Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (TYO:5110) recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of the opening of its Miyazaki plant. Beginning operations in 1976, the plant now produces high-performance tires for passenger cars, trucks and buses with a monthly production volume of 9,354 tons. It manufactures more products for overseas export than any of the company’s other domestic plants. Among the roughly 2,000...
From 2016, Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5101) is supplying its Advan racing tires as the control tires for the Japanese Super Formula Championship, the highest echelon of formula racing in Asia. To find out about what goes into such tires and the overlap with their commercial counterparts, Japan Rubber Weekly sat down with Masaki Noro, head of the company’s consumer...
Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) has been conducting performance verification testing of its seismic isolation rubber bearings together with Takenaka Corp. at one of the general contractor’s buildings. The isolators demonstrated long-term durability after being in place for approximately 30 consecutive years. Manufactured in 1986 from laminated natural rubber, the bearings have been in use at a Takenaka staff dormitory, located in...
The Japanese Carbon Black Association recently published the 2016 edition (vol. 66) of its carbon black almanac, the only yearbook in the Japanese carbon black industry. This new edition contains a complete overview of the industry in 2015, with information regarding supply and demand trends in the Japanese market, as well as the latest international information from the following regions:...
Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5101) is planning to establish a tire research & development center in the greater Charlotte area of the U.S.-state of North Carolina. Activities are scheduled to start this September. The company currently conducts research & development on tires for the North American market in several U.S. states and in Japan, but looks to consolidate the majority...
With an ordinary income of 226.91 billion yen ($2.205 billion) in fiscal 2015, Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) held the top spot among 165 major Japanese rubber manufacturers, found a survey published in the September issue of Japan Rubber and Elastomers, a monthly sister publication of Japan Rubber Weekly. For Bridgestone, this marked a 0.4 percent year-on-year decline. The number two, Toyo...
