Asics Corp. (TYO:7936) is rolling out a line of high-performance athletic shoes available for purchase worldwide. The Flame Series comes in 19 varieties and features designs for six competitive sports: track and field, tennis, rugby, hockey, volleyball and wrestling. In Japan, Asics has begun selling a total of 10 types of Flame shoes. The four varieties for track and field...
Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) has introduced a state-of-the-art tire-molding system equipped with information communications technology (ICT) at its factory in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture. The tire-molding system has been in operation since February and uses Bridgestone’s own ICT and artificial intelligence (AI) features to heighten quality and productivity. Dubbed “Examation,” the system takes its name from the concepts “evolutional,” “attractive” and “automation.”...
Members of the carbon nanotube (CNT) development team at Nitta Corp. (TYO:5186) have received an award for environmental technology from the Kinki Chemical Society. The specific achievement earning the recognition was the team’s success in reducing the weight of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) made from CNT composite carbon fibers. Making CFRP products more lightweight will enable more efficient use...
Toyo Retread recorded its all-time highest production volumes and best ever sales last year at its factory in Otaru, Hokkaido. An important reason for this was that tire casings – the base material for retreaded tires – could be easily obtained. Tire casings have become more readily available because of an increase in the number of factories manufacturing new tires...
A research team at Tokyo City University has succeeded in developing a new seismic isolation rubber for use in new buildings that could have roughly twice the earthquake mitigation performance of structures using conventional materials. Led by Prof. Isao Nishimura of the architectural faculty in the university’s engineering department, the team is moving ahead on joint development with a manufacturer,...
The production volume of automobile tire tubes for April was 87,005 tons, a year-on-year decline of 6.3 percent. It marks the 17th consecutive month of production decline, according to data compiled by the Japan Automobile Tyre Manufacturers Association (JATMA). Four of six tire tube classifications saw year-on-year declines in production volume: trucks and buses, 9.1 percent; small trucks, 9.7 percent;...
