R&D staff at tire makers around the world are over-loaded. This was one of the messages coming out of the Tire Technology event held this week in Cologne. The pressure of work from new product launches; labelling requirements and re-formulating is restricting tire makers’ ability to work with suppliers on new developments. If suppliers want
Goodyear Dunlop Europe is to close one of its two factories in Amiens, France. The move was predicted by Tire Industry Research weeks ago. The news was released to workers at the factory and on the US Securities and Exchange Commission on 31 January, 2013. Goodyear did not make a public announcement of the move,
Cabot Corp is receiving royalties from Michelin. The revenues come from an exclusive licence to Michelin for Cabot’s liquid mixing technology. Cabot sells the technology into the non-tire sector as Transfinity. Cabot’s main product is carbon black. The licence covers all tire-related applications for the technology. The licence permits Michelin to build and operate factories
In 2012, a total of 125,825 new commercial vehicles were registered in the EU*, down by 12.4%compared with 2011. The UK (-5.7%) and Germany (-7.0%) declined a bit. The French market shrank by 10.3%. The Spanish (-25.9%) and Italian (-31.7%) faced a more severe downturn. In the month of December, new commercial vehicle registrations continued
Two industry leaders are to produce a sustainable source of natural rubber in Europe. The natural rubber will be sourced from the guayule (Parthenium argentatum) shrub. The shrub will be grown at an undisclosed location in southern Europe. The two partners in the project are Versalis and Yulex Corp. Versalis makes synthetic rubber. It is a
In a recent presentation to analysts, by Goodyear’s CFO, Darren Wells, he said the main challenge for Goodyear’s strategy today is to put its European operations in order. I’ve been following the press and analyst coverage of Goodyear’s strategy. I think his comments have been misinterpreted. I listened to the presentation over the internet. Afterwards,
Pirelli has removed the nudes from the famous Pirelli Calendar. Thank Goodness! It is unfortunate that the most famous object associated with a tire company is a set of nude and semi-nude images of women. I thought the Pirelli Calendar was out-dated. I thought it was sexist. I thought it was inappropriate to a modern,
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