Machinery maker Kobe Steel has announced that it has decided to withdraw from the tyre testing machine business and transferred the business to Nagahama Seisakusho Ltd recently. The Japanese firm has been engaged in the tyre testing machine business over many years, but the decision was made after the review of the business portfolio of its machinery business.
Nagahama Seisakusho is a company that manufactures and sells balancing machines for parts of automobiles, home appliances, industrial machinery, etc. The company entered into a sales partnership agreement with Kobe Steel in the early 2000s and has been engaged in sales activities of Kobe Steel’s uniformity machines for tyre production lines and dynamic balancing machines for tyre production lines, mainly in China.
Since Nagahama Seisakusho has delivered dynamic balancing machines for tyre production lines to many Japanese and Chinese tyre manufactures among others, Kobe adds that the company is “able to provide high-performance, high-quality products and reliable after-sales service after the transfer”.
The business items transferred to Nagahama Seisakusho are: (1) manufacture, sale, and after-sales service of new uniformity machines for tyre production lines (2) after-sales service of certain types of existing uniformity machines for tyre production lines delivered by Kobe Steel.
With this transfer, Kobe has discontinued the manufacture and sale of new tyre testing machines, and also plans to gradually end after-sales service of tyre testing machines that have not been transferred to Nagahama Seisakusho.
It will continue and develop further its rubber mixer and twin-screw roller head extruder businesses as key products in its machinery business.