The Carbon Black 2017 Perspective in Asia Pacific conference has released details on its global conference scheduled for November 7-9 in Chennai, India. The conference will be held at the Hotel Le Royal Meridien. Here is the preliminary program. Notch will be presenting a paper on global market conditions and outlook. This conference is held every two years and was most recently held in Yokohama, Japan in November 2015.
January 23, 2017
January 11, 2017
Bridgestone investing $180M at Wilson, NC tire plant
On January 9, Bridgestone Americas announced plans to invest an additional $180 million at its passenger tire plant in Wilson, North Carolina, bringing its total investment at the site to $344 million over the next 10 years. The investment includes a new rubber mixer as well as funding for innovative manufacturing processes and technology. The project will add 16 jobs at the plant.
Groundbreaking for the 50,000 square foot building to house the new mixer will begin in the spring, with startup scheduled for the fall of 2018. The Wilson plant currently spans 2.5 million square feet and was last expanded in 1999, adding 85,000 square feet to the facility.
The multi-phase expansion will allow the plant to meet global demand for higher rim diameter tires, as well as improve quality and productivity while reducing costs. Combined, the project is adding manufacturing space to accommodate new tire assembly machines, materials handling systems, curing presses and associated equipment to increase plant capacity by 3,000 tires per day, bringing daily production to 35,000 tires by 2018.
Yokohama Rubber acquires Japanese industrial tire producer Aichi Tire
On January 6, the Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., announced that it had reached agreement with the shareholders of Aichi Tire Industry Co., Ltd., to purchase all of that company’s shares. Aichi Tire, headquartered in Komaki, Aichi, manufactures tires for industrial machinery, including forklifts. Yokohama’s plans call for completing the acquisition by March, 2017.
Aichi Tire’s products include solid tires and press-on tires. The company supplies those tires to an extensive clientele of industrial machinery manufacturers, mainly in Japan.
Pyrolyx and Reklaim form North American joint venture for recovered carbon black
Pyrolyx AG (Munich, Germany) and Reklaim, Inc. (Seattle, WA) have formed a joint venture to produce recovered carbon black from end-of-life tires. The new venture, Pyrolyx USA, Inc., is owned 81% by Pyrolyx and will implement Pyrolyx’s proprietary manufacturing process at new facilities across North America. Reklaim’s top management will run Pyrolyx USA. No further details were released at the time of the announcement in December.
