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NORTH AMERICA
Bridgestone Retread Reaches 1 Million Hours
Bridgestone Americas Inc.'s Bandag manufacturing facility in Griffin, Ga., has operated for more than one million man-hours without a lost- time accident.
“Safety is a core value at Bridgestone,” says Christy Brasher, Griffin plant manager. “In Griffin, and throughout our company, we take safety very seriously. This is a major milestone that represents not only a million man hours, but also millions of safe decisions made by our teammates. We are very proud of this achievement, which is a demonstration of our commitment, our processes, and the dedication of our team.”
The Griffin plant has established fundamental safety activities that
incorporate strong cross-functional employee involvement. Safety activities include behaviour-based safety evaluations, proactive hazard identification and safety inspections, root cause analysis, and engineering automation.
The Griffin plant has a history of safety, including three Excellence Awards from the Rubber Manufacturers Association’s (RMA) Safety and Health Improvement Program (SHIP). The “Excellence” category recognizes facilities that achieve a Days Away Restricted Transfer (DART) rate that is 75 per cent better than the average achieved by plants that provided data to RMA.
Galgo Partners with Clean Industry Initiative
again demonstrate the strong commitment it has to the clean industry effort. In May 2016, Galgo participated in its first reforestation campaign and donated 30 trees,
which were planted in the Atitalaquia Municipality with the help of 57 Galgo employees and family members.
Taray to Handle Özka
US Tyre Importer and distributor Taray International Corp. has agreed with Turkey’s Özka Lastik ve Kauçuk to take on the role of distributing and marketing the company’s range of tyre products and retread materials in North and South America.
Taray has established Özka USA as a separate entity operating out of its Marco Island headquarters in
Florida.
Özka is a growing Turkish manufacturer that specialises in agricultural tyres and it is these that the new venture will be focussing on. Taray International President Tarik Ayasun said Özka is open to producing tyres under private label terms for those groups interested in that style of business.
Vipal Participates in Canadian Truck World Expo
Galgo takes its ongoing commitment to act as a socially responsible company in the areas of environmental preservation and conservation seriously. The company’s dedication to maintaining compliance with applicable state environmental regulations across all aspects of the company, in conjunction with the improvements the company continually makes to its quality management systems with respect to safety, industrial hygiene, and environmental management, have made Galgo a role model within industry in Mexico.
As a result of its efforts, Galgo has been invited to partner with the
Hidalgo State Government, and other industries located along the Tula-Tepeji corridor, in the National Environmental Audit Program, in an effort help reduce and reverse the damage and negative environmental impacts in that area. The Tula-Tepeji corridor has been recognised as an area experiencing a high level of negative environmental impact, pollution, and damages to the ecosystem, and requires action from the local industries to help reverse this situation. Therefore, the Mexican Government, together with state and local authorities, has implemented the Clean Industry Certification to recognise companies
who demonstrate that they can be productive in their industry while also implementing and practicing effective environmental and health and safety standards designed to make a positive impact on the welfare of the environment and the surrounding community.
Back in early August 2015, an external audit was conducted, which confirmed that Galgo’s business and production processes were in compliance with the required standards for environmental sustainment, and the company says it remain confident that its efforts over the past year will once
Vipal Rubber recently participated in the latest edition of Truck World, held in Toronto, Canada. The fair, which closed on April 16th, brought visitors from many countries to check out the latest developments in the trucking and transportation segment. Vipal’s goal, beyond remaining close with its North American clients, was to tell visitors about the benefits of tyre retreading. The company wss showcasing two of its products, SmartWay-verified treads: VL130 ECO and VT170 ECO.
In addition, Vipal’s booth showcased its partnership with Brampton, Ontario-based retreader Truckcap, which exhibited its DV-RL2, VT180, VL100 and VT510 retreads. Truckcap has been a Vipal client since 2005. Tony Deonarain, one of the company’s owners, insisted on being present throughout the event, and emphasised how proud he was
to work with the Vipal brand.
Vipal was represented by Antonio Brito, General Manager of Vipal NAFTA, and Frederico Schmidt, Business Manager for Vipal United States. For Brito, opportunities like this are extremely important to make the brand stronger among the North American market, in addition to building relationships with current clients and developing new business. Present on all continents, Vipal has recently dedicated one of its three plants in Brazil solely to the production of exports. It also opened its third Distribution Centre in the U.S., in 2013, to meet the growing demand for exports. Located in the city of Los Angeles, California, the Centre has storage capacity for 1,500 pallet positions, thereby covering the West and Central regions of Canada, as well as the North American West Coast and some central states in the United States.
16 Retreading Business