2016 Year in review: April-June

Take a busy year for tire manufacturers, a lousy one for companies that serve the oil and gas industry, add in some major changes in the industry supply sector and finish with a large amount of plant expansions, and you have a capsule of what has happened in the rubber industry in 2016. The following is a synopsis of many events from April through June.

April

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration starts procedures to ban powdered surgical and examination gloves, and absorbable powder for lubricating surgical gloves.

Tillerman & Co. buys Jackson Flexible Products Inc.

A California Senate bill that would have restricted zinc or zinc oxide in tires is revised, and no longer mentions tires.

Yokohama Tire Co. Ltd. agrees to acquire Alliance Tire Group.

Goodyear plans to move its European technical center to a site a few miles from its current location in Luxembourg.

Triangle Tyre Group Ltd. touts its push for a greater market share in the U.S. with its new American subsidiary, Triangle Tire USA, under newly named CEO Manny Cicero.

Accella Performance Materials purchases the Spray Foam Division of Quadrant Urethanes Technologies.

England's Synthomer P.L.C. agrees to buy the Hexion Inc. adhesives and coatings business.

Molded Rubber & Plastic Corp. purchases injection molder Johnson Precision.

Japan's Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. plans to expand radial truck and bus tire capacity at its Ladysmith, South Africa, manufacturing site.

Materials firm Americhem Group purchases Vi-Chem Corp.

The U.S. rubber product trade deficit rises 3.1 percent for 2015, to a shortfall of $12.5 billion.

Freudenberg Group moves forward to become sole owner of its TrelleborgVibracoustic GmbH joint venture, which it shares with Trelleborg A.B.

Hankook Tire America Corp. discloses it will move its North American headquarters to Nashville, Tenn., from Wayne, N.J.

Armacell L.L.C. adds a high-performance insulation foam operation in Russia.

Birla Carbon closes a factory in Egypt, proposes shutting another in Germany and reduces regional corporate personnel.

The ACS Rubber Division opens an elastomer training center in Akron

May

Three investigations commence into the death of a worker, the third in eight months, at Goodyear's Danville, Va., tire factory.

Bridgestone Corp. halts production temporarily at a plant in Japan after a series of earthquakes.

DuPont Performance Materials schedules the opening of a compounding facility in China.

Innovative Chemical Products Group buys Fomo Products Inc.

A former executive of Nishikawa Rubber Co. pleads guilty to price fixing of automotive weatherstripping and seals.

Pirelli C. & S.p.A. discloses it will expand its operation in Mexico.

Raumedic A.G. consolidates two business units and opens its first U.S. manufacturing operation.

Eight years after initially starting construction of a tire plant in Macon, Ga., Kumho Tire U.S.A. Inc. opens its new facility.

Groundbreaking ceremonies mark the beginning of construction of an Evonik Industries A.G. silicone plant in China.

Dow Corning Corp. completes an investment of its silicone factory in Midland, Mich.

Wacker A.G. inaugurates an expanded technical center in Singapore.

By adding two pieces of injection molding equipment, Elastomer Technologies Inc. expands its production capacity.

Four Chinese off-the-road tire importers file complaints opposing antidumping duties by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The European Union approves Trelleborg A.B.'s purchase of Mitas a.s.' parent CGS holding.

Private equity company Salt Creek Capital acquires Sperry & Rice Manufacturing Co. L.L.C., a maker of specialized rubber and plastic parts.

Unique Fabricating Inc. purchases Intasco Corp.

Emerald Performance Materials L.L.C. discloses it is selling two of its four business groups.

Evonik A.G. acquires the Performance Materials Division of Air Products and Chemicals Inc.

Simtec Silicone Parts L.L.C. becomes the fourth silicone company to join a global entity called Rico Group.

The voluntary recall of Firestone Champion and Fuel Fighter tires by Bridgestone Americas Inc. ends.

Ansell Ltd. sells is protective boot business to Dunlop Industrial and Protective Footwear Inc.

Crain Communications Inc., owner of Rubber & Plastics News, celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding.

Michelin North America Inc. sues Atturo Tire Corp. for alleged patent infringement.

EnPro Industries Inc. buys the assets of Rubber Fab Gasket & Molding Inc.

Smooth-On Inc. starts operations at its new factory in Easton, Pa.

The Banbury mixer turns 100.

Silicones should grow at an average annual rate of 4.5 percent per year through 2020, according to an analyst from the Freedonia Group.

Rubberlite Inc. partners with Marshall University and government authorities to attract midsized polymer manufacturing companies to a site in Huntington, W.Va.

Polymer Solutions Group acquires Sasco Chemical Group Inc.

ContiTech A.G.'s subsidiary in Greece halts production at a conveyor belt plant.

A Chinese court rules in favor of Bridgestone Corp. in a patent infringement case against Triangle Group Co. Ltd.

Kobe Steel Ltd. opens a company in China to sell tire and rubber machinery.

After low attendance at its last two spring meetings, the ACS Rubber Division decides to move its 2017 spring convention from Charlotte, N.C., to Akron.

June

Toyoda Gosei Co. Ltd. opens facilities in Brazil and Mexico.

Toyo Tire Holdings of Americas Inc. wins a ruling in a trademark infringement and false advertising complaint against a Singapore-based company.

H.B. Fuller Co. agrees to buy Cyberbond L.L.C.

Sweden's Hexpol A.B. acquires England-based compounder Berwin Group Ltd.

A $200 million capacity expansion begins at the Pirelli Tyre S.p.A. tire factory in Silao, Mexico.

Cooper Standard Automotive Inc. launches a project to expand its manufacturing in France.

Trelleborg Sealing Solutions decides to buy Specialty Silicone Fabricators Inc.

ContiTech A.G. discloses it will divest a conveyor belt factory in Brazil and close belting plants in Greece and Canada.

A cooperation agreement to develop products for printing and printing electronics is signed by ContiTech Elastomer Coatings and Henkel Adhesive Technologies.

Off-the-road tires imported from India and Sri Lanka are being subsidized, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies opens an automotive seals plant in Bursa, Turkey.

Sport tire supplier DMack is planning to build a factory in England.

The United Steelworkers criticizes the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact.

Technology firm Camber Ridge L.L.C. begins trial testing of its $60 million tire testing company in Charlotte, N.C.

Continental A.G. begins production at a tech center in Korbach, Germany.

Kenda Rubber Industrial Co. Ltd. continues adding jobs at its technical center in North Canton, Ohio.

Giti Tire Group gets ready to expand its research and development center in Uniontown, Ohio.

Griswold L.L.C. purchases the sponge rubber sheet and roll business of Expanded Rubber Products Inc.

Blair Rubber Co. completes an expansion of its Seville, Ohio, operations.

Lord Corp. completes the purchase of Fly-by-Wire Systems France.