European Rubber Journal articles from March 1999

European Rubber Journal archives from March 1999

Trelleborg appoints new CEO as profits slump.
March 1, 1999... Trelleborg AB announced a 77 percent fall in annual profits after exceptional items, to SEK 619 million ($78 million). The group has chemical, rubber and mining interests and recorded a 20 percent increase in its turnover figure to SEK 25 041...

Turkish profiles maker gains new contracts.
March 1, 1999... Standard Profil in Turkey has gained contracts to supply automotive body sealings to major European car makers recently, according to the Turkish profile maker's owner and chief executive officer Rifat Kamhi. The company is also looking...

ERJ newsbriefs.
March 1, 1999... * Japan--Bridgestone is planning to improve its car tyre sales and boost price competitiveness. It plans to strengthen its support for sales companies. Retailers' profitability will be improved with shipments to direct sales outlets from 10...

Growth continues for Hutchinson belt business.
March 1, 1999... Hutchinson SA wants to move into systems supply, based around Poly-V belts. The company claims to be market leader in Europe in these products. The transmission division of Hutchinson is growing by 30 percent a year as it moves into...

INRO in jeopardy as Thailand votes to leave.
March 1, 1999... Thailand's decision to withdraw from INRO (the International Natural Rubber Organisation) is likely to force the organisation to collapse. That would clear the way for the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) to establish...

IISRP forecasts growth.
March 1, 1999... Global demand for synthetic rubber (SR) will increase further to 10.8 million tonnes in 1998, compared with 10.6 million tonnes in 1997, according to latest statistics from the IISRP (International Institute of Synthetic Rubber Producers Inc)....

Dunlop GRG in BIMBO.
March 1, 1999... Unipoly sells non-core businesses in a management buy-out. The new company makes fabrics, mouldings and custom compounds. Dunlop GRG Holdings Ltd is the new name of Dunlop GRG Ltd, adopted since the management buy-out from former parent...

C F Gomma to restructure Paguag.
March 1, 1999... CF Gomma SpA has formally announced that it has acquired Paguag GmbH & Co., (see also ERJ Nov 1998, p3). Paguag is one of Germany's leading manufacturers of antivibration goods and technical mouldings destined for automotive and industrial...

NFM Welding Engineers buys Iddon business.
March 1, 1999... Extruder supplier Iddon Brothers Ltd of Leyland, Lancs, UK, in the hands of the receivers since Dec 1998, now belongs to US extruder supplier NFM Welding Engineers Inc. Massillon, Ohio-based NFM Welding Engineers concluded the purchase...

SR producers join forces.
March 1, 1999... * The parent of Mexican synthetic rubber producer Industrias Negromex Solucion SA de CV and Spain's Repsol Quimica SA are forming a "strategic alliance" for their solution SR businesses. Girsa SA de CV and Repsol each will own a 50-percent...

Seadrift EPDM comes on stream.
March 1, 1999... Union Carbide Corp. has finally brought on stream its gas-phase EPDM plant in Seadrift, Texas. The plant, originally scheduled to be on stream in early 1997, uses a completely new gas-phase polymerisation technology, and has suffered extensive...

Avon launches `Project Atlas'.
March 1, 1999... Avon Rubber plc has broken ground on `Project Atlas' a 19 million [pounds sterling] ($31 million) scheme to build a dedicated technical rubber goods plant in its home town of Melksham, UK. The project follows on from `Project Globe' which...

newsbriefs.
March 1, 1999... * Manchester, UK--Prodicon International has won the contract to supply downstream cooling and strip handling systems to Avon Rubber's new mixing plant, code-named Project Globe (see main story). The contract covers a fully-automated...

Diehl and Carlisle form automotive partnership.
March 1, 1999... Diehl and Carlisle are combining forces in EPDM mouldings to win new business in OE automotive contracts. The decision was taken following pressure from car makers to improve global coverage. Carlisle Engineered Products Inc. has set...

Union war on Conti escalates.
March 1, 1999... John Sellers, executive vice president of the United Steel Workers Association (USWA) and head of the union's Rubber/Plastics Conference, thinks disputes between tyre companies and the unions are going to become tougher. "I think we need to be...

Pirelli and Cooper opt for joint distribution in Americas.
March 1, 1999... In a tacit admission that its North American strategy has been failing, Pirelli has agreed that Cooper Tire will distribute all Pirelli tyres in North America, and this will allow the North American unit of the Italian company to focus on OE...

Goodyear & Sumitomo form global alliance.
March 1, 1999... Goodyear has brought the old Dunlop operations from Sumitomo, and added in a fully-equipped original equipment organisation to sell to Japanese car makers. Included in the deal are 10 modern tyre factories in Europe and North America, and 350...

Presence is the route to expansion for Bekaert.
March 1, 1999... The world's largest independent steelcord supplier aims to be present in the global market, and then to be the lowest cost producer, and then to deliver the best technology. These are the drivers of its strategy to build market share, says the...

Flexsys gets a new boss.
March 1, 1999... Flexsys has a leading edge in global supply arrangement, and customer care. These are factors which can help cut costs when doing business with partners. Flexsys claims it is now recognised as the leading supplier of rubber chemicals in...

ERJ people.(Brief Article)
March 1, 1999... * JOHN REISS has retired as chairman of Gates Robber Co. He was involved in the company's sale to UK-based Tomkins plc. DAVID SNOWDON is to handle his duties, until a successor is appointed. * Avon Robber plc has announced the retirement of...

Rubber machinery suppliers have a good 1998.
March 1, 1999... Although continuing difficulties in the economies of South-east Asia have depressed sales to rubber processors in that region, suppliers of rubber machinery have generally had good sales in their domestic markets over the last year. ...

Rubber machinery listing 1999.(Directory)
March 1, 1999... Internal mixers Carter Bros (Rochdale) Ltd Product range: Internal mixers, lab scale to 370 litres, tangential or interlocking. Two roll mills, lab scale to 26x84". Mill stockblending units 60" to 84". Calenders. SCADA mixer control...

About ERJ's 1999 rubber machinery listing.
March 1, 1999... ERJ sent out some 150 questionnaires in December 1998 and several reminders early in 1999. Over 100 companies replied. For a few suppliers we have included last year's data where they have not supplied information this year. This is...

Farrel results good--but not Farrel-Shaw's.
March 1, 1999... Farrel is still busy incorporating the recently acquired Farrel Shaw Intermix line into its UK facilities in Rochdale, UK, according to Hans Baurmeister, vice president and general manager of Farrel's rubber machinery division, in answer to...

More intermeshing mixers from Meccaniche Moderne.
March 1, 1999... Italian mixer maker Meccaniche Moderne SpA of Busto Arsizio aims to increase sales of intermeshing rotor mixers--which it makes under an agreement with Kobe Steel Ltd--in western and central Europe, and Italy. Another aim of the Italian...

Extrusion developments.
March 1, 1999... * UT HGMBH's Rollex gear extrusion system is becoming "more and more accepted on the market," according to Peter Uth, owner and MD of the Fulda-based machinery supplier. It is currently finalising some orders with major rubber manufacturers in...

Leading supplier.
March 1, 1999... Mitsubishi Heavy Industries fulfils some 50 percent of the global demand for tyre curing presses, according to Terutake Furui, general manager of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Europe Ltd's machinery group. The Japanese giant is a leading...

News from the tyre equipment business.
March 1, 1999... * US supplier of bead-making equipment for tyres, BARTELL MACHINERY SYSTEMS LLC says it will continue to perfect its tyre bead machinery and is working with its sister company Steelastic to offer fully automated bead rooms. Its facilities in...

News in injection.
March 1, 1999... * REP'S major news for 1998 was the launch of a new G8 range of injection moulding machines, designed specifically for ease of use "for all personnel involved in its setting up, operation and maintenance," according to sales director Gilbert...

Good sales in the US.
March 1, 1999... Last year was a good one for Austrian injection moulding machine supplier Maplan, with sales up 25 percent over 1997. Maplan's Gert Kain, division manager for rubber injection moulding, reports 1998 sales for new rubber machinery of $36million...

`Future focus' on IT for control firm.
March 1, 1999... Information technology will be a future focus for Manchester-based Unit Controls Ltd, a supplier of refurbished and new equipment, according to Simon Griffiths, technical director. Unit Controls also supplies control panels for machinery. ...

Good business in used machines.
March 1, 1999... * AMONG THE MANY MACHINES that JM/KTM Machinery Inc. handled last year for rebuilding and refurbishing, was the last Farrel 27D mixer owned by Goodyear, which JM/KTM rebuilt for Goodyear in Mexico City. The Akron, Ohio-based firm has a 28...

VMI sees opportunities in the tyre industry.
March 1, 1999... While some tyre makers are introducing new technologies to the manufacturing process,VMI Epe believes there are still plenty of opportunities to make tyre building equipment more cost effective. It is also developing newer technologies, with a...

Workers of the world, Unite!
March 1, 1999... You could describe the relationship between employee and employer as a customer-supplier interface, but in this case, the product being sold is time, effort, intelligence and, of course, labour. As the employers--the large rubber...