Founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is an American multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Akron, Ohio. It is one of the oldest, biggest and best-known tyremakers in the world. Goodyear makes tyres for automobiles, commercial trucks, light trucks, motorcycles, SUVs, racing cars, aeroplanes, farm equipment and heavy earth-mover machinery. Find all the news and analysis you need relating to Goodyear here.
Albert Bartlett has joined GITI Tire (UK) Ltd. as regional sales manager – truck and bus. Formally with Goodyear Dunlop, Albert has over 36 years experience within the tyre industry selling motorcycle, passenger car, agricultural, earthmover and truck.
Tire Review reports that nine employees at Goodyear Tire & Rubber’s Fayetteville, North Carolina tyre factory were arrested in a drug raid at the plant on March 30. The raid revealed illegal drugs in the employees’ vehicles and in the plant, police said, including marijuana, cocaine, prescription drugs and Ecstacy. Police said the arrests – and arrest warrants for five more men – came after a lengthy undercover operation at the plant with narcotics agents posing as Goodyear employees.
Cemex UK has switched to Goodyear Dunlop and its TruckForce network. The agreement means Goodyear Dunlop will now supply and service Cemex tyre requirements.
The diverse nature of the Cemex product range means that the company has a wide range of specific freight requirements with bespoke vehicle designs in their truck fleet. For example, the trucks designed to carry Cemex’s aggregate material on and off-road will use Dunlop SP382 tyres on the steer axle. This tyre has a special top belt to minimize the risk of stone penetration – a typical hazard in this industry. However, the Cement distribution fleet will use Goodyear Regional RHS11 tyres which are optimized for maximum mileage and efficiency for predominantly on-road use.
Hankook Tire has introduced its next generation of line-haul drive tyre for the North American market at the 2010 Mid-America Trucking Show. The DL07 is initially available in size 285/75R24.5 (14PR), and the range will be expanded by the third quarter of 2010 to include sizes 11R22.5, 11R24.5 and 295/75R22.5. Hankook says the DL07 is intended to compete against the Michelin XDA5 (M/C), Goodyear G372A (G/Y) and Bridgestone M726EL (B/S) – all, the manufacturer notes, come with a higher price tag attached.
Goodyear chairman and CEO Bob Keegan was presented with the University of Arizona Executive of the Year Award last week, reports Tire Review. Established in 1983 by the board of advisors of the university’s Eller College of Management, the Executive of the Year Award honors “individuals who exemplify executive qualities in private enterprise and public service,” the university said. Keegan was on hand 26 March to accept the award.
A Knoxville federal magistrate judge has ruled that pictures at the centre of industrial espionage case linking Wyko and Goodyear must be viewed “in camera” to protect the interests of those involved. The Knoxville News Sentinel reported that US Magistrate Judge Clifford Shirley has approved federal prosecutors' request to keep the seven mobile phone pictures allegedly taken at Goodyear’s Topeka, Kansas OTR plant in May 2007 by Wyko Tire Technology employees Clark Alan Roberts and Sean Edward Howley secret.
Roberts and Howley are accused of visiting The Goodyear plant under false pretences, covertly using their mobile phones to take photographs of proprietary equipment and sending these to Wyko’s Dudley, UK. These photos were then allegedly used to complete a “similar piece of machinery” for China’s Haohau South China Guilin Rubber Company Limited. The photos reportedly depict Goodyear’s proprietary “Swab Down System” which is used in the production of giant earthmover tyres to wrap rubber around a cable.
North American agricultural machinery operators can now take advantage of a new Goodyear Farm Tires range specifically designed for high clearance, self-propelled sprayers. Known as the ‘Ultra Sprayer’, the tyre features tread bars engineered to carry heavy sprayer loads and a wider lug to promote longer wear characteristics as compared to conventional tractor tyres. These design features, says Goodyear Farm Tires parent company Titan Tire, also provide more stability and a better ride when travelling from field-to-field at road speeds up to 30 mph. A significant increase in lug surface area helps improve lug wear, Titan adds, while increases in lug bracing and surface area combine to deliver improved durability, even under heavier loads. This design is also said to offer superior traction in the field.
Michelin Americas Truck Tyre – also known by the acronym ‘MATT’ – is celebrating the tenth year of the X One wide single truck tyre in its market area, and the company is gearing up for a second decade through the introduction of its most fuel-efficient tyre to date, the X One XDA Energy tyre. Michelin makes this claim following independent testing that showed the tyre to facilitate more than seven per cent better fuel efficiency that its competitors’ most fuel-efficient tyres.
Tire Review reports the appointment of two new chiefs at Goodyear and Toyo in the US. Toyo Tire North America Manufacturing has promoted Allan Huggins to CFO and senior director of finance and accounting. Huggins joined Toyo in 2005 most recently served as director of finance and purchasing. Meanwhile, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co has promoted Jim McKinnon to vice president and chief information officer.
Goodyear has won the Environmental Award at the prestigious 2010 Fleet News Awards in London. The award’s judges praised the fuel saving qualities of Goodyear’s EfficientGrip tyre and recognised the successful green programmes introduced by the firm at the event held on Wednesday 17 March.
Lisa Faulkner, fleet manager for Goodyear, said: “We are delighted to win this award in recognition of the benefits delivered by EfficientGrip. This is something that fleet managers have been quick to realise by choosing a tyre that offers exceptional fuel efficiency without the need to compromise on safety. The award also underlines our company-wide commitment to the environment.”
Goodyear Dunlop has spent the last week showcasing four concept and prototype tyres featuring innovations for future use on earth and in outer space in addition to its five latest tyres for European motorists. The company said that over the course of the Geneva Motor Show (which closes on Sunday) it has welcomed “thousands of visitors” to its stand, unveiling new technology from the both Goodyear and Dunlop brands. European president, Arthur de Bok suggested that the innovations on show “demonstrated our capability to deliver relevant technology to our customers.”
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co’s chairman and outgoing chief executive of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. received a pay package worth as much as US$17.196 million in 2009. While Keegan’s “non-equity incentive plan compensation” virtually doubled from $4.6 million to $9.514 million during the period, total pay was only 5.39 per cent up on the $16.317 million he received last year. In 2008 Keegan’s package was worth $23.6 million, according to company’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.
During the 2008 NASCAR season drivers complained about excessive wear in the tyres supplied by Goodyear. The company claimed last June to have resolved the issue, yet Associated Press reports that a number of drivers have complained about the tyres used during a race on March 7. It is alleged that the compound used in the tyres was suitable for speed but low on durability when used on the high-banked Atlanta Motor Speedway track.
Goodyear has announced the finalists for its 27th annual Goodyear North America Highway Hero Award. They comprise a Pennsylvania truck driver used his rig as a “roadblock” to stop an out-of-control car; an Arkansas truck driver extinguished a fire and rescued a trapped fellow trucker whose legs were burning after a crash; a Massachusetts truck driver noticed a burning vehicle more than a quarter-mile off the highway on which he was driving, and made an effort to save the unconscious driver; and an Oregon driver who had his own rig struck in a multi-vehicle accident was able to pull one trapped driver from a burning car and contribute to the rescue of two others from another vehicle.
During a presentation at the Geneva Motor Show, Goodyear Dunlop’s Michel Rzonzef referred to recent societal changes and evolving consumer needs as an “opportunity for companies like Goodyear Dunlop to do what we have been doing over the last one hundred years, to be at the forefront of the industry, to drive innovation and drive change.” This innovation and change, the EMEA business unit’s president for Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa said, will come through the development and introduction of new products that focus on two key areas.
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