Yokohama Industries Americas Inc. (YIA) has announced plans to cease all production operations at its Versailles, Kentucky, manufacturing plant by mid-2025. This decision will result in a workforce reduction of approximately 250 employees. YIA products manufactured at this facility will be moved to other production sites within YIA’s existing North American network.
YIA has been producing automotive hose assemblies at this site for over 30 years. Recent reduced demand amidst increased costs of goods sold has forced YIA to further consolidate operations at other North American facilities. Doing so will enable YIA to maintain competitive pricing while continuing to support the automotive industry in North America.
YIA adds it will work closely with its customers to seamlessly transition its supply chain to other company sites in North America and will provide outplacement services as well as severance per company policy to all full-time employees at the Versailles plant.
Meanwhile in other news, Yokohama Rubber Co has announced that through joint research with Dr. Bo Nils Johan Persson, a leading expert in the study of rubber friction and contact, it has developed what it says is the world’s first theoretical model to predict the rubber wear-rates on uneven road surfaces and the size distribution of wear particles.
Dr. Persson is a globally renowned researcher in the fields of contact, friction, wear, and lubrication, including rubber friction. He works at Peter Grünberg Institute (Germany) and Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics (China) and runs a company called Multiscale Consulting (Germany) that supports companies in the rubber industry and beyond in addressing various challenges. Dr. Persson’s unique approach to contact mechanics and rubber friction has been documented in numerous peer-reviewed academic journals and verified by other scientists, proving its effectiveness in solving a wide range of problems.
Yokohama Rubber entered into a contract with Multiscale Consulting to collaborate with Dr. Persson in studying friction and wear on rubber and road surfaces. As a result, they successfully developed the world’s first theoretical model for multiscale (ranging from nanometer to centimeter levels) rubber wear behaviour on uneven road surfaces, for which theorisation had been difficult in the past.?
Experiments measuring rubber wear behaviour when sliding in both dry and wet conditions at different contact pressures and sliding speeds showed that the theoretical model’s predictions of wear-rates (mass loss per unit of sliding distance) and size distribution of wear particles aligned closely with the experimental results, confirming that the model could be used for such predictions.
Going forward, Yokohama Rubber plans to continue conducting research with Dr. Persson and Multiscale Consulting in order to pursue the development of tyres with high-level wear resistance.
Additionally, the company aims to contribute to resolving environmental issues caused by tyre wear, which is becoming increasingly important amid the increase in heavy electrified vehicles such as EVs.