Nokian Tyres

Nokian Tyres PLC , headquartered in Nokia, Finland, produces tyres for cars, trucks,
buses, and heavy-duty equipment. Known for its winter tyres, Nokian operates the only
permanent winter tyre testing facility in the world. The company's Hakkapeliitta brand name is
recognised in Finland as a reputable trademark.
Nokian Tyres concentrates on the consumer car and vehicle tyre replacement and
premium snow tyre markets; they do not supply automobile manufacturers tyres for new car
production. The greater prices consistently found in those markets result in higher profitability
compared to the rest of the tyre industry. The company also produces retreading materials and
tyre pressure monitors. It also previously manufactured bicycle tyres but currently licenses the
Nokian name on bicycles tyres to another Finnish company. The Vianor retail tyre store chain,
which services cars in addition to selling tyres, is owned by Nokian Tyres PLC.
Nokian Tyres produces tyres for passenger cars, SUVs, and vans. Nokian branded tyres
are sold in over 60 countries. Nokian Tyres designed the first winter tyres in 1934 and has more
winter tyre patents than any other manufacturer. Nokian Tyres was the first tyre manufacturer in
the world to fully eliminate high-aromatic oils from its production process.
The demand for Nokian tyres is seasonal, as a high percentage of the company's sales
are of winter tyres, but it has reduced seasonal fluctuations by its development of summer and all
weather tyres.

History
Early corporate predecessors of Nokian Tyres are the Nokia Aktiebolag (Nokia Company)
and Suomen Kumitehdas Oy (Finnish Rubber Works Ltd.).
In 1865, mining engineer Fredrik Idestam established a groundwood pulp millon the
banks of the Tammerkoski rapids in the town of Tampere, in southwestern Finland. In 1868,
Idestam built a second mill near the town of Nokia, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) west of Tampere by
the Nokianvirta River, which had better resources for hydroelectric production. In 1871, with the
help of his close friend, the statesman Leo Mechelin, Idestam renamed and transformed his mills
into a share company, founding the Nokia Company.

The company traces its history to a groundwood pulp mill established in 1865. Car tyre
production began in 1932 by Suomen Gummitehdas Oy (Finnish Rubber Works Ltd). A threecompany merger formed the Nokia Corporation in 1967; Nokian Tyres Limited was established in
1988 as a joint venture company split from the conglomerate. Nokian is "Nokia" in the genitive,
thus Nokian renkaat means "Tyres of Nokia".
Suomen Gummitehdas Oy was founded in 1898 and began manufacturing car tyres in
1932. The Hakkapeliitta tyre name was introduced in 1936, and some tyres sold under the
Nokian tyre name still use the Hakkapeliitta brand name. Hakkapeliitta is a (Finnish)
historiographical term used for a Finnish light cavalryman in the service of KingGustavus
Adolphus of Sweden during the Thirty Years' War (161848). In 1967, Suomen Kumitehdas Oy
(originally called Suomen Gummitehdas Oy) merged with Suomen Kaapelitehdas (Finnish Cable
Works)

and

the

forest

and

power

industry

company

Nokia

Aktiebolag

to

create Nokia Corporation.

Nokian Tyres (which had manufactured tyres under the Nokia brand; Nokian is
the genitive) was split from the Nokia Corporation when Nokian Tyres Limited was created in
1988 as a joint venture company. Nokian Tyres PLC shares were floated on the Helsinki Stock
Exchange (OMX Helsinki) in 1995. Nokia, which became the largest mobile telephone
manufacturer in 1998,[8] ended its ownership interest in Nokian Tyres in 2003, selling its holding of
2 million shares to Bridgestone Europe NV/SA, a subsidiary of the Japanese tyre manufacturer
Bridgestone, for U.S. $73.2 million. This made Bridgestone the largest shareholder, with an
18.9% stake, later diluted to 16.8%.
Bridgestone announced that Nokian Tyres would be operated independently, but it would
consider complementing the company's product development, testing, and distribution.
Production of bicycle tyres and inner tubes started in 1974 in Lieksa, Finland. In 2004,
Nokian Tyres sold its bicycle tyre business to Suomen Rengastehdas Oy for 3.6 million. This
successor company remains one of the few manufacturers of tungsten carbide-studded snow
tyres for bicycles. Suomen Rengastehdas continues to produce bicycle tyres, including all
Nokian-branded bicycle tyres.
Nokian Tyres set up a joint venture, Ordabasy Nokian Tyres JSC, with Ordabasy
Corporation JSC, a multi-industry Kazakh company, to manufacture passenger car tyres at a
planned new factory in Kazakhstan. The venture started in 2007, but the manufacturing project
was put on hold in early 2009. Nokian Tyres was to provide technical expertise in tyre
manufacturing, and the products were to be sold in Kazakhstan, Central Asia, Russia, and

Eastern Europe. In 2009, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta tyre model line received the "List of
trademarks with a reputation" status by the National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland

Products
Passenger car tyres
Nokian Tyres produces tyres for passenger cars, SUVs, and vans. Nokian branded tyres
are sold in over 60 countries.
Nokian Tyres designed the first winter tyres in 1934 and has more winter tyre patents
than any other manufacturer. Nokian Tyres is known for its winter tyres, not to be confused with
all-season tyres. Nokian winter tyres have been described as a favourite of critics and have been
well received in winter test results by several publications. Nokian also has designed some winter
tyre models with low rolling resistance, offering lower fuel consumption. Nokian was the first
company to produce a tyre that allowed for year-round use by having different tread patterns on
the lateral and medial aspect of the tread. One pattern is optimised for winter and another pattern
is designed as an all-season pattern.
Nokian Tyres was the first tyre manufacturer in the world to fully eliminate high-aromatic
oils from its production process. Used as plasticising agents in tread production and to facilitate
the compounding of rubber, they contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a carcinogen,
and have been replaced by low-aromatic oils. In 2006, Nokian Tyres received a commendation in
the Finnish round of the European Business Awards for the Environment.
The demand for Nokian tyres is seasonal, as a high percentage of the company's sales
are of winter tyres, but it has reduced seasonal fluctuations by its development of summer and all
weather tyres.
According to the company, more than 80% of its passenger car and van tyre sales are
winter tyres. Winter tyre sales have a strong seasonal characteristic with 30% of retail sales
occurring in the ten days after the first snowfall, thus presenting challenges in production and
delivery.
Nokian Tyres does not sell to automobile manufacturers, but instead concentrates on the
more profitable consumer tyre replacement and premium snow tyre markets. Nokian Tyres has

the highest market share of the Finnish passenger car tyre market. The Finnish, Swedish, and
Norwegian markets contributed over 40% of Nokian Tyres' corporate net sales in 2008.
The Russian market, Nokian Tyres' largest, contributed 34% of the net sales and
captured 26% of the Russian winter tyre market. CEO Kim Gran describes the Russian
consumer as having a "love affair" with the Nokian brand citing that it stems from tyres which fits
the local weather conditions and a genuine need in the market. The use of winter tyres, which
has softer rubber compounds than all-season tyres, results in improved starting, stopping, and
steering performance. The Hakkapeliitta brand was, at one time, the only Western tyre brand in
Russia having entered the market during the Soviet era in 1964. In contrast to having a Russian
tyre factory to benefit from lower tariffs, another tyre company, Continental AG, abandoned
Russian tyre production and hopes for Russian membership in the World Trade Organisation will
result in lower import tariffs.
In 2009, the North American market accounted for over 10% of the company's net
sales. Nokian Tyres has a tyre subsidiary based in LaVergne, Tennessee (USA). In that market,
Nokian Tyres sell only to independent dealers, some of whom use the tyre products to fill in gaps
in their product lines instead of an exclusive or majority share. This results in some dealers being
knowledgeable about specific tyres but not Nokian Tyre's full tyre product range.

Commercial vehicle tyres

Nokian Tyres manufactures truck and bus tyres sold under the Nokian Hakkapeliitta
brand. Steer, traction, and trailer tyres are marketed. Nokian Heavy Tyres Ltd is a manufacturer
of special tyres for forestry, industrial machinery, and agriculture. Its products are sold as original
equipment as well on the replacement tyre market.
Nokian Tyres produces a number of product lines, including the Tractor Industrial 2 and
Country King. Nokian Tyres is a world market leader in forestry tyres, which are a key product of
the Nokian Heavy Tyres subsidiary. Nokian forestry tyres include the Skidder and Cut-To-Length
model lines. The Skidder tyres have a 25 degree bar angle and the Cut-To-Length tyres have a
35 degree bar angle. Bar angle is a tyre tread measurement. Smaller bar angles are associated
with higher traction at the expense of increased mud accumulation.

Tyre-related products
Nokian Tyres also produces materials for retreading and refurbishing used tyres. Nokian Noktop
and Kraiburg, an industry competitor, produce most of the retreading materials for the European
market. The RoadSnoop Pressure Watch, a tyre pressure monitor for race cars, is also produced
by Nokian Tyres.

Bicycle
The Nokian brand of bicycle tyres, including studded winter MTB and touring models, is owned
by Suomi Tyres Finland.

Vianor tyre chain

Nokian Tyres owns 100% of Vianor Holding Oy, which administers Vianor, a tyre chain of
company owned and franchised stores. The Vianor name is derived from the Latin phrase
"northern way" or "northern road", and reflects the tyre chain's image as a tyre specialist for
winter conditions.
Vianor is the largest and most extensive tyre franchise in the Nordic countries with
approximately 170 company-owned retail outlets and around 800 outlets [58] in total including
franchises. Company-owned outlets are located in the Switzerland, Russia, Norway, Finland,
Sweden, and the United States. The twelve United States outlets are located in the American
states

of Vermont, New

Hampshire, New

York and Massachusetts.[57] Countries

with

only

franchised outlets include Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Moldova,
Georgia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria. [56]
Nokian Tyres has operated retail tyre stores in Norway since 1987, when it acquired Larsen &
Lund, and since 1998 in Sweden and Latvia. [59] The Vianor name was launched in 1999
coinciding with the company's expansion into Finland and Estonia. [56]
Vianor sells two million tyres annually, including Michelin and Bridgestone brands as well as
Nokian tyres. Car servicing and a tyre hotel, facilities for customers to store summer or winter
tyres during the off-season, are also offered.

Nokia, Finland production and testing facilities

Deep tread pattern and multiple sipes in a Nokian Hakkapeliitta R winter tyre tread. The
numbers 4, 6, 8 in the tread (in mm) indicate the depth of the remaining tread. The number 8
becomes unreadable as the tread wears to a depth of less than 8 mm.

Nokian Tyres produces 23,000 tyres per day at a factory in Nokia, Finland, and 200,000
tyres a year under the Bridgestone brand name. The original factory was built in 1904, the current
one in 1945; it has expanded several times since then.
Nokian Tyres has 27 assembly lines at its Finnish plant. The plant uses radio frequency
devices to monitor the inventory of materials used to manufacture tyres, such as the 100-metre
long strips of rubber tread. Shortages of rubber tread can halt production and so keeping an
adequate supply of materials increases efficiency. Despite trade journals discussing this
technique, Nokian declines to confirm its production methods.
The company has a 30-hectare (74-acre) testing facility in Nokia, where it road tests tyres
between April and November. From November to May, tests are carried out at its Ivalo Proving
Grounds in Arctic Lapland. The Ivalo Proving Ground is the only permanent winter tyre testing
facility in the world. Because of the short summer in Finland, Nokian tests summer tyres at other
locations. During the winter, the testing of summer tyres takes place in South Africa. Nokian also
tests tyres at the Applus+ IDIADA facilities in El Vendrell, Spain, and the ATP facilities
in Papenburg, Germany.

Vsevolozhsk, Russia factory

Nokian produces approximately 6,000 tyres daily and employs 510 employees at its
factory in Vsevolozhsk, Russia near Saint Petersburg, and plans to increase manufacturing
capacity to 10 million tyres annually by 2011. The factory was established in 2005.
In 2006, it expanded its facilities there, adding a mixing department and a 19,000square-metre (200,000 sq ft) warehouse capable of housing 600,000 tyres. The new mixing
department gives the factory the capability to produce rubber compounds on-site instead of
importing them from the factory in Nokia, Finland.
The Vsevolozhsk factory manufactures Nokian-branded car tyres, the majority of which
are sold in Russia and countries of the former USSR. Nokian plans to build 300 housing units
and sell them to employees at cost as part of the Russian factory expansion that is scheduled to
be completed by 2011.

Contract production of tyres

Nokian Tyres licenses production of its tyres to companies in the United States
(Bridgestone, LaVergne, Tennessee plant), Slovakia (Matador, Puchov plant), Indonesia (PT
Gajah Tunggal Tbk company), and the People's Republic of China (Giti Tire), as well as contracts
manufacture of agriculture and industrial tyres in Spain and India. In the past, some United
States contract manufacturing was done by Cooper Tire's Findley, Ohio plant. Contract
manufacture by Giti Tire includes production of up to 500,000 Nokian summer tyres with
expansion up to 1.5 million tyres per year.
Some Nokian agricultural and industrial tyres were made under contract by the Tofan
Grup in Romania for two years until December 1999, when Nokian Tyres withdrew, citing quality
standards.
Contract manufacture of these types of heavy tyres was then undertaken by Michelin at
its Polish plant in Stomil-Olsztyn from 2000 until 2005, when Nokian began to shift contract
manufacture of industrial tyres to Bridgestone's factory in Bilbao, Spain and agricultural tyres to
Balkrishna Tyres in Bhiwadi, India. With an increase in tyre demand as a result of improving
economies, Nokian is considering increasing production as well as outsouring additional tyre
manufacture in Asia.

TRADUCERE PREZENTARE
Nokian tyres PLC, cu sediul n Nokia, Finlanda, produce anvelope pentru autoturisme,
camioane, autobuze i echipamente grele. Cunoscut pentru anvelopele sale de iarn, Nokian
produce anvelope iarna numai dupa testari permanente pt facilitatea lor n lume. Numele de
brand al companiei Hakkapeliitta este recunoscut n Finlanda ca o marc cu reputaie.
Anvelope Nokian se concentreaz pe masina consumatorului i inlocuirea cauciucurilor i
piata anvelopelor de iarna; Acestia nu furnizeaz productorilor de automobile anvelope pentru
masini noi . Preurile mai mari n mod constant gsite n aceste piee rezulta din rentabilitate mai
mare comparativ cu restul industriei de anvelope. Compania produce, de asemenea, re aparea
materialelor i anvelopelor pe monitoare de presiune. Initial producea si anvelope bicicleta dar n
prezent da licente pe numele Nokian pt pneuri de biciclete pentru o alt companie finlandez.
Lantul de magazine ce vand anvelope cu amanuntul Vianor este deinut de PLC de anvelope
Nokian.
Nokian produce anvelope pentru autoturisme , SUV-uri , camionete si . Anvelopele
Nokian sunt vndute n peste 60 de ri . Nokian Tyres a proiectat primele anvelope de iarn n
1934 i are mai multe brevete de anvelope de iarn dect orice alt productor . Nokian Tyres a
fost primul productor de anvelope din lume care a eliminat complet uleiurile aromatice din
procesul de producie .

Cererea de anvelope Nokian este sezonier , ca un procent mare din vnzrile

companiei sunt de anvelope de iarna , dar are fluctua ii reduse sezoniere prin vanzarea de
anvelope de vara si anvelope mixte.