Japan Rubber Weekly has carried out a study into the fiscal 2020 business results of rubber-related companies across Japan. This revealed that the combined sales revenue of the top 50 companies came to just under 3.41 trillion yen ($31.12 billion), down 14.3 percent year-on-year, while the top 10 companies totaled just over 2.6 trillion yen, down 15.2 percent. The spread...
Industry
Bridgestone Completes Azuga Acquisition
Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) has completed its acquisition of Azuga Holdings Inc., a U.S.-based provider of fleet management solutions. The tire manufacturer has already received regulatory approval and carried out the relevant proceedings for this deal. Azuga has been valued here at $391 million, with adjustments then being made based on its working capital and the like to get the total...
Zeon Launches Commercial Production of Acrylic Rubber in Thailand
Zeon Corp. (TYO:4205) subsidiary Zeon Chemicals Asia Co. Ltd. recently launched commercial production of acrylic rubber at a base in Rayong Province, Thailand. The Zeon Group has to date carried out its acrylic rubber production across three bases, these being located in Kawasaki and Kurashiki, Japan, and one in the U.S. By now adding commercial production in Thailand as well,...
Goodyear Forms Strategic Collaboration With Plus to Improve Self-Driving Truck Technology
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. recently announced that it has formed a strategic collaboration with PlusAI Inc. (Plus), a global provider of autonomous driving technology for trucks. By supplying a suite of services here – including connected tires – Goodyear aims to help further improve the transportation efficiency and safety of trucks based on Plus’s Level 4 autonomous driving technology...
Tire Monitoring System From Yokohama Rubber Goes Into Demonstration Testing
Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5101) recently launched demonstration testing for its newly developed tire solution service, beginning efforts here earlier this month in conjunction with Orix Auto Corp. The testing here is seeing Yokohama Rubber’s Tire air Pressure Remote access System (TPRS) get fitted to vehicles under Orix CarShare, a car sharing business run by Orix. TPRS is capable of...
Bando Chemical Continues to See China as a Promising Market Despite Planned Subsidiary Closure
Bando Chemical Industries Ltd. (TYO:5195) is moving this year to close and liquidate Bando (Shanghai) Industry Equipment Element Co. Ltd., a group company that carries out conveyor belt production and related production for the Chinese market. However, Bando Chemical still sees the Chinese conveyor belt sector as offering a promising market going forward. The company will therefore look to have...