Michelin, Continental AG and agricultural software developer Smag are forming a joint venture for Rubberway, a smartphone application aimed at mapping the supply chain for natural rubber. The new JV is slated to begin operations by the end of 2019 and will focus on bolstering the app’s technological development and rollout. The Rubberway app has been designed to comply with...
The Japanese rubber industry, and tire companies in particular, are carrying out a flurry of activities with regard to sustainable natural rubber. This saw a recent research seminar held to think about natural rubber from the perspective of biomaterial engineering, with backers for the seminar including the Riken Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS), the Kyoto University Research Institute for...
Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (TYO:5110) has managed a world-first success in shedding light on the crystallization process that occurs at the tips of cracks in natural rubber – crystallization referring here to rubber molecules becoming aligned in the direction of elongation when the rubber is stretched. The company’s research on this was carried out in conjunction with the Leibniz Institute...
Butadiene prices in the Asian market dropped back slightly for 2018 after surging up in 2017. This then formed the topic at a recent executive meeting of the Japan Rubber Manufacturers Association (JRMA), with the association covering a range of information about trends in the market. Looking back, the meeting highlighted that butadiene prices continued to rise – in conjunction...
Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (TYO:5110) recently announced that it is participating in the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) as a founding member. At the same time, the company revealed that it has formulated its own Sustainable Natural Rubber Policy to use throughout its group – this being aimed at ensuring the sustainability of natural rubber as a resource...
China is the world’s largest producer of both reclaimed rubber and rubber powder, controlling production for 73 percent of the world’s reclaimed rubber. Currently suffering from a shortage of natural rubber for raw material purposes, the country is looking to save on its natural rubber consumption – and this is then driving efforts to convert waste tires into reclaimed rubber....
