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Bridgestone Works With Kumamoto University to Develop Electric Bus Tire

Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) has developed a prototype tire specifically for electric buses, achieving this by way of joint research with Kumamoto University’s Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology. The hope is that this will contribute to the rollout of sustainable public transport. Intended to help reduce the total running costs of electric buses, the prototype tire has been designed specifically...

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Mitsubishi Chemical’s Carbon Fiber SMC Finds Use in Roof of New Toyota GR Yaris

Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. recently announced that its carbon fiber sheet molding compound (SMC) has been adopted for use in the roof of the new GR Yaris launched in September by Toyota Motor Corp. (TYO:7203). In selecting this SMC, Toyota judged that the material would be able to facilitate both significant lightweighting and a high level of component performance while also...

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Sumitomo Rubber Tests TPMS to be Used in Level 4 Autonomous Driving

Looking to help achieve Level 4 autonomous driving, Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (TYO:5110) has built an integrated system that handles everything from obtaining tire pressure data through to facilitating maintenance for detected issues. The company recently subjected this system to proof-of-concept testing on public roads in Gifu, Gifu Prefecture, on Nov. 12. This system comes as part of a joint...

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Carbon Black Production Rises as North American Tire Demand Trends Toward Recovery

Tokai Carbon Co. Ltd.’s (TYO:5301) carbon black business is on the rebound after bottoming out during the April–June quarter, says President Hajime Nagasaka. Speaking at a financial results briefing on Nov. 5, Nagasaka said that demand is recovering particularly in the U.S. and Thai markets, adding that the company’s U.S. production bases have utilization rates up in the 90–95 percent...

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Sumitomo Rubber Wins Award for Research Using K Supercomputer

Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (TYO:5110) has received an award for research that used Japan’s K supercomputer to carry out a large-scale molecular dynamics simulation of tire rubber. This award was one of a number given out for effective use of the country’s High Performance Computing Infrastructure (HPCI). Awarded on Oct 30, the winners were announced at “The Seventh Project Report...

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Osaka Soda Sees Decline in Sales, Profits for Q2 Despite New Adoption of Acrylic Rubber

Chemicals manufacturer Osaka Soda Co. Ltd. (TYO:4046) recently reported its business results for the April–September quarter of fiscal 2020, showing a decline in both sales and profits. The company posted sales of 45.18 billion yen ($434.46 million), down 14.8 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, operating income was 3.5 billion yen, down 29.4 percent; ordinary income was 3.7 billion yen, down 28.7 percent;...

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