The Rubber News offices will be closed July 4-5 for Independence Day so our staff members can spend the holiday with family and friends.
We'll resume regular hours beginning July 6.
Until then, here's a look at some of our top stories, in no particular order, that you might have missed.
After a rocky 2020 where the coronavirus pandemic caused most businesses to screech to a halt at times, the revenue lines largely turned back in the right direction for much of the tire and rubber sector.
Bridgestone retained its top spot of Rubber News' Top 50 North America Sales Leaders with $11.5 billion in 2021 sales in North America, comfortably ahead of Michelin's No. 2 placement with $9.92 billion on the continent.
Curtis Brison stepped down as president of Hankook Tire America Corp. July 1 and has been named vice president of sales, marketing and strategic growth at TireHub L.L.C., a tire distribution joint venture formed by Goodyear and Bridgestone Americas.
Bridgestone Americas Inc. thinks it has perfected the recipe for its future in North America. It's a future that starts at the Akron-based technology and testing facilities and takes shape at the newly christened Advanced Tire Production Center (ATPC).
The new $21 million, 80,000-sq.-ft. race tire manufacturing center employs around 60 and manufactures all of the more than 25,000 Firestone Firehawk tires Bridgestone supplies the NTT IndyCar Series each racing season.
While Michelin may not have secured the No. 1 spot on the Rubber News ranking of North American rubber products makers, the Greenville-based company continues to make gains on the continent.
"Our company is in a defining moment in our history, and we have an exciting road map to expand our activities and seize growth with tires, around tires and beyond tires," Alexis Garcin, chairman and president of Michelin North America Inc., told Rubber News.
One person was killed and two injured in a June 25 shooting in a distribution center for WeatherTech products in Bolingbrook, Ill.
Charles C. McKnight Jr., age 27, was arrested and charged with one count of first degree murder and two counts of attempted first degree murder, according to Bolingbrook Police.
Nokian Tyres P.L.C. has initiated plans to immediately and completely exit the Russian market in the wake of its ongoing war on Ukraine. The Nokia-based tire maker said June 28 that the war and subsequent sanctions make it "no longer feasible nor sustainable" to continue operating there.
Not long after this, French tire maker Michelin announced it, too, will exit Russia as a result of the war, stating that it is "technically impossible to resume production, due in particular to supply issues, amid a context of general uncertainty."
Not long after Continental's ContiTech USA ratified new three-year contracts at its unionized facilities—in Lincoln, Neb.; Marysville, Ohio; and Sun Prairie, Wis., the Fairlawn, Ohio-based company announced a $40 million investment to expand hose production in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
Economists weighed in on the state of the rubber industry, and they all agreed on one thing: We're not in a recession, but a recession is coming. And when this likely downturn in the economy hits is anybody's guess, but all eyes are on the Federal Reserve as it raises interest rates to dampen demand.
To mark its 60th anniversary, Kenda Rubber Industrial Co. Ltd. invited its customers and partners for a tour of its Northeast Ohio-based Kenda American Technology Center April 27 to showcase the work that has helped build its reputation in the tire industry.
Global CEO Jimmy Yang highlighted the company's core values and the innovation that he says will carry Kenda forward in the next 60 years.
As the mobility industry continues its march toward hybrid and fully electric vehicles, Swiss firm Datwyler is tracking toward the revolution with upgrades at an LSR production plant in Mexico.
And these additions come on the heels of the $625 million acquisition of Northeast Ohio-based QSR Inc., a manufacturer of silicone seals and components for electrical connectors.
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