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Ford Motor Co. is cutting 3,000 jobs in a move to boost profits as it seeks to fund the $50 billion it plans to spend on electric vehicles. The cuts will come primarily in the U.S., while some positions also are being eliminated in Canada and India, a company spokesman said. The total includes 2,000 salaried workers and 1,000 contract personnel.

YOKOHAMA announced that it has begun applying a proprietary rubber compound design system that utilizes AI-based compound generation technology. The new system was developed with the cooperation of Hamagomu Aicom Inc., a YOKOHAMA subsidiary specializing in information system development. The new system’s use of AI to propose a compound that achieves targeted rubber physical property values enables the acquisition of new knowledge about compounds that humans could not have conceived independently. YOKOHAMA expects this new system will enable it further speed up product development and develop higher-performance products.

DESMA debuts a new machine series for rubber and silicone part production called the DESMA 968 Rotary Compact.

“The development of this machine was several years in the making” quotes Scott Early, President & CEO of DESMA USA. “We are excited to offer the DESMA 968 Rotary Compact for high volume production with an eye towards highly efficient automation”.

– The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., announced the start of production at its Visakhapatnam Plant in India. The new plant was built to expand the production capacity of Yokohama Off-Highway Tires (YOHT), a Yokohama Rubber Group company engaged in the manufacturing and sale of off-highway tires (OHT), such as those used on agricultural and other equipment. The new plant was originally scheduled to begin production in the first quarter of 2023. The earlier than planned startup will enable YOHT to respond more quickly to expanding global demand for OHT tires.

Hankook Tire & Technology Co., Ltd., posted financial results for the second quarter 2022 with consolidated global sales of KRW 308.6 billion and an operating profit of KRW 102.7 billion. Sales revenue and operating profit increased 33.7% and 71.6% respectively compared to the same period last year, whereas the group saw an increase of 14.4% and 133.2% in sales revenue and operating profit respectively since Q1 2022.

Engineers from RMIT University have managed to replace 100% of conventional aggregates in concrete – such as gravel and crushed rock – with rubber from discarded tires that meets building codes, promising a boost for the circular economy.
Researchers say the new greener and lighter concrete also promises to reduce manufacturing and transportation costs significantly.
Small amounts of rubber particles from tires are already used to replace these concrete aggregates, but efforts to replace all of the aggregates with rubber have produced weak concretes that failed to meet the required standards – until now.

GALGO Celebrates Its 70th Anniversary throughout August. GALGO began producing and marketing shoe soles in August 1952 in Mexico City, Mexico. Soon after, they expanded their product offering to include; rubber flooring and mats, gaskets, tubes, flaps, and tire retreading products.

The International Elastomer Conference provides many valuable learning, business and networking opportunities. It is the one place, one time of year, where you find the best of our industry all under one roof.

ACE is now one of only six CRRC Accredited Independent Testing Labs in the USA approved to perform radiative property testing for the CRRC Product Rating Programs for Roofing and Exterior Wall Products.

WACKER will be premiering its novel ELASTOSIL® LR 3078 product series at K 2022 International Trade Fair for Plastics and Rubber. These self-adhesive liquid silicone rubber grades cure extremely fast and establish a firm bond with the thermoplastic polycarbonate without the need to pretreat its surface. ELASTOSIL® LR 3078 was designed for two-component injection molding and enables cost-effective large-scale production of multicomponent parts, such as those needed in medical technology and the automotive industry. This year’s K show will take place in Düsseldorf, Germany, from October 19 to 26.