Company's North American subsidiary will help consume recycled-content rubber powders made by the Georgia-based firm.

Michelin has announced finalizing its acquisition of Lehigh Technologies, a Tucker, Georgia-based company that uses patented cryogenic turbo mill technology to convert rubber from scrap tires and industrial goods into materials for new tires and other products.

The Greenville, South Carolina-based Michelin North America subsidiary of the French tire maker says Lehigh’s efforts help reduce the amount of raw materials needed in tire production, such as elastomers and fillers from oil- and rubber-based sources.

“We are always looking for ways to achieve safer and more sustainable mobility, including by using high-technology recycled materials, without compromising safety or other performances, while consuming less of the natural resources that are available in finite stocks,” says Pete Selleck, chairman and president of Michelin North America.

He adds, “Lehigh Technologies, the technological leader in this area, is a natural fit, as it will equip Michelin with tools to reduce the amount of raw materials that we need to produce new products for all of our current and future customers in the tire and non-tire industries.”

“This acquisition demonstrates Michelin’s strategic intent to bring its expertise in materials to markets that extend beyond tires, and in particular, to foster the use of advanced rubber recycled materials in the tire and non-tire industries,” says Christophe Rahier, senior vice president of strategic planning materials for the Michelin Group.

Lehigh Technologies employs about 100 people, mainly at its office and facility in the Atlanta area. The firm produces what it calls highly engineered, versatile raw materials called micronized rubber powder (MRP). It bills MRP as a low-cost, high-performance, sustainable material that substitutes for other oil- and rubber-based materials used in manufacturing tires, plastics, asphalt and construction materials.

According to Lehigh Technologies, its customers include some of the largest tire companies in the world, as well as companies in construction materials, asphalt modification and other markets.

“This deal provides Lehigh Technologies with an incredible opportunity to continue our growth,” says Alan Barton, CEO of Lehigh Technologies. “With the full backing of Michelin, we can continue to expand our capabilities, execute our global growth strategy and pursue new market opportunities.”

France-based Michelin designs, manufactures and sells tires for automobiles, heavy equipment, farm equipment, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles and airplanes.  Michelin North America employs about 22,700 and operates 19 manufacturing plants.

Multinational firm buys Canada-based Camso for $1.45 billion.

France-based Michelin has announced reaching an agreement with Magog, Quebec-based Camso to acquire the firm’s off-the-road (OTR) tire and tread operations and form a new, combined division to be managed from Quebec.

“Led by a set of common values and a strong tradition of innovation and R&D (research and development) at both Michelin and Camso, and backed by high-quality teams, the strategic partnership makes the newly created entity the world leader in OTR mobility,” Michelin states in a mid-July news release.

Reporting net sales of $1 billion (in United States dollars), Camso has been designing, manufacturing and marketing OTR tires and treads since 1982. Michelin describes Camso as a market leader in rubber tracks for farm equipment and snowmobiles, and in solid and bias tires for material handling equipment. Camso also ranks among the top three players in the construction market, providing track and tire products for small heavy equipment, according to Michelin.

“Leveraging its technological leadership in tracks and related systems, its competitive manufacturing footprint, particularly in Sri Lanka, and strong customer awareness of its Camso and Solideal brands, Camso has demonstrated its ability to grow rapidly, expanding at an average pace of 7 percent per year since 2012,” states Michelin.

“Michelin and Camso have many values in common,” remarks Jean-Dominique Senard, CEO of Michelin. “This acquisition is a wonderful mutual opportunity. Michelin will benefit from all of Camso’s skills in the off-the-road mobility markets and Camso from the full range of Michelin’s expertise in the specialty markets.”

Pierre Marcouiller, executive chairman of Camso, says, “Joining up with Michelin’s off-the-road teams is a fantastic opportunity for Camso because of the similarity of our cultures as well as our growth potential. Camso will achieve its ambition to become the global off-the-road market leader and will contribute its dynamic teams, its technical and manufacturing assets and its customer-focused mindset. The transaction has received the backing of all Camso’s shareholders.”

Michelin states it has made the following commitments in terms of its future presence in Quebec:

After obtaining shareholder and government agency approvals, Michelin indicates it will acquire Camso for $1.45 billion, corresponding to an enterprise value of $1.7 billion, based on a multiple of 8.3 times EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), “after synergies,” according to Michelin.

Brawler solid tires by Trelleborg will be an option on U.S.-made Caterpillar loaders.

The Brawler Solidflex HPS solid tire line from Wakefield, Massachusetts-based Trelleborg Wheel Systems has been selected as the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) solid tire option for medium and small wheel loaders offered by Peoria, Illinois-based Caterpillar Inc.

Caterpillar bills itself as the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, thus opening up a potentially sizable market for the Brawler Solidflex line.

“The team at Caterpillar, as well as our other customers, have long understood the value of our Brawler line to their businesses,” says Jared Steier, director OEM/OEA Sales North America for Trelleborg’s industrial and construction tires. “Engineered for extreme environments, Brawler tires provide the optimal total cost of ownership for which Trelleborg is known,” he says of Brawler’s Sweden-based parent company.

Adds Steier, “Caterpillar’s choice of the Brawler Solidflex HPS tire as its OEM solid tire option on its wheel loaders is right in line with [its] tradition of providing the best business-driving value to [its] customers.”

The Brawler HPS Solidflex features elliptical apertures designed to deliver a comfortable ride, resulting in reduced equipment and operator fatigue, according to the company. The cut-resistant rubber compound in the tires is formulated to eliminate downtime caused by tire damage, while a deep lug tread design offers three times more wearable rubber than most pneumatic tires, according to Trelleborg.

Sweden-based Trelleborg describes itself as providing engineered polymer solutions that seal, damp and protect critical applications in demanding environments. The company records revenue of approximately €3.28 billion ($3.69 billion) annually by operating in about 50 countries.

RECY Systems forms joint venture with Beijing-based PMI Technology Co.

Germany-based recycling industry software provider RECY Systems AG has entered into a joint venture contract with Beijing PMI Technology Co. The Beijing-based firm has been acting as RECY AG’s sales representative to the Chinese market since March.

PMI Technology General Manger Frank Huang is managing the joint venture company on behalf of RECY AG, including sales of the RECY software suite of applications and providing system implementation, consulting and local support services.

According to RECY Systems CEO Bernd Klarmann, the Chinese recycling industry is in full development, with new yards being opened on a monthly basis all over the country. With many of these facilities owned by steel mill firms and aluminum producers, Klarmann says the situation is “a perfect fit for RECY.”

Klarmann says RECY Systems AG already has licensed users in Beijing and Hong Kong. He also notes that RECY has long been available in multiple languages, and the firm recently has added Mandarin Chinese to that list.

Huang says the joint venture will be known as RECY Systems Beijing Co. Ltd. and he has started visiting with potential customers to begin displaying the Chinese-language version of the software suite. The firm also intends to interact with the industry at an aluminum recycling conference in August 2018.

Installation marks the third shredder for Upstate Shredding-Weitsman Recycling.

The Ben Weitsman of Albany division of Owego, New York-based Upstate Shredding-Weitsman Recycling, says it has started work on a multimillion-dollar project to add a 3,000-horsepower Riverside Engineering shredder at its Port of Albany facility in New York.

The new shredder, which will add 20 additional positions at the Albany facility, has a 70-inch mill and is capable of shredding 80 tons of scrap material per hour. Once complete, shredded metal produced at Albany will be sold and shipped direct from the Port of Albany via truck, barge, deep sea vessel and rail, says the company.

All auto shredder residue (ASR) material generated in Albany will be sent to the company’s main facility in Owego so additional nonferrous metals can be extracted through the eddy currents, microfines plant, wire chopping plant and newly commissioned dry media plant at that site Upstate Shredding-Weitsman Recycling refers to the dry media plant as “a state-of-the-art processing technology that further processes zorba, a shredded mix of nonferrous metals consisting primarily of aluminum generated by eddy-current separator or other segregation techniques, to separate out the aluminum from the heavies (copper, brass, zinc, and stainless).”

“This is a plan we have had in the works for some time and I am happy to announce that work on the shredder is underway and, once complete, will add more jobs and revenue to the local economy,” says Adam Weitsman, CEO of Upstate Shredding-Weitsman Recycling.

He continues, “In addition, this will be the third shredder for the company, and [it] is perfectly positioned within our geographic footprint to complement our shredding operations in Owego, New York, and New Castle, Pennsylvania. In 2019, our goal is to process 1 million tons of shredded scrap alone between the three shredders, and given current scrap volumes at our feeder yards we feel this goal will be easily attainable.”

Ben Weitsman of Albany, which was a newly constructed facility that opened in August 2013, has become one of the highest volume yards in its network, according to the company.

The company’s Binghamton, Jamestown and Owego facilities recently have been renovated, and the Albany retail scrap yard and New Castle retail scrap yard and shredder were recently built as new operations from the ground up, according to Upstate Shredding-Weitsman Recycling. Additionally, the firm’s Syracuse yard is undergoing a $5 million renovation and the company recently began operating its new dry media plant in Owego. The micro fines plant, which extracts precious metals from shredder residue, also is scheduled to be fully operational in Owego in August.

Upstate Shredding-Weitsman Recycling describes itself as the East Coast’s largest privately held scrap metal processor, operating 17 locations in New York and Pennsylvania.