Future Tire: Supply-chain, recycling challenge sector

By Patrick Raleigh, Crain News Service

BRUSSELS (Oct. 29, 2014) — The European tire industry is becoming increasingly challenged by sustainability and supply-chain issues, according to Peter Taylor, chairman of the Future Tire Conference taking place Oct. 28-29 in Brussels.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Taylor pointed to a lack of progress with environmental programs within the tire industry, particularly those dealing with end-of-life tires, which he said were starting to falter.

“There is a lot of talk about the ‘green tire,' but as far as I am concerned, they are still very black,” he commented. “The greening of the vehicle tire still has some way to go.”

Mr. Taylor, who is secretary of the UK's Tyre Recovery Association and director of the Imported Tyre Manufacturers Association, went on to highlight problems posed by size proliferation and brand diversity within the tire market.

“Tire manufacturers have lost control of their routes to market because they have become too complex and too expensive for individual producers to manage themselves,” he told delegates at the Future Tire conference, which is being sponsored by Crain Communications Ltd., parent company of Tire Business.

Among topics on the conference agenda are:

•An insight into the long-term automotive landscape;

•Developments in regulatory policy: What's next on the radar?

•Information sharing: Why it is becoming more important for the entire rubber supply chain and what are the benefits?

•The influence and implications of the rise in Asian and Chinese tire manufacturing for Europe and beyond;

•The OEM debate: the view of OEMs on future innovation and regulation;

•The future of tire plants/Changes in the global tire industry

•Market study on decision criteria towards the purchase of new truck tires; and

•Technical developments in waste tire pyrolysis—including the latest developments in pyrolysis to utilize molten zinc to separate pyrolysis oil, steel and carbon black.

This report appeared on the website of European Rubber Journal, a UK-based sister publication of Tire Business.