Tire makers' raw material supplier implements price increases

Jan. 1, 2020
Lehigh Technologies, which manufactures micronized rubber powders used in tire production, is implementing global price increases averaging 7 percent on its MicroDyne and PolyDyne lines.
Lehigh Technologies, which manufactures micronized rubber powders used in tire production, is implementing global price increases averaging 7 percent on its MicroDyne and PolyDyne lines.

Effective Oct 15, the company cites a wide range of input costs, fuel costs and general increases in business expenses such as healthcare and insurance.

“We have absorbed rising input costs throughout the year. This modest increase will compensate for these costs while allowing us to continue offering products at a lower cost than the non-renewable virgin materials we are replacing at same or better performance,” says CEO Alan Barton.

Lehigh’s proprietary manufacturing process takes end- of-life tire and other post-industrial rubber material and “upcycles” it into micron-scale, high quality, sustainable powders that are compatible with tire makers’ existing formulations, making it easy to integrate into new or existing products, according to Barton.

“This material not only help companies achieve sustainability goals, but also can improve performance attributes such as water resistance, energy savings and flexibility while delivering significant costs savings over virgin raw materials,” he says, adding that 100 million tires containing the company’s products have already been produced.

For more information, visit www.lehightechnologies.com.