Kenda to open European tech centre

Essen, Germany – Kenda Rubber Industrial Co. Ltd is opening a technical centre in Europe to support its efforts to build sales throughout the continent and explore potential OE business.

Kenda is still looking for a site for its tech centre, but most likely it will be in the greater Hannover, Germany, area, according to Jimmy Yang, vice chairman of the Taipei, Taiwan-based tire maker, speaking with Tire Business at the recent Reifen tire trade show in Essen.

Kenda has hired Frits van der Steege, a South African formerly with Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. working in the field of dynamic performance target setting, to head the centre, to be known as the Kenda Europe Technical Centre (KETC).

As senior project engineer, Van der Steege will build a team that will work in close collaboration with engineers at Kenda’s technical centre in Akron and main R&D centre in Taiwan.

Van der Steege will report to Tom Williams, hired by Kenda in 2014 to build a global R&D network.

Kenda opened its US technical centre last year in Green, Ohio, and is ramping up activities at that 50,000-sq.-ft. site near the Canton-Akron Airport. The facility opened with 18 technicians, but the centre could house up to 60 or 70 in two to three years, according to Williams, vice president of engineering.

Yang said having a tech centre in Europe is essential to Kenda’s building a “sustainable, stable” market presence. The company rolled out three European-dedicated products at the recent Reifen trade fair in Essen – the Emera A1 (KR41) summer performance tire, Wintergen 2 (KR501) passenger winter tire and Komendo Winter (KR500) winter tire for light commercial vehicles and minibuses.

In a communique distributed at Reifen, Yang said Kenda used proving grounds in Finland, Spain and the United Kingdom in developing these new lines.

Kenda stepped up its involvement in Europe three years, establishing Kenda Rubber Industrial Co. Europe GmbH in Übersee-Feldwies, Germany, near Munich, to oversee its European sales efforts. Michael Andre heads that office as marketing and sales manager for Europe.

The company earlier this year expanded its European sales network by collaborating with two family-owned retailers – Theocarakis SA of Greece and MPSA Groupe MASSA of France – to shore up its presence southern Europe.