Monday, 05 December 2011
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Success through tests
De-icing roads with salt became standard procedure in the 1980’s, bringing an end to snowy driving. In these conditions, winter tyres (in Finnish: talvirenkaat) had to demonstrate wear resistance and wet grip. Drivers also valued low fuel consumption and silent driving. The development of the new-generation Hakkapeliitta began in 1978, and the NR 09 was introduced two years later. The new tyre featured a surprise: the traditional suction pad pattern had been replaced by a streamlined arrow shaped tread.
The new product achieved long-term success; the five millionth 09 was made in 1987. The Hakkapeliitta won four back-to-back winter tyre tests by the leading Finnish car and technology magazine Tekniikan Maailma. The magazine went on to say that NR 09 was "the best winter tyre we have ever tested." Over the years, tyre testing developed continuously. At first, durability tests were driven with busses and taxis. In the 1960’s, testing efforts were concentrated to Nokian in-house test drivers. The establishment of the Nokian Tyres' test centre in Ivalo, Lapland, in 1986 gave a whole new framework for the Hakkapeliitta product development
Got grip
The Nordic tyre manufacturer wanted to focus on demanding conditions and special products. Studless winter tyres were gaining ground, and Nokian responded to this challenge in 1991. An all-new family of winter tyres rolled out in 1996: Hakkapeliitta 1 continued the traditional range with a new number and environmentally friendly studding, whereas the NRW 1 offered a studless alternative. Returning to its roots, Nokian Tyres started operating as an independent stock exchangelisted company with a strong focus on winter tyres and forestry tyres in 1995. The Vianor tyre chain was launched at the turn of the century. In 2005, the Hakkapeliitta family entered the Russian market, while the research and development team were already working on the idea of a smart tyre and possible replacements to natural rubber. The Hakkapeliitta still has a good grip on the title of the champion of the roads.
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The victorious studded tyre
The 1960’s marked an entry into an era of motorways and asphalt pavement for Finnish road traffic. The number of cars tripled, and tyres (in Finnish: renkaat) became the main product of Suomen Kumitehdas. There was active discussion on the safety of traffic in the winter; some supported the use of studs and some opposed it due to the increased wearing of roads. Various kinds of rivets, springs and spikes were used to prevent slipping.
The Kometa-Hakkapeliitta was introduced in 1963. This was the familiar Haka-Hakkapeliitta tyre with hard metal-tipped studs made by Kovametalli Oy. The Hakkapeliitta launched in 1964 was the first tyre designed particularly for studding. Suomen Kumitehdas ran an active campaign to support the use and correct mounting of studded tyres.
In the 1960’s, tyres were exported from Nokia to approximately twenty countries, including the Nordic countries, England, Switzerland and the USA. Even Soviet official cars drove the streets of Leningrad with studded Hakkapeliitta tyres.
The international breakthrough of Hakkapeliitta tyres was also supported by motorsports. The Finnish winter tyres were highly valued on the mountain legs of the famous Monte Carlo Rally, where the success of Paul Toivonen, Rauno Aaltonen and Timo Mäkinen gave rise to the concept of "the Flying Finns".
Radial tyres for export
Until the 1960’s, winter tyres had a bias-ply structure that consisted of diagonal layers. However, new cars with better performance and driving properties were more compatible with the radial structure that quickly gained popularity in the early 1970’s. In 1967, Kumitehdas merged with wood processing and the Kaapelitehdas cable production to form Oy Nokia Ab, and inaugurated a new tyre plant soon after the merger. The first radial winter tyre was the Hakkapeliitta Radial 06 launched in the autumn of 1970. The next step was a steel-ply radial tyre. The introduction of steel-ply tyres particularly boosted the export of heavy tyres to such customers as Valmet Brazil. The first steel-ply radial tyre for passenger cars, the Hakkapeliitta 08, came to the market in 1977.
In December 1971, the plant celebrated a Million Week, as the annual production volume of vehicle tyres exceeded one million. However, soon after this the oil crisis increased the price of rubber and weakened the demand for tyres. Drivers started to think about the costs of driving. Nokian tyres wanted to also win consumers over in terms of economical driving. A 1976 advertisement in Finland urged, "Drive in Finland on Hakkapeliitta tyres – Only 2 pennies per kilometer!"
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The story of Nokian Hakkapeliitta
The world's first winter tyre (in Finnish: talvirengas), the Kelirengas made by Suomen Gummitehdas, was introduced in 1934. In that day and age, winter driving meant snowy, often un-ploughed roads and speeds hardly exceeding 50 km/h. The first Kelirengas tyres were designed for trucks to replace the complicated, expensive tyre chains. Kelirengas was the predecessor of Hakkapeliitta tyres. Gummitehdas Osakeyhtiö had taken an interest in manufacturing car tyres in the beginning of the 20th century. The first mention of tyres in their documentation is dated 1912, when engineer Ragnar Gustafsson went on a field trip to the United States. In the 1920s, the company made calculations concerning the manufacture of tyres and ordered test moulds from Berlin, Germany. The decision to initiate tyre production was made in 1931 and, after machine acquisitions and the necessary learning period, the first tyres were launched in April 1933. By the following year, the tyre department was working in three shifts and the tyre selection comprised of ten models.
After the economic depression, the demand for tyres grew at the same pace as the general increase in traffic, and Gummitehdas kept expanding its tyre production. In October 1936, three moulds were ordered especially for snow tyres. They were used to make the new Snow Hakkapeliitta tyres, which then became well-known as the Hakkapeliitta, champions of snowy roads.
War-time challenges
The Finno-Russo Wars (the Winter War and Continuation War) entailed challenging times for Suomen Gummitehdas. The company focused on serving the Finnish Defense Forces, mainly by making truck tyres and special products such as airplane tyres. The import connections were broken, which inevitably led to a shortage of raw material. Products were made of scrap German-made synthetic rubber, buna. The supply of chemicals was also insufficient, and the compounds had to be modified; new tyre formulas were deployed without any prior driving experience. However, even in the turmoil of the war, Gummitehdas had strong faith in the future. Its new tyre plant was inaugurated in 1945, and after the war, it was able to respond to the huge demand for tyres.
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Wartime challenges in tyre industry
Over one hundred years of professional skill, inventiveness and will – the roots of the business extend all the way back to 1898, when Suomen Gummitehdas Osakeyhtiö was founded. Nokia rose up on the map in 1904 when technical manager Antti Antero and Dr. Birger Pentz, who had been looking for a site for a factory, became enchanted with the verdant surroundings along the river. The benefits of the factory relocation from Helsinki to Nokia emerged quickly when production increased and the final accounts showed black ink.
With the approach of war, the factory attempted to obtain as many raw materials as possible in advance and concentrated its production on the most important products. The then manufacturing of rubber mats as well as toys was terminated, also due in part to the reduced labor force. Considerable time and resources were applied to replenishing the raw material stores so that production could be safeguarded. In addition to financing, problems were caused by marine transport difficulties and the lack of natural rubber availability. The raw material of tyres had to be switched from genuine natural rubber to buna – synthetic German rubber. Scrap rubber was also used to a large extent in wartime tyre (in Norwegian: dekk) manufacture.
The operations of the factory0020during the war years were regulated by the needs of the defense forces. The war put aside long-term plans, but postwar model and production quantities of rubber products saw a vigorous increase. Reforms were carried out in the Nokia factory both during and after the war. After the end of the conflict, new knowledge and skills were acquired, and the first attempts were made to develop a successful, modern manufacturing facility.
Overtaking world markets
Suomen Gummitehdas Osakeyhtiö already engaged in export in 1926 via the limited liability firm Teknillinen kauppaosakeyhtiö. It was not until the 1950’s when the export accelerated in earnest when Hakkapeliitta opened up export to the other Nordic countries and into further areas of Europe, followed by the world beyond. Competition with large international manufacturers has generated export challenges for Nokian summer tyres from square one. Since the latter part of the 1970’s, export markets also grew for special tyres designed for trucks and heavy equipment.
The internationalization has been enabled by the expansions and production growth going on at the Nokia factory. With the outset of the 21st Century, Nokian has taken the world by storm through, for instance, the Vianor chain and the manufacturing facility at Vsevolozhsk. The first Hakkapeliitta tyres were manufactured at the Vsevolozhsk plant in 2005. Approximately 300,000 tyres were made there the same year. In 2008, tyres were made at both of the Nokian factories, reaching a total of over ten million. Although at the moment the production level is on a lower level due to the recession, but the manufacturing has increased tremendously from the starting period when annual quantities only reached about 20,000.
Top-quality
During the history of over 100 years, generation after generation has worked in the enterprise: mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers. We’ve seen many a rise and fall and have struggled against the odds – and won. Nokian managed through it all and will continue to do so together. Nokian has gone a long way, growing with surprising speed. Now Nokian truly has international business boasting operations in several dozen countries. Nokian has the right to be proud about our accomplishments and top-quality products. The goal is to be the world's best, most profitable company in the tyre field – manufacturing safe, high-grade products in the future as well.
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Over 100 years with Nokian tyres
Over one hundred years of professional skill, inventiveness and will – the roots of the business extend all the way back to 1898, when Suomen Gummitehdas Osakeyhtiö was founded. Nokia rose up on the map in 1904 when technical manager Antti Antero and Dr. Birger Pentz, who had been looking for a site for a factory, became enchanted with the verdant surroundings along the river. The benefits of the factory relocation from Helsinki to Nokia emerged quickly when production increased and the final accounts showed black ink.
The first tyres
With the increase in transport traffic, Suomen Gummitehdas Osakeyhtiö began the manufacture of bicycle tyres in 1925. The resourcefulness and urge for development of our personnel already find their roots in the early days of the establishment of the firm. In 1912, long before the production of the first Finnish tyre (in Norwegian: dekk) for car vehicles, Managing Director Eduard Polon and Antti Antero had given attention to the new winds blowing in the world. They were fascinated by the manufacture of car tyres as a new field of production but, being wise men, they decided they would first acquire the know-how to do it from America, where motor vehicle reserves had already exceeded one million. Finland’s vehicle reserves were much more modest and did not reach above one thousand cars till ten years later.
From the bold ideas of its origins, two decades rolled by before the first Finnish car tyre was born, in 1932. The structure of this oven-fresh tyre was studied inside out, after which painstaking development work was initiated. General tyre manufacture began about nine months later, in April 1933. The world’s first winter tyre – kelirengas – was developed in 1934 particularly for Finland’s conditions: its road network, variable terrain and winter use. The first kelirengas tyre patterned and configured for winter surfaces was intended for trucks.
Hakkapeliitta – a winner over snowy roads
On the basis of the kelirengas winter tyre, the first Hakkapeliitta tyre was developed in 1936, which was later named lumi-Hakkapeliitta (lumi = snow). There was a stepped, relatively scattered transverse pattern in the surface model of this winner over snowy roads, equipped with ‘suction cups’. The surface pattern of our lumi-Hakkapeliitta remained unchanged right up till the 1950’s.
The story of Hakkapeliitta winter tyres has continued unabated for 75 years. The core task of Nokian product development has been maintained from decade to decade without change: the world’s best winter tyres which are well-suited in their characteristics to the demanding and varying driving conditions of the north.
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