Interviews

CRIA’s Fan Outlines Path for China’s Rubber Industry to Become Major Power

The Chinese rubber industry must boost productivity, alternative energy use and strive for digitization if it is to reach its targets for 2025, says Fan Rende, Honorary Chairman of the China Rubber Industry Association (CRIA). Speaking at the China Rubber Conference held in March in Qingdao, Shandong Province, the 73-year-old Fan outlined the tasks facing the domestic Chinese industry in...

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Bridgestone Director on Cutting-edge Automation Technology – Interview

Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) is looking at leveraging Japan’s forte of manufacturing and rolling out its technology on a global scale, says Yukio Saegusa, director of the company’s Advanced Tire Production System Division. To this end, the company is putting effort into optimizing production and introducing cutting-edge technology. Presently within Bridgestone’s 10 tire factories domestically, Saegusa said that the company has enhanced the...

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Asahi Kasei’s Strategy for Synthetic Rubber Operations

Amid weak movement in rubber overall, Asahi Kasei Chemicals Corp.’s (TYO:3407) solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene rubber (S–SBR) business has found relatively robust performance in its specialty area of high-performance products. The company has felt some impact with a portion of its product lines due to the economic downturn in China, a large consumption market. However, demand in Asia on the whole has...

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Fuel-efficient Tire Manufacturers in Japan: Report (Part 2)

Continuing on from “Fuel-Efficient Tire Manufacturers in Japan: Report (Part 1),” we are looking at what individual tire manufacturers are doing. Yokohama Rubber – Bringing Added Value With Increased Safety in Driving A bolstered product lineup in Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd.’s (TYO:5101) fuel-efficient tires, namely with its BluEarth series, brought a more than two-fold increase in 2013 – with 223...

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Fuel-efficient Tire Manufacturers in Japan: Report (Part 1)

The Japanese tire labeling system for defining fuel-efficient tires began in January 2010 as a voluntary industry standard, covering rolling resistance and wet-grip performance. Thanks to the continuous marketing efforts of tire manufacturers, the penetration rate of fuel-efficient tires in line with the grading system has steadily grown. However, these same manufacturers are finding it increasingly difficult to differentiate their...

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Yokohama Rubber Returns to Super Formula Racing After 20 Years – Special Report

Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5101) is supplying one-make tires for Super Formula, which just kicked off the 2016 season. In the final race held at Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture on April 24, a crowd of 32,000 excited spectators witnessed the performance of the Advan sports tires made by Yokohama Rubber, which has returned to super formula after a...

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