Continental Tire secures contract with Ford Motor. (Contracts, Licenses).

Continental Tire North America, Auburn Hills, MI, a unit of Continental AG, has begun supplying tires to Ford Motor for the company's line of Ford Ranger pick-up trucks. Continental's P225/ 70R15 Conti-Trac tires are being installed on nearly 50% of all 2002 models now being assembled. The same tire is being specified for the 2003 model as well. The tires are being manufactured at Continental Tire's facility in Mt. Vernon, IL.

DuPont Packaging and Industrial Polymers, Wilmington, DE, and H.M. Royal, Trenton, NJ, announced that H.M. Royal has become a sales agent of DuPont's Vamac ethylene acrylic elastomers in the United States. H.M. Royal distributes more than 200 products to rubber compounders, including polymers, resins, fillers and reinforcements, plasticizers, processing aids, flame retardants, smoke suppressants and performance additives.

PolyOne, Cleveland, OH, announced a realignment of the distribution channel for its Performance Additives business unit by appointing Harwick Standard Distribution, Akron, OH, as a national (U.S.) distributor for all of its products. Harwick Standard will add to its product portfolio PolyOne's full line of elastomer additives and colorants, including Stan-Tone colors, Mastermix MB additive systems, VVO vulcanized oils and Accu-Way pre-weighed chemicals. PolyOne Performance Additives is a manufacturer and supplier of elastomer additives and colorants to mixers and processors in the North American rubber industry.

Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire, LLC, Nashville, TN, announced that Bridgestone is the first and presently the only supplier of tires for Ferrari's newest sports car. Bridgestone developed the Potenza RE050 Scuderia tires exclusively for the Enzo Ferrari. Bridgestone/ Firestone also announced that the Bridgestone brand has been named as the exclusive original equipment tire for the redesigned 2003 Nissan 350Z. The tiremaker will provide Nissan with its Bridgestone Potenza RE040 ultra-high performance tires in both 17" and 18" fitments.

Buss-SMS GmbH of Butzback, Germany, and Bayer AG of Leverkusen, Germany, have signed an exclusive agreement for Buss-SMS to develop, market and manufacture high viscosity reactors based on Bayer's patented technologies. This is said to strengthen Buss-SMS's large volume processor program and broaden its capabilities to handle difficult-to-process continuous applications such as devolatilization of solution elastomers, radical polymerization of commodity monomers and melt viscosity advancement by polycondensation.

Global specialty chemicals manufacturer Sartomer, Exton, PA, has signed three new distributors for its Norsolene line of hydrocarbon resins. The three companies, J.H. Calo, Dowd and Guild and Brenntag Mid-South/Brenntag South-East, will distribute Sartomer's Norsolene products respectively to customers in the northeastern, western and southeastern United States.

Lord, Cary, NC, has partnered with Boeing to develop an improved front engine isolator for the Boeing 757 and PW2000 engine.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber, Akron, OH, announced that Exel, the supply chain management company, will become the lead logistics provider for Goodyear's North American tire operations. Exel currently handles distribution center operations for Goodyear in York, PA; Orlando, FL; Columbus, OH; Memphis, TN; and Victorville, CA.

Fitz Chem, Elmhurst, IL, a midwest distributor/sales agent of raw materials to the paint, coatings, plastics, rubber, ink and adhesives industries, has been appointed as distributor for Cognis PCI's epoxy curing agents in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan.