Bridgestone Corporation is expanding the function of its Global Chief Financial Officer (CFO) position and has appointed Masuo Yoshimatsu its new Global CFO, effective 1 September. Yoshimatsu, who joined Bridgestone in June 2021 and is currently assistant to Bridgestone’s Global CEO, will also become a vice president and senior officer of the company.
Bridgestone Americas (Bridgestone) has reached an agreement with tech-focused private equity firm Sumeru Equity Partners, connected vehicle specialist Danlaw and other shareholders to purchase Azuga Holdings, Inc. (Azuga) and the Azuga fleet management platform for US$391 million. Bridgestone says the acquisition will accelerate its efforts to develop and deploy sustainable mobility solutions as a “central pillar of the company’s advanced mobility strategy.”
The Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 belatedly begin this week, and as is well known, much will be different this time round. Worldwide partner Bridgestone Corporation has outlined the ways its contributions will help support safety and efficiency for athletes and operations.
Bridgestone Corporation has taken a significant step towards powering its tyre manufacturing facilities in Japan with electricity from renewable sources. Third-party sourced electricity used within the Hikone, Tosu, Shimonoseki, and Kitakyushu plants now comes from hydro, geothermal, solar and wind energy.
In order to meet increasing local demand for high-tech and premium tyres and in response to national and regional market share gains, Bridgestone is investing in its manufacturing facility in Camaçari, Brazil. The more than R$700 million (£101.7 million) investment will go towards modernising the plant and increasing production capacity by more than 20 per cent. The project will begin by the fourth quarter of 2021.
Bridgestone Corporation is working to incorporate additional sustainability into its business model. Alongside plans to establish and build up a recycling business, retreading remains a key part of these efforts and features in the company’s plans to invest 700 billion yen (£4.6 billion) in strategic resources by 2023. To expand retreading activities, Bridgestone is looking at other segments besides commercial truck and OTR tyre retreading.
The mobox all-inclusive monthly tyre subscription service debuted in the UK in 2020, several years after Bridgestone first piloted the model in France. Bridgestone now intends to increase the global number of mobox subscription contracts twentyfold (compared to 2019) by 2023. While additional subscriptions in Europe will aid this expansion, the company will primarily achieve growth by rolling out the European mobox model in the USA and Japan.
Bridgestone Corporation has published its 2020-2021 Sustainability Report, a document it describes as “an important milestone” on its “ongoing journey to provide social and customer value as a sustainable solutions company.” The report outlines the steps Bridgestone has taken over the past year and contains detailed information about its Mid-Long Term Business Strategy, Sustainability Business Framework, Mid Term Business Plan (2021-2023), and CSR activities.
Bridgestone Corporation has announced that it will sell Bridgestone (Huizhou) Synthetic Rubber Co., Ltd., its China-based subsidiary for manufacturing synthetic car tyre rubber, to Taiwan’s LCY Chemical Corp. The company has not disclosed financial aspects of the transaction.
Yamaha Motor has selected the Bridgestone Battlax Hypersport S22 as original equipment tyre for the recently-launched Yamaha YZF-R7 Supersport. Bridgestone Corporation views this fitment arrangement as “part of a long-term collaboration,” under which it has delivered tyres for a “wide range” of Yamaha motorcycles.
As of 1 July 2021, Paolo Ferrari will become Bridgestone Corporation’s Global Chief Business Solutions Officer. At the same time, he officially relinquishes the position of Chief Operating Officer within Bridgestone Americas, Inc., the company’s US-based subsidiary. Bridgestone Corporation recently announced that Scott Damon would take over the latter role on 1 June.
Bridgestone Corporation has gained a ‘Prime’ designation in the ISS ESG Corporate Rating, with an effective date of March 2021. This is the first occasion that Bridgestone has received a ‘Prime’ rating from ISS ESG.
Bridgestone Corporation is investing 10.2 billion yen (£68.0 million) in “cutting-edge equipment” for certain facilities at its Shimonoseki plant in Japan, the company’s flagship production base for tyres used in mining and construction applications. Installation of this equipment is scheduled to begin next year and be completed by the end of 2025.
Bridgestone Corporation has become a member of The Valuable 500, a global movement committed to making disability inclusion a greater part of the business leadership agenda. Through this partnership, Bridgestone says it and other top companies around the world are “committing to help build and promote a society that realises the value of the 1.3 billion people living with disabilities.”
CDP, a global non-profit that runs the world’s leading environmental disclosure platform, has named Bridgestone Corporation to its Supplier Engagement Leaderboard for a second year in a row. It is also the fourth time in total that it has included Bridgestone on the Leaderboard with the highest rating of ‘A’ in Supplier Engagement Rating.
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