Bleak Forecast for Winter Tires

Sales of studless winter tires in Japan have been brisk for the past few years thanks to the snowfall. According to Japan Automobile Tyre Manufacturers Association (JATMA), 25.96 million snow tires were sold in Japan in 2014, marking a year-on-year increase of 4.0 percent. Studless tires accounted for 99.8 percent of all snow tire sales: 25.92 million units sold, up...

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Rubber Production Strong Despite Sluggish Output in Customer Industries

Production volume for synthetic rubber in Japan from January to September 2015 was 1.24 million tons, a more than 2 percent year-on-year increase, according to the Synthetic Rubber Industry Association of Japan. This was despite output by manufacturers in synthetic rubber customer industries such as automotive and tires was sluggish. Performance at synthetic rubber companies for the first half of...

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New Bridgestone Tire Identifies Road Conditions

Bridgestone Corp. is the first company in the world to successfully commercialize a technology that identifies road conditions from a tire. The proprietary technology is called Contact Area Information Sensing (CAIS). It collects data on the tire surface that comes into contact with the road and analyzes that data to understand the road and the tire’s condition. Through real-time analysis...

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Michelin Japan to Add Product Development Functions at Ota R&D Site

Recently appointed Nihon Michelin Tire Co. Ltd. president Paul Perriniaux (pictured, left) is resolved to garner more customers in Japan and earn the company loyalty for its high-quality tires and service. Perriniaux joined Nihon Michelin in 1995 in truck and bus marketing. He held posts at Michelin in England and Ireland, and at the France head office, before returning to...

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Asahi Rubber to Boost LED Production

Asahi Rubber Inc., a manufacturer of automotive and medical rubber products, is planning capital investments worth approximately 543 million yen ($4.42 million) during the fiscal year ending in March 2016. The investments will inject 250 million yen ($2.03 million) into automotive, 95 million yen ($773,000) into medicine, 132 million yen ($1.07 million) into life sciences and 110 million yen ($895,000)...

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Overseas Sales Bolster Fukoku’s First Half Performance

Fukoku Co. Ltd., a manufacturer of automobile rubber parts, enjoyed a 6.5 percent advance in consolidated net sales year-on-year for the first six months (April–September) of fiscal 2015, Executive Vice President Akira Inohara said. This result, aided by increased earnings at Fukoku subsidiaries in all regions, continues on last year’s solid showing. Net sales were 22.8 billion yen ($185.36 million)...

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