At a ceremony yesterday, Bridgestone Americas, Inc. celebrated the official opening of its new headquarters building, Bridgestone Tower. Located in Nashville, Tennessee, the 514,000-square foot (47,750 square metre), 30-storey tower is now home to more than 1,700 Bridgestone employees.
Shannon Quinn has joined Bridgestone Americas as president of original equipment tyre sales for the US and Canada at Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (BATO). She succeeds Mike Martini, who recently retired after a 40-year career with Bridgestone Americas.
As of 1 January 2018, Thomas Higgins will take over as chairman of Bridgestone Europe NV/SA, succeeding Eduardo Minardi in this position. Higgins will also become a senior officer of Bridgestone Corporation and will retain his role as president of Bridgestone Americas’ US & Canada Consumer Tire Sales Division.
Bridget Neal has been named president, off-the-road (OTR), Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (BATO), succeeding Taylor Cole, who recently took on the position of president of Firestone Building Products, LLC. Her appointment within this Bridgestone Americas business took effect yesterday.
Bridgestone Americas, Inc. has made a strategic investment in ClearMotion, Inc., a venture-backed technology company developing road sensing software and hardware that is said to dramatically improves ride performance in cars. As part of the investment, Bridgestone will have opportunities to integrate and leverage ClearMotion’s technology to rapidly engineer new solutions for the automotive industry. The USA-based Bridgestone subsidiary has not disclosed the amount it has invested in ClearMotion.
Bridgestone Americas has celebrated the ‘topping out’ of its new headquarters in downtown Nashville, Tennessee to mark the completion of the 30-storey structure. Joined by Nashville Mayor Megan Barry, Bridgestone Americas leaders also announced a new name for the headquarters; the new name, chosen by the company’s employees, is Bridgestone Tower.
US-based motor racing sanctioning body Indycar has agreed to a multi-year extension of its contract with Bridgestone Americas Tire Operation for the Verizon IndyCar Series, thus confirming the continuation of Firestone as the official tyre to the series. Upon announcing the extension of its arrangement, Bridgestone notes that the brand has been involved in open-wheel racing since Firestone tyres were fitted to the winning car in the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911.
Bridgestone Americas has exercised a two-year lease extension option on its Advanced Technology Workshop (ATW) manufacturing facility located in Akron, Ohio.
A number of changes have been announced within the Race Tire Development (RTD) arm of the North America-based Firestone Racing programme. Bridgestone Americas describes these as a reorganisation and opines that they will add “manufacturing expertise while reaffirming the brand’s commitment to innovation and the Verizon IndyCar Series.”
At the end of this year, Gary Garfield will retire as chief executive officer, president and executive chairman of Bridgestone Americas. He leaves the company on 31 December 2016 after a career at Bridgestone that spans a quarter century. He will also retire from his position as executive vice-president and executive officer of parent company Bridgestone Corporation, effective 31 August.
The traditional centre of country music in the USA will soon be home to a major tyre maker upon Bridgestone Americas’ move in 2017 from a leased site on the city’s outskirts to a new, 30-storey building currently being erected downtown, and yesterday Bridgestone Americas shared that its presence in and near Nashville will be further boosted next year by the opening of a second location. The new Bridgestone Americas Service Operations Center (BASOC) will be located in the Antioch area of Davidson County and open in the first quarter of 2017; the facility is being set up to support Bridgestone’s IT, Customer Service and Shared Business Service departments and will host some 450 employees and contractors.
In the USA, Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations has petitioned the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration (NHTSA) for an inconsequential noncompliance decision relating to Bridgestone VSB heavy-duty radial truck tyres.
Bridgestone Americas has announced that Giacomo Bertaina will join the company as its vice-president, Global Digital Enablement Center. The tyre maker says this newly-created role is part of its ongoing efforts to enhance its global digital marketing strategy and encourage greater collaboration across regions and subsidiary business units. Bertaina will be based at the company’s Americas headquarters office in Nashville and provide leadership for all global digital marketing activities.
Jon Kimpel has been appointed the new executive director of marketing for GCR Tires & Service, Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations’ (BATO) commercial vehicle tyre retail and service network in the US and eastern Canada. He fills the vacancy left by Chris Ripani, who was named president of BATO subsidiary Speedco late last year.
Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC (BATO) is recalling certain FS561 replacement tyres, size 255/70 R22.5, manufactured 25 January 2015 and January 27, 2016 (DOT weeks 0515-0416) for use on trailers.
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