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.
Michelin ranks highest in original equipment (OE) tyre satisfaction for the third consecutive year, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2003 Germany Original Equipment Tyre Customer Satisfaction Index Study released today.
Goodyear is to re-state its financial results for the years 1998-2002 and for the first two quarters of this year. This is due to the implementation of a new accounting system in 1999 and errors in inter-company billing systems. The adjustments will not affect Goodyear’s cash position, nor its access to credit facilities. Another effect is that Goodyear is providing estimated 3Q results, rather than a detailed announcement. The estimate is for a loss of between $90-$115 million on sales of $3.9 billion and this figure includes rationalisation charges of $56 million for a factory closure and employment reductions in North America and Europe.
A judge in the USA has conditionally approved a settlement to a class action between Goodyear and homeowners, who allege that heating hosing installed in their houses was faulty. The settlement is worth $236 million and Goodyear has agreed to contribute $76 million over five years, with a possible further $40 million in contingency payments.
Goodyear is to discontinue operations at its conveyor belt factory in Bowmanville, Ontario next April. The move, says Jim Pecorelli, director of global manufacturing for Goodyear’s Engineered Products division, is to “consolidate production to reduce our cost base and maintain an industry leading role.” The phasing out begins immediately and will eventually affect 160 associates. The Bowmanville plant has been part of Goodyear’s operations since 1910.
US consumer magazine Consumer Reports’ has issued its annual UHP and all-season tyre ranking and Goodyear and Falken head the listings. The Falken Ziex ZE 512 came first out of 18 H-speed rated, all-season performance tyres and the Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3 topped the ranks of 13 Z-rated, ultra-high performance summer tires. The Bridgestone Turanza LS-H came in second on the magazine’s all-season list, and the Toyo Proxes T1-S ranked second in the ultra-high performance list.
Neil Burrows (44) has been appointed to the newly-created role of Marketing Director for Goodyear Dunlop UK. He joins the company from Nissan Europe,
where he was responsible for advertising and brand management across Europe. Before this he was Marketing Director of Nissan (GB).
Goodyear has appointed Lawrence D. Mason (43) to the newly-created post of President, Consumer Tires for North America. He will be responsible for sales to dealers, distributors, mass retailers, company-owned outlets and OE vehicle manufacturers. Mason joins Goodyear from Huhtamaki – Americas, where he was president of North American Foodservice and Retail Consumer Products. Before that, he spent 19 years with Proctor & Gamble in a variety of sales and brand management posts.
On show at the Frankfurt International Motor Show in September was what was described as “the second generation of tyre pressure control systems”, developed by Siemens VDO Automotive, in conjunction with Goodyear.
This unit is more than just a pressure sensor, as it can record mileage and tyre wear, moving one step further towards the “intelligent tyre”. The new sensors operate with an indirect power supply and allow electronic identification of the tyres, as they are embedded into the tyre carcass, rather than part of an external sensor fitted to the wheel.
As well as the sensor, the system incorporates an antenna in the tyre and a transmitter/receiver in the cabin. It is this latter unit that supplies the tyre with energy. Should there be a drop in pressure, the sophisticated software recognises this and sends a warning to the driver. Additionally, a chip in the tyre records the mileage and the distance that can be travelled without sufficient pressure.
The electronics are only a few square millimetres in size and they measure the tyre temperature and, with the aid of a micromechanical sensor, the air pressure in the tyre. The system evaluates additional information such as wheel speed, then the software calculates the nominal air pressure, notifying the driver if this falls below pre-determined levels. The driver can also request the current pressure or mileage of each tyre at any time.
Because the sensors are a permanent component of the tyre, data such as tyre type can be sent directly to the vehicle electronics, which is also helpful for the ABS and other chassis control systems. Another advantage is that the new system does not require a separate sensor to be fitted to the wheel and, if the tyre is changed from one wheel to another, there is no transfer of sensor needed.
Finally, the light weight of the sensor means that it has no adverse effect on tyre performance or vehicle handling.
Goodyear has announced plans to close its factory at Huntsville, Alabama, by December 5th, affecting around 1,100 associates. The closure of Huntsville was widely expected, following the recently-ratified labour agreement with unions. Meanwhile, union representatives at the Kelly-Springfield plant in Tyler, Texas, say that tyre production has been cut by 11,000 units a day and up to 200 workers could be laid off by mid-November, hopefully only temporarily, says the union.
There has been an unequivocal direction from Akron and Brussels, European Goodyear directors tell their subordinates. Once again, no matter by what means, the company has to cut expenses. Apparently the 2003 Ebit goals (reportedly 400 million US Dollars), that have been set by the creditor banks, are seriously at risk. Should the Ebit remain below the minimum 400 million threshold the banks would be entitled to withdraw from the concessions made earlier this year. And achieving the set Ebit goals seems to be becoming more difficult due to rising raw material prices and a sluggish American economy. The latest round of economy measures does nothing to dispel the feeling of insecurity among employees. What is more, it makes them angry and frustrated because even the smallest purchase of goods now has to be authorised. The potential of these economy measures would appear to be virtually insignificant. According to insiders, in Europe this potential is less than 2 million Euro. How far away the corporate group still is from its expected turnaround will be revealed with the third quarter figures. That Goodyear will end this year with another severe loss can be taken as read, no matter what economy measures are taken.
In the US, the publication “Consumers Digest Magazine” has named the Goodyear Eagle F1 tyre as the “Best Buy” in the performance tyre category – an accolade that CDM awards to fewer than three per cent of the products it reviews. The tyre was also rated as the “Premium Selection” – a designation that means the product is “the best at any price” according to CDM.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company will invest 30 million US dollars to ease the debt burden of its Indian arm. The funds would be invested through the external commercial borrowing route in Goodyear India to retire high cost debts in favour of low cost borrowings. “India is an important market for Goodyear. We continue to seek ways to introduce tyre technology,” said Antonio Canallini, chairman and managing director, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, India. The joint venture company Goodyear South Asia Tyres Ltd. has recently augmented production capacity by 25 per cent at its Aurangabad facility.
Goodyear claims to have increased replacement tyre shipments by 4 per cent over the previous year’s level. In August industry shipments of tyres to OE declined by 11 percent, Goodyear’s decline was less than the industry average. However shipments of commercial replacement tyres declined by more than the industry level of 10 per cent. Additionally product mix was unfavourable due to market share gains by Dunlop, Kelly and associated brands. Goodyear shipments of commercial OE tyres fell at the industry rate of 10.5 per cent.
Outside the North American market Goodyear performed well in all other areas with increases in aftermarket car and tyres in every region, but some decline in most markets for commercial vehicle tyres. OE supply varied depending upon the application of the company’s selective OE strategy.
Goodyear Dunlop Tyres UK Limited has announced that it has initiated an information and consultation process with Union Representatives regarding possible redundancies as a result of the removal of car and radial light truck tyre production at its Plant in Wolverhampton, West Midlands. The company has advised the UK Department of Trade and Industry and our Unions today that we will be ceasing production of car and radial light truck tyres in Wolverhampton and that up to 420 associates could potentially be affected. The remaining production from Wolverhampton is unaffected by this decision, with tractor tyre manufacturing and other processes used in tyre production, such as mixing, calendering and retreading, continuing on the site.
Today at 10 a.m. (New York time) Goodyear CEO Robert Keegan and the president of the North American Tire Division, Jonathan Rich, will explain to journalists and analysts the details of the newly ratified contract agreement with the United Steelworkers of America (USWA). The management describes the agreement as being “fair and innovative”. It is expected that Keegan and Rich will comment on the company’s North American tyre business in quarter three where insiders don’t detect any improvements; and indeed the general conditions are not beneficial to the turnaround plan. For example the material costs are rising and will contribute to another quarter with high losses. All signs indicate that Goodyear’s figures will be worse than last year’s.
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