Natural rubber is one of the most important raw materials in the tire manufacturing industry — especially for truck tires, bus tires, and aircraft tires, where the proportion of natural rubber is significantly higher than in passenger car tires. Therefore, the productivity and stability of natural rubber supply directly affect production costs and the long-term supply capacity of tire manufacturers.SEE MORE
Batteries are no longer just used for flashlights or portable music players as in the past. Computers, smartphones, electric vehicles, and even national power grids now depend heavily on energy storage technology. This is especially true for renewable energy sources like wind and solar — which cannot always be used the moment they are generated. Without storage systems, solar power, for example, becomes useless at night.SEE MORE
Tire manufacturing is an incredibly energy intensive process, with a typical plant consuming between 120GWh and 275GWh of energy per year. Naturally, this is one of a tire plant’s biggest yearly expenses, costing between US$12m and US$27m. With natural gas consumption also very high, managing electrical and gas loads is a priority for plant managers aiming to provide the most efficient and cost-effective manufacturing system.SEE MORE
Artificial intelligence and machine learning have both been the subject of breathless, ceaseless hype in the media and C-suites around the world, but what does all of it actually mean for the automotive sector? It might seem that just mentioning these buzzwords will magically raise your valuation, but the reality is that an AI-powered solution is not innately better than a solution that doesn’t use AI. As with many other transformative changes in the industry, getting the most out of AI is a matter of pointing the right technology at the right problem – and bringing the right tools for the job is innately a human problem.SEE MORE
For decades, chemistry has been treated as a mature industry: essential, but commoditized and with limited opportunities for invention and growth. That assumption is obsolete, but it persists because green chemistry is still too often invisible to the people making industrial strategy. Too few leaders understand that it is not simply a cleaner or less toxic way to make yesterday’s products, but a new way to design the materials, processes and supply chains that will define tomorrow’s competitiveness.SEE MORE
