Author: RubberWorld

Bridgestone Americas, Inc. announced the release of its 2023 DE&I Annual Report. Guided by the Bridgestone E8 Commitment, this report captures new ways Bridgestone Americas is uniting efforts across the company and highlights key milestones. This includes the launch of its new Employee Value Proposition, which unites individuals with diverse perspectives to create a world-class team where they can thrive.

Thanks to 160 energy-saving projects, Continental Tires reduced its annual energy requirements by around 150 gigawatt hours in 2023. This was achieved, for example, through the increased use of renewable energies and thermal insulation. 150 gigawatt hours equates to powering about 12,500 family homes for a year, with an average consumption of 12,000 kilowatt hours per year. Energy in the tire industry is used, for example, to generate steam, which is required for tire vulcanization. In this production step, a rubber compound is converted into flexible, elastic rubber. With more efficient steam generation, Continental has reduced its CO2 emissions by 31,000 tons in 2023 alone.

The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., announced that it is supplying its BluEarth-XT AE61 tires as original equipment (OE) to Toyota Motor Corporation for use on the automaker’s new compact SUV, YARIS CROSS, which was launched in Thailand in October 2023. The YARIS CROSS is being fitted with 215/60R17 96H and 215/55R18 95V size tires.

Continental Tire the Americas (Continental) has officially opened a new sustainably designed facility in Fort Mill, S.C., today with local and state officials, key building project representatives, and corporate social responsibility partners. The state-of-the-art, 90,000 square foot building, which sits on 33 acres in northern Lancaster County, has capacity for 350 employees and is designed and built for future expansion potential.

VMI’s theme for this year’s Tire Technology Expo was “Smart tire building … inspired by AI”. Smart solutions that optimize tire building and address the challenges our industry is facing. New advanced vision systems, self-learning AI algorithms and self-adjusting processes contributing to improved flexibility, higher accuracy and consistency.

The Wheel Group (TWG) has voluntarily halted sales for all non mud-terrain tires of its AMP Tires brand. This action applies to all sizes of AMP Terrain Pro A/T, AMP Terrain Attack A/T, and AMP Terrain Attack R/T tires.

These tires meet the TUV SUD UNECE R-117 testing standard necessary to designate the tires as all-weather tires and display the Three Peak Mountain Snowflake (3PMSF) symbol in the European Union. However, they do not meet the snow traction testing standards required by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) or Transport Canada and, therefore, cannot display the 3PMSF symbol in U.S. and Canadian markets. The AMP Terrain Attack M/T tires are exempt from this action as they are not marked with the 3PMSF symbol.

Dow announced the launch of two new sustainable varieties of propylene glycol (PG) solutions in North America featuring bio-circular and circular feedstocks. Suitable for a broad range of applications, customers can now offer their high-performance products with externally verified sustainability benefits thanks to a mass balance approach.

The Renewable Materials Conference 2024 will take place from 11 – 13 June in Siegburg/Cologne (Germany). In just three years, the Renewable Materials Conference (RMC) has established itself as the world’s leading event on chemicals and materials based on biomass, CCU or chemical recycling – the only alternatives to fossil-based chemicals and materials. The unique concept of presenting all renewable material solutions at one event hits the mark and covers the entire value chain of the renewable carbon economy. The last conference in 2023 was attended by almost 500 participants from 32 countries, 90% of whom were from industry. 500 to 600 are expected this year.

The Rubber Division, ACS annually honors the best of the best with the most prestigious awards in our industry with their Science & Technology Awards. Recipients are selected by the Science & Technology Awards Committee, composed of distinguished experts from academia and industry. The Committee is chaired by Dr. Maria Ellul, ExxonMobil Chemical Company (Retired) and also includes the current Rubber Division, ACS Chair and Editor of Rubber Chemistry & Technology.

As one of the largest tire and automotive technology suppliers in the world, Continental Tire has a goal to develop technologies and services to connect the mobility of people and goods in the most sustainable way. With the opening of the Continental Retread Solutions Development Center in Rock Hill, S.C., Continental is keeping to that promise. The development center will focus on retread process improvements and technology development, with the goal of bringing innovation and up-to-date retread processes to Continental’s Retread Solutions Partners and the fleets they serve. The center boasts retread technologies aimed at improving the main challenges that retreading faces such as consistent hands-on training from miles away, tracking and managing carcasses, the efficiency of retreading and supporting mega fleet businesses.