The unprecedented lockdown imposed in March last year turned the supply chain of companies upside down, and the tyre companies were no exception. However, the intensity of disturbance was relatively high for Yokohama Off-Highway Tires (YOHT), which exports more than 90 percent of its production. According to Padmakumar G, Executive Vice President – SCM at YOHT, unprecedented lockdown led to unprecedented initiatives for YOHT. “Most importantly, we learned the importance of being able to react, adapt and set up crisis management mechanisms to weather situations of uncertainty,” says Padmakumar G.

Q) Was Yokohama Off-Highway Tires (YOHT) ready for the unprecedented lockdown?

Padmakumar G: The whole of 2020 was an extraordinary time when ‘business as usual’ was not an option. From the beginning of the year, it was clear that we were braced for a marathon and not a sprint.

At work, we had a unique period of simultaneous supply and demand shocks. Our plants in India were closed for a couple of weeks. As they (plants) were finally allowed to operate, we faced government-mandated operating restrictions and labour shortages that prevented us from running the plants at total capacity.

On the positive side, our plant in Israel was running at full capacity and continued shipments as planned. All sales and administrative employees at global locations were working from home and were doing their best to be accessible at all times. In North America, our network of national warehouses was open, stocked at historically high inventory levels and operating at full local, regional, and national distribution capacity to ensure continued deliveries to locations.

Our competitive position, market share, brand and diversification of our businesses in products and regions helped us see some all-time highs during these challenging times.

Q) Vendors and customers got panicked because of the uncertainties instilled by the lockdowns. How did you keep their morale and confidence intact in those tough times?

Padmakumar G: Unprecedented lockdown led to unprecedented initiatives for YOHT. The acute restrictions and lockdowns created many urgent situations that required immediate attention in the early days of the pandemic. At YOHT, we believe that no crisis should go to waste.

Adaptability, inventiveness and tenacity of our team paved the way to a ‘recovery mode’, and we started planning for the longer-term proactively. We did not face substantial business and operational disruptions – from mitigating the effects of reduced supply to managing disruptions to logistics suppliers and hurdles in meeting their contractual obligations to customers.

YOHT has an agile team that quickly reprioritised the customers’ requirement and ensured critical supply continuation through our multiple sourcing locations. We closely integrated with suppliers, vendors and customers to have better visibility. Consistent communication and streamlining the complexity helped us keep our commitments while keeping the morale and confidence in the most challenging times.

Q) YOHT is mainly into export of products and imports of raw materials? How did you cope up with the supply-demand situation?

Padmakumar G: Prioritisation of critical supply with effective utilisation of available inventories of finished goods, raw materials, and production capacities were the immediate focus in the lockdown situation. What also helped is that we have a wide base of sourcing raw material from multiple sources. We were able to keep our facility running at full efficiency to meet market requirement. We stepped up all measures to ensure that our customers get our products in the earliest shipments.

Q) ATG is now a part of Yokohama, a global giant in the tyre industry. What changes has Yokohama brought in the supply chain?

Padmakumar G: Yokohama has a strong legacy of quality, and its manufacturing and supply chain is very process-driven. The Kaizen processes and digitalisation of our daily supply chain activities helped us improve our process and culture. 

Q) What did you learn from the pandemic?

Padmakumar G: The importance of supply chain resilience and risk management is more apparent than ever. Most importantly, we learned the importance of being able to react, adapt and set up crisis management mechanisms to weather situations of uncertainty. 

Q) There has always been pressure to reduce cost and improve efficiency by shortening the order-to-delivery period. Could you share a couple of examples highlighting the company’s efforts that reduced the cost and enhanced supply chain efficiency?

 Padmakumar G: To shorten the order to delivery, YOHT has initiated Strategic Inventory build-up through S&CP (Sales & Capacity Planning) and effective cost management through strategic buying of raw materials. We have also increased the manufacturing flexibility to reduce delivery in our business of handling 3500+SKU’s.

Q) What new ideas will the company implement at the Visakhapatnam plant to have better supply chain management?

Padmakumar G: Investment in technology that will gain data insights like MES & digitalisation, improving transparency and considerations on sustainability in the supply chain will be key focus areas of our SCM processes in the Visakhapatnam plant. 

Q) What are the current challenges in the business?

Padmakumar G: Current situation of increased raw material cost, an aggressive demand for containers and increased shipping cost are some of the major challenges in SCM across industries. 

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TyreSafe has entered a new partnership with South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, reinforcing joint efforts to prevent road casualties and enhance safety throughout the county. The fire and rescue service becomes part of a widening group of UK fire services collaborating with TyreSafe to highlight the dangers linked to illegal and poorly maintained tyres.

Under the arrangement, both organisations will pool expertise, resources and engagement opportunities to promote tyre safety among South Yorkshire road users. This work will be integrated into broader road safety initiatives. The partnership also builds on South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue’s existing role within the South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership, where education, training and publicity are central to reducing casualties.

The collaboration comes amid a difficult road safety picture. In 2024, a total of 43 people died and 748 were seriously injured in South Yorkshire collisions, amounting to 791 killed or seriously injured casualties. Although this was lower than the 841 recorded in 2023, the South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership acknowledges substantial progress is still needed to reach its Vision Zero goal.

Road traffic collisions remain a major operational demand for South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, whose community risk work involves joint efforts to cut incident numbers and severity. Serious and fatal crashes occur on major routes linking Sheffield, Doncaster, Rotherham and Barnsley, and on higher-speed rural roads. Tyres are vital to the Safe System approach, as defects can impair braking, steering and control, raising the risk of serious incidents.

Stuart Lovatt, Chairman, TyreSafe, said, “Fire and rescue services see the consequences of serious road collisions first-hand. Their experience gives them a unique perspective on the importance of prevention, and that makes South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue an incredibly valuable partner for TyreSafe. South Yorkshire has a strong and established road safety partnership, with organisations already working together towards Vision Zero. We want to complement that work by making tyre safety a more visible part of the conversation around safer vehicles and safer roads. We’re delighted to welcome South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue to the growing number of fire and rescue services partnering with TyreSafe. By combining their frontline experience and local reach with our specialist knowledge of tyre safety, we have an opportunity to reach more drivers with simple, practical advice that could help prevent a serious collision.”

Robert Horne, Prevention & Intervention Officer for Barnsley, said, “We are pleased to be partnering with TyreSafe to strengthen the road safety work we already undertake with our partners across South Yorkshire. Our firefighters regularly attend road traffic collisions and see the devastating impact they can have on individuals, families and communities. Prevention is therefore a vital part of our role, and helping people understand the simple steps they can take to reduce risk is an important part of that work. Tyres are a critical safety component on every vehicle, yet they can easily be overlooked. Working with TyreSafe will help us reinforce that message and provide road users with practical information they can use to make sure their vehicles are safe and roadworthy.”

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Yokohama Rubber has become a participant in PROJECT TREE, a sustainability initiative launched by ITOCHU Corporation to advance the responsible sourcing of natural rubber. The programme relies on blockchain technology to create a traceable supply chain, and Yokohama Rubber has begun using rubber procured through this framework. On 25 September 2026, the company started supplying tyres for commercial vehicles operated by FamilyMart Co., Ltd. as project-supported products.

Natural rubber represents roughly 30 percent of tyre raw materials, while tyres account for about 70 percent of global consumption of the resource. Most of the world’s supply comes from smallholder farmers in nations such as Thailand and Indonesia. The tyre industry has responded with efforts spanning forest conservation, human rights safeguards, agricultural training and livelihood stabilisation. PROJECT TREE identifies sourcing regions and assists farmers through incentives from participating companies and training programmes.

Yokohama Rubber has pursued traceability through several channels. Its natural rubber processing subsidiary, Y.T. Rubber Co., Ltd., earned Chain of Custody certification from the Forest Stewardship Council for responsible processing and distribution. The company also employs RubberWay Geo-Mapping as a risk assessment tool and is aligning its operations with the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). For several years it has supported smallholder farmers in Thailand’s Surat Thani Province. Joining PROJECT TREE is expected to further reinforce supply chain transparency and supplier support.

As a founding member of the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR), Yokohama Rubber revised its Procurement Policy for Sustainable Natural Rubber in September 2021 and continues to strengthen collaboration with the platform. The company is also working towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with the Yokohama Rubber Group promoting sustainable raw material procurement, including natural rubber, as part of that effort.

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Liberty Tire Recycling took part in a Washington State Tire Amnesty Event alongside the Washington State Department of Ecology and the Lewis County Solid Waste Utility. The three-day event, held in mid-September at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds in Centralia, marked the area’s first such opportunity in nearly two and a half years. Local turnout surpassed expectations, with more than 240 tonnes of tyres and wheels gathered from area residents.

Handling that volume demanded close coordination between Liberty Tire Recycling's facilities in Puyallup, Washington and Portland, Oregon. Crews from both sites merged staff, equipment and other resources to keep processing on track. Lewis County residents showed up in numbers, forming lines of vehicles before the gates opened each morning. Numerous participants seized the chance to rid their properties of unwanted tyres and satisfy local cleanup and code compliance rules, which boosted neighbourhood appearance, cut environmental dangers and made communities safer.

The scale of the response made clear how much amnesty events matter in giving residents a handy, responsible way to part with old tyres while discouraging illegal dumping. The occasion also marked the debut of Liberty Tire Recycling's new regional outreach booth. Staff gave out educational materials and stickers and explained the journey tires take after collection. Attendees learned how recycled tyres find new life in transportation, construction, landscaping, sports surfaces and other uses, and feedback was overwhelmingly favourable.

None of this would have come together without solid collaboration among community partners. Liberty Tire Recycling thanked Lewis County residents, the Lewis County Solid Waste Utility and the Washington State Department of Ecology for their commitment to responsible tyre management and environmental stewardship. The company also recognised its Portland team and every employee who pitched in on planning, logistics, transportation and processing. The event ended up as Liberty Tire Recycling's largest amnesty collection of the year, showing both the need for accessible tyre recycling and the community's commitment to sustainability. By steering discarded tyres away from illegal dumping sites and landfills, the company keeps supporting healthier communities and a more circular economy, and it looks forward to future collection events across the Pacific Northwest.

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The AZuR network will take centre stage at the centenary annual conference of the German Rubber Society (DKG) in Fulda on 24 and 25 September 2026, where network coordinator Christina Guth will deliver a presentation titled ‘The Next 100 Years Are Circular’. Her address will illustrate how the network links rubber industry stakeholders and underline why collaboration across the entire value chain is indispensable to establishing a circular economy in the tyre sector.

Founded in Düsseldorf in 1926, the DKG marks its 100th anniversary by once again convening specialists from research, development and industry. The two-day gathering, held under the banner ‘100 Years of the DKG’, blends professional exchange with an examination of the sector's future direction. Guth's contribution centres on the argument that coming decades must be defined by circularity, as rubber and tyre manufacturers confront the pressing task of retaining products and raw materials in circulation for as long as feasible.

Achieving this demands more than isolated recycling solutions. It requires coordinated effort spanning producers, traders, collection and sorting operations, repair and retreading services, mechanical and chemical recycling, alongside science and policymaking. The AZuR network, established in 2020, now encompasses over 90 partners across Germany and Europe, uniting actors committed to a resource-efficient tyre circular economy. Science-industry cooperation features prominently, with materials analysis, life cycle assessments, sorting technologies and process research supplying the evidence base for advancing circular methods and informing sound commercial and political choices.

Numerous synergies exist between the DKG and AZuR, including expanded scientific exchange, joint work on recovered carbon black and other recyclates, quality standards for secondary raw materials, and knowledge transfer to emerging scientists and engineers. Guth maintains that materials expertise and circular economy competence are inseparable, arguing that reusing high-quality secondary raw materials in rubber compounds requires research, industry and recycling to jointly refine quality, processes and standards. The anniversary prompts AZuR to look forward, with digital product passports, circular design, greater secondary raw material use and shared quality standards offering pathways towards a circular tyre and rubber industry sustained by strong networks.

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