European Rubber Journal articles from October 2000

European Rubber Journal archives from October 2000

Pirelli to cut 900 jobs in integration of BICC units.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Cable production at Leigh to cease as Pirelli rationalises units bought from BICCGeneral. Pirelli Cables Ltd will cut around 900 jobs as it integrates the company's existing six UK sites with the four cable production units acquired from...

TPEs a strategic niche product for Vita.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Thermoplastic elastomers are among a group of six niche product areas--including reticulated foam and thin-gauge sheet--which are of increasing strategic importance to British Vita plc, according to David Campbell, the group's managing...

US private equity firm to buy Kraton Polymers.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Shell's Kraton Polymers business, a global leader in stryrenic block copolymer TPEs, finally finds a home, with US investment firm. Royal Dutch/Shell Group has agreed to sell its global Kraton Polymers business to an affiliate of Ripplewood...

ERJ newsbriefs.(Industry Overview)
October 1, 2000... Dyneon launches new perfluoroelastomer [] Nuremburg, Germany--Dyneon has quietly introduced a perfluoroelastomer aimed at the chemical processing industries. The new material, code-named PFE90-x, is claimed to offer superior processing...

Bridgestone/Firestone to recall 6.5 million tyres.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Bridgestone Firestone Inc. is recalling more than 6.5 million tyres supplied as original equipment to Ford Motor Company, following a series of fatal accidents involving the Explorer and Firestone-brand tyres. Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. is...

Recall prompts manufacturing bonanza.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... [] Akron--Bridgestone/Firestone Inc.'s recall of 6.5 million ATX, ATXII and Wilderness AT tyres is prompting a boom in the manufacture of 235/75R15 light truck tyres among North American tyre makers. Michelin, Goodyear, Conti-General and...

Recall causes six-month earning plummet for Bridgestone/Firestone.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... [] Tokyo--Saddled by the rising costs of its Firestone light truck tyre recall, Bridgestone Corp. reported a 48 5-percent drop in net earnings for the first six months of fiscal 2000 The drop in income, to $177 million, was due almost entirely...

Solutia signals exit from AES and Flexsys JVs.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Its AES join venture in TPEs with ExxonMobil and Flexsys JV in rubber chemicals wiht Akzo Nobel don't fit Solutia's strategy. Solutia Inc. of St Louis Missouri is talking to potential buyers for its 50-percent shares in both Advanced...

AES and DS-Chemie form pact to make food liners.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... North American plant to make closure liners for drinks cans. Advanced Elastomer Systems has formed a strategic alliance to make closure liners for the food and beverage industry with DS-Chemie GmbH, a 150-employee company which claims to be...

ARC aims to boost worldwide presence.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... South and Central America and Asia are possible sites for Canadian-headquartered compounder ARC (soon to regain its Thona name) in its globalisation plans. Advanced Rubber Compounding Inc, already strong in Europe and North America, is...

Flevo sets up UK sales operation.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Flevo Rubber Compounding, part of Dutch rubber group Flevorubber BV, has set up a UK sales operation, Flevo Rubber UK, based in Thrapston, Northamptonshire. The Lelystad, The Netherlands headquartered Flevo wants to take advantage of the...

Tyre sector alarm over new EU noise limits.(European Union)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Surprise amendment tightens EU limits on tyre noise. Currently, car tyres cannot meet these limits without compromising other properties, says BLIC. The European Parliament voted 7 Sept for an amendment limiting tyre noise by a further 2...

Toyota denies reports on in-house tyre production.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Cure system from Fuji Seiko Fuji Seiko, an obscure company based in Japan's Hashima district, is not well known for its tyre expertise. The company is a specialist, precision engineering company, and has filed patents on a...

Pacific Dunlop decline prompts tyre review.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Profits down by 77 percent, tyre manufacturing under review and Ansell Healthcare in the red following a weak Euro. Its footwear business acquires rights to Clarks shoe brand in the region. Pacific Dunlop Ltd, headquartered in...

Dunlop Africa unit to expand site.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Dunlop Africa Ltd's South African unit, Dunlop Tyres Pty Ltd, based in Durban, will expand capacity at its Ladysmith plant by 55 percent in the coming two to three years to meet increasing export demands from customers in Europe and Latin...

Tyre failure led to Concorde crash.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... A burst tyre led directly to the crash of the Air France Concorde on July 15. Debris from the tyre ruptured a fuel tank and led to a catastrophic fire, and the death of all 109 passengers and crew. The official report into the fatal crash...

Sumitomo to boost Asian tyre plant output.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd of Kobe, Japan, will build a second tyre plant in Indonesia in the next two years and expand capacity at its first Indonesian plant by up to one-third. In addition, Sumitomo has taken a 10-percent ownership stake...

UK rubber firm adds TPE extrusion line.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Dale Polymers Ltd, based in Accrington in north-west England, has added a thermoplastic elastomer extrusion line to its existing capabilities to make rubber rollers, mouldings, extrusions and polyurethane castings. Based on a 90mm...

Thornhill Rubber Mouldings expands.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Building industry supplier plans more capacity to gain further contracts as supplier rationalisation hits the construction sector. Thornhill Rubber Mouldings, part of the TSL (Thornhill Silicones Ltd) group is extending production capacity...

Collmann opens US sales & support office.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Tyre industry machinery manufacturer Collmann GmbH & Co. has established a permanent North American sales, marketing and technical support office in Akron, Ohio. The Lubeck, Germany based company which specialises in X-ray equipment and...

e-business briefs.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Tyre firms advance plans for RubberNetwork.com [] London--The six tyre-making founders of RubberNetwork.com have signed a memorandum of understanding covering the next step in establishing the on-line marketplace for the tyre and rubber...

ERJ people.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... New director for Watts [] Lydney, UK--Mike Kennedy has been appointed the new commercial director at UK custom compounder Watts Industrial Polymers. Goodyear Chemical appoints [] Akron, Ohio--Goodyear Chemical has appointed Karen...

Good attendance at Nuremberg show.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... In a crowded year for rubber shows, the DKT 2000 conference and exhibition in Nuremberg, organised 4-7 Sept by the German Rubber Institute (Deutsche Kautschuk Gesellschaft), attracted around 3000 exhibition attendees. Over 700 delegates were...

Rado Gummi grows capacity, moves east.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Rado's Czech rubber compounding unit will double its capacity by 2002 to 30 ktpa, to supply the automotive profiles sector, while a new German plant will add 7 ktpa. German custom compounder Rado Gummi GmbH, based in Radevormwald, east of...

Alpha says Scarabaeus broke contract.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Test equipment supplier Alpha Technologies issued a lawsuit in Ohio on 1 Sept 2000 against software developer Scarabaeus Prozessautmatisierung auf Basis Kunstlicher Intelligenz GmbH of Langgons, Germany, aimed at "protecting its intellectual...

New cutter allows in-line rubber tests.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Alpha Technologies is in the process of developing a new testing regime which will make in-line instant approval tests on rubber compounds a reality rather than just one more item on a rubber processor's wish list. The company is putting...

Vredestein wants major role as compounder.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... Dutch compounder expands, assesses potential for new unit. Vredestein Rubber Resources BV is expanding its Maastricht, The Netherlands-based custom compounding activities and is looking at the possibility of setting up another compounding...

Dow assessing need for more SBR capacity.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... While Dow's rubber business has initially been focusing on SBR and BR production, raw materials integration is a major strength, and it has not ruled out a move into styrenic block copolymers. DOW Chemicals is assessing plans for new...

Kraiburg aims for US roller market share.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... [] Nuremberg, Germany--Custom compounder Gummiwerk Kraiburg GmbH is also expanding, but unlike other European competitors has moved further afield, across the Atlantic, Its deal with Preferred Rubber in the US is the "first step in rubber...

Bayer sets out policy for e-business.(Company Business and Marketing)
October 1, 2000... Bayer has now decided it wants to be a leader in the e-business sector. It has also worked out how it wants to deal with its main customers. Werner Schumann is developing Bayer's e-business strategy, and here he describes how Bayer intends...

Portals open for e-business.(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
October 1, 2000... Already you can buy and sell rubber, ingredients, machinery and rubber products over the web. Soon, the range of offerings will be enormous, with ElastomerSolutions and Commodinet both due to launch before the end of September, and...

RubberPool (www.rubberpool.com).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... First live web page: April 2000 Main objective To provide a full service business platform for the rubber industry and part of the plastic industry. Full...

RubberCommerce (www.rubber commerce.com).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... First live web page: Sept 1 Main objective The Rubber Commerce mission is to be the neutral and most value based online service provider of choice to ...

Commodinet.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... First live web page: Trial site up now; Launch due in September Main objective "liquidity" Claimed number of registrants 300 Claimed number of hits per week...

The Rubber Room (www.rubber.com).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... No response to our enquiry This is the oldest and best established of all the rubber portals on the web. It was established by Paul Roszel of Ontario in 1996, following the success of www.recycle.net and www.metalworld.com. The origins in...

RubberSources (www.rubbersources.com).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... First live web page: April 1998 Main objective Provide information on the global rubber and PU industry. Claimed number of registrants 12000 Claimed number of...

FKM makers battle it out in Europe.
October 1, 2000... Global demand for fluoroelastomers is around 14 000 tonnes per year, rising at about 5 percent annually. Taken with perfluoroelastomers, the market is worth around $1000 million per year. Europe is now the centre of technical development in...

Goodyear fails the cut.(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
October 1, 2000... Our annual rankings of the world's top tyre makers show some surprises this year, with Goodyear still in third position, while Michelin and Bridgestone tie for top place. Goodyear remains the third biggest tyre maker in the world, even...

European tyre plants 2000 data.(Industry Overview)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 2000... The following tables list tyre-making facilities throughout the world. Plant information shows: the year a factory opened; whether some of the workers are represented in a union(*); the number of employees at the facility; the types of tyre...

TPEs and automotive profiles.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... One of the debates we have been following over the last few years is the development of the automotive profiles business. In particular, the extent to which EPDM will be replaced by TPEs in that business. The first thing here is that there...