April 22, 2019 The Rubber Industry’s International Newspaper $99 per year. $4.50 per copy Conti expanding Building trust S.C. facility again By Kyle Brown back in 2013. And as you can imag- Rubber & Plastics News Staff ine, we’ve been in a steady state of SUMTER, S.C.—Continental growth since then,” Elmore said. Tire the Americas L.L.C. broke Continental’s first phase at the ground on a new expansion at its Sumter plant brought its capacity growing Sumter facility to bring to about 4 million tires per year, new technology to its North Amer- he said. It picked up its first ican tire production. original equipment customer in The expansion includes a new 2015, and added the second phase building attached to the company’s in 2017 to provide more light existing passenger and light truck truck manufacturing capacity. It tire plant in a significant invest- also brought the location’s total ment, adding a 29,000-sq.-ft. pro- footprint to about 2 million square duction space onto the facility, said feet, with about 1,400 employees, Ashton Elmore, Continental hu- and tire capacity to about 7 million man resources manager. per year. The expansion, which will pro- The new business unit, which vide capabilities to produce Conti- isn’t directly related to either Seal and ContiSilent tires, comes phase, will add about another 50 during the ramp-up of the second jobs by 2020, he said. Continental of two major growth phases at the broke ground on the new facility Sumter facility, Elmore said. in March, and will begin the in- “We actually started Phase 1 See Conti, page 22 Vail Rubber to add Toyota’s Robert Young at an Original Equipment Suppliers Association event. manufacturing plant Auto makers outline the key to healthy supplier relationships By Chris Sweeney executives who provided insight toward the Rubber & Plastics News Staff OEM/supplier dynamic, along with executives Trust and communication are the founda- at Toyota, General Motors and Ford. Nissan tion of a strong relationship, and the auto declined to comment for this story and execu- maker/supplier dynamic is no different. tives with Fiat-Chrysler were unavailable for Original equipment manufactur- an interview prior to publication. ers that foster clear, open communi- Those six companies are annually cation are rewarded with an ener- evaluated through a major industry gized supply base, and that in turn study—the Working Relations In- leads to success. dex, which seeks to measure the “It’s really important that we rec- strength of their supplier relations. ognize our suppliers as an extension The study was founded by John Vail Rubber is adding a new manufacturing site near its headquarters of Honda,” said Pam Heminger, vice Henke and his company, Planning in St. Joseph, Minn. president at Honda Manufacturing Perspectives Inc., but going forward By Kyle Brown shaped piece of property, and real- Inc. who oversees the Japan-based the study will be implemented by Rubber & Plastics News Staff ly we’re quite land-locked,” Hanley OEM’s North American purchasing Plante Moran, which acquired Plan- ST. JOSEPH, Minn.—Vail Rub- said. “It’s something we’ve been division. Heminger ning Perspectives earlier in 2019. ber Works Inc. is growing its pres- struggling with for a lot of years. “They’re part of our team. These sup- Toyota has finished first in the study ence with a new manufacturing We’ve built out as far as the site plier relationships are more than a manufac- for the last eight years. Honda has been second facility located about five miles up will hold.” turer/supplier relationship. It’s about during that span and the only other OEM to the road from its headquarters. Vail purchased the land for the having a partnership. Having a hold the top position since the study was found- The roll covering manufacturer new facility in 1995, looking Our good partnership will allow us ed in 2001. GM finished third and Ford fourth is investing about $8.3 million in ahead to a time when the compa- special report on to continue to have open and in 2018 with FCA and Nissan a distant fifth the 58,000-sq.-ft. facility, Vail ny would need to expand, he said. Rubber in transparent communication, and sixth, respectively. President Bill Hanley said. “The economy’s been good, and AutomotivePage 10. which is the foundation of our “We love our suppliers,” said Hau Thai- “We’re a 125-year-old company, we just thought this was the time begins on relationship.” Tang, Ford executive vice president of product and the site we’re on in St. Joseph when we needed to take a step Heminger was one of four See Auto, page 21 was purchased by my great-grand- and develop that property,” Han- father in 1924. We’re on a pie- See Vail, page 22 ©Entire contents copyright 2019 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved. KEYNOTE NEWS May 21-22, 2019 Schaumburg IL More details on page 23 RUBBERNEWS.COM/HEALTHCARE www.rubbernews.com Rubber & Plastics News • April 22, 2019 3 ITC makes final ruling on Giti has big plans for U.S. market Thailand rubber band case WASHINGTON—The U.S. International Trade Commission has voted 5-0 to make a final determination of material injury to the domestic rubber band industry because of imports from Thailand. The April 9 vote means that the 5.87 per- cent antidumping duty order the U.S. Depart- ment of Commerce issued earlier against Thai rubber band imports becomes permanent. The ITC officially will notify Commerce of the affirmative vote April 22. The duties against Thai rubber band importers are considerably less than those found against importers from China. In February 2019, Commerce issued final an- tidumping duties of 125.77 percent and countervailing duties of 27.27 percent against Chinese importers. Hot Springs, Ark.-based Alliance Rubber Giti’s U.S. manufacturing plant is increasing production to address growing demand in North America. Co. petitioned the ITC for relief against rubber band imports from Thailand, China By Kathy McCarron “Those days are over. The company thousands of Maxtour XL tires ready and Sri Lanka in January 2018. Tire Business has figured out what our go-forward for distribution to North American In March 2018, the agency terminated RICHBURG, S.C.—As the new kid strategy is and it’s time to start con- tire dealerships. its investigation against Sri Lanka, but in the North American manufactur- necting to consumers again and voted to continue its investigation of Chi- ing neighborhood, Giti Tire Manufac- bringing them the message of some Global R&D nese and Thai rubber band imports. turing (USA) Ltd. has ambitious great tires that we’re going to be As part of its strategy, Giti relocat- The ITC report will be available by May 13. plans to make its mark in the region- bringing to market and selling. We’re ed its North American R&D center, al tire market. going to utilize social media in a very responsible for developing products Rough first quarter leads Since the groundbreaking of its 1.7 strong way to make that connection.” specifically for the North American PolyOne to consider job cuts million-sq.-ft. facility in Richburg According to Giti, the new Maxtour market, from Akron to a building four years ago, the subsidiary of Sin- LX is priced lower than its bench- next door to the new tire plant. AVON LAKE, Ohio—Challenging finan- gapore-headquartered Giti Tire marked brand competition: Continen- This center is linked online with cial results are leading PolyOne Corp. to Group began producing tires in late tal, Cooper, Nexen and Hankook. Giti’s other R&D centers in Indone- reduce spending and cut an unspecified 2017, hired more than 700 employees “The reality of the market today is sia, China, Germany and the United number of jobs. and has been increasing production that our brand is not well known. And Kingdom so they can share informa- Based in Avon Lake, PolyOne, one of for new lines of tires. most of these brands have much high- tion and research, Yeen said. North America’s largest compounders, con- “This facility is half of what we er recognition. So we know we have to “So you can say it is local (develop- centrate makers and resin distributors, had want,” said Hank Eisenga, vice presi- rebuild it,” Mayfield said. “And the ment), but it is global. The structure a tough first quarter for 2019, with sales dent of manufacturing. “So our intent way we’re going to do it, we’re going to is global,” he said. flat and profits down almost 20 percent. is to take and double this facility as provide a great value for our dealer “With the R&D here, it is listening PolyOne posted sales of nearly $900 mil- quickly as we can.” customers to be able to make money to the market. The local team, they lion for the first three months of 2019, The plant, Giti’s most state-of-the- selling the tire, and then it’s going to grew up here, they live here, they roughly equal to results from 2018. Compa- art facility, is producing about 8,000 be sold in the marketplace at a great know exactly what is needed,” he ny officials said in a statement that acquisi- tires per day with a capacity for 10 value to the consumer. said. “It will enable the faster deploy- tion-related sales growth of 3.5 percent was million tires per year.