Goodyear’s Asia Pacific HQ in Shanghai

(Akron/Tire Review) Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s push into the Chinese market will include a significant increase in its purchasing there, according to reports in China Daily. Chairman and CEO Robert Keegan was in China last week to announce Goodyear’s planned move of its Asia-Pacific operational headquarters from Akron to Shanghai.

In the announcement, Keegan said Goodyear expected a “ten-fold increase” in its annual purchasing in China by 2010, which could amount to $800 million in business there based on his comments.

Keegan said Goodyear’s move to Shanghai is to “drive growth and procurement, get close to the marketplace and customers, and attract and develop strong local talent in China, and provide renewed impetus to Asian growth,” he told the newspaper. Keegan said Asia, particularly China, are strategically critical to the company’s growth.

“Goodyear already procures 1% of its total from China,” Keegan said. “We want to increase this figure by 10 times … by 2010.” Goodyear’s annual procurement of raw materials and other goods reached $8 billion last year, he noted.

“We believe that China is capable of producing high quality products in large quantities to meet our global requirements,” he said. Besides a tire plant in Dalian, China, Goodyear has a joint venture air conditioning hose plant in Quingdao, and is reportedly seeking a joint venture partner for a industrial conveyor belt plant in China.