UK-BASED Micro-Epsilon’s Systems Group offers measurement systems so that rubber processing companies and tyre manufacturers can now source complete, inline and offline precision measurement and inspection systems from a single supplier. Micro Epsilon specialises in the development, manufacture and installation…
Continental bolsters Czech tyre plant
TYRE maker Continental plans to expand its truck and bus tyre production facilities in Otrokovice, Czech Republic with an investment of EUR165 million. “The expansion of our truck and bus tyre manufacturing footprint in Otrokovice is a strategic step focusing…
New HQ underway for MRB
THE MALAYSIAN Rubber Board (MRB) is building a new headquarters and other key facilities at Sungai Buloh by next year and is expected to be completed by 2018. The project, estimated to cost RM1.1 billion, will be carried out by…
QP, Zeon and Mitsui venturing on butadiene extraction
QATAR Petroleum (QP) and Zeon Corporation and Mitsui & Company, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the development of an integrated butadiene extraction and elastomer complex in Ras Laffan. MoU signing, which took place in Doha, was led by…
Artis develops colour-changing tyre
A TYRE that changes colour when winter tyres are needed, has been produced by a rubber research firm in UK. Commissioned by Canadian Tire, development of the concept tire was led by Dr Joe Hallett of Wiltshire-based ARTIS, – a…
Tyre development tie-up for Yokohama, Kumho
TYRE makers Yokohama Rubber Co Ltd and Kumho Tire Co Inc, are embarking on a possible technology exchange and cross ownership following a signing of a memorandum of agreement (MoU) in late November, which covered the various aspects of their…
Malaysia’s natural rubber prices surge on demand
ACCORDING to market report, rubber prices closed higher, as data from China indicating that demand for natural rubber was increasing; the top rubber buyer’s rubber import climbed to a record of 270,000 tonnes last month. Accordingly, positive sentiments in the…
Firms to jointly develop rubber from sugar beet, grains
TYRE maker Michelin and Agro-industrial group Tereos are jointly developing a rubber made by biomass derived from sugar beet, wheat or maize, or from crop wastes, which could replace some of the natural and oil-based synthetic rubber used in tyres.…
India’s Rubber Board calls for rubber import ban
IMPORT of rubber must be banned, according to the the Executive Committee of the Rubber Board. Alternatively, it proposed that duty free imports against advance license must be suspended. Moreover, it proposed that the import duty should be increased by…
High power rate stunts Phililippine rubber sector’s readiness for AFTA
THE INCREASING cost of power could reduce the competitiveness of the country’s rubber exporters when the Asean Free Trade Area or AFTA takes full effect by 2015, in lieu of the AEC (ASEAN Economic Council), according to an industry source.…