alexej von Bagh is to take over the responsibility for global Process development at Nokian Tyres as of 1 April 2016. Mr von Bagh will have responsibility for the overall process architecture and process development. Mr von Bagh reports to the president and CEO. “Alexej has been a strong driver in Vianor’s success. Vianor’s processes are world class and business is growing. He will take the planning and execution of the whole company’s process architecture to the top level”, says Ari Lehtoranta, president and CEO of Nokian Tyres.