Mesnac forms new division Firm consolidates tooling operations

QINGDAO, China—Mesnac Co. Ltd. has formed a global tooling division to consolidate its operations in the U.S., United Kingdom, Slovakia and China into one business unit. The new division, called Mesnac Tooling Division, will comprise around 170 employees throughout its tooling divisions globally, according to the company. The division will provide tooling support to Mesnac's tire building machine divisions in China, Slovakia and to its subsidiary, Beijing Jingyie, Mesnac said. Zheng Jiangjia, Mesnac's executive vice president, said that consolidating the firm's tooling operations into one business unit will enable its Wyko subsidiary's technology to greatly enhance the performance of its tire building machines. “Mesnac has been manufacturing tire building equipment for more than 10 years now,” said William Jones, president of the Mesnac Tooling Division and managing director of Wyko's United Kingdom operation. “Obviously now we needed to pool our resources and establish a common research and development and manufacturing platform that will assist us to develop tooling solutions for our customers and also to enhance the performance of the Mesnac product itself.” Jones has 32 years of tooling industry experience. He said the primary reason for forming the new division was to use Mesnac's resources more efficiently. In the past, the various sites had been working on similar problems in different locations. “Primarily, the main objective for me is to focus on the research and development and arrive at intelligent and effective tooling that will enhance the performance of the tire building machine division and meet our customer's expectations,” Jones said. “We also have initiatives to look at our production and drive out costs.” Glen Earnheart, general manager of Wyko's engineering operation in Greenback, Tenn., will act as vice president of the tooling division. “Here in Tennessee, our primary focus is on streamlining the manufacturing operation,” Earnheart said. “Part of it is getting me up to speed on how things flow and work here as well as some modification and improvement and modernization of our manufacturing facility.” Earnheart said the Greenback facility is in the process of acquiring new machine tools to improve its efficiency. Wang Yanshu, general manager of the Mesnac Tire Building Division in China, also will serve as a vice president of the tooling division. Mesnac supplies a wide range of tire manufacturing equipment, from raw material mixing to final product testing. The firm has research facilities in the U.S., England, Europe, and Qingdao and Beijing, China, along with sales and service operations in North and Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, India and China.