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.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company will webcast its latest presentation at the 2012 Citi Global Industrial Conference in Boston on 19 September. Darren R Wells, executive vice president and chief financial officer, will provide a business overview and discuss the company’s strategies for approximately 40 minutes.
Some 55 hourly employees at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s plant in Danville, Va., are being laid off, according to local reports. In an article on DoDanRiver.com, Goodyear currently has about 2,300 employees. The layoff is happening across all departments, rather than affecting a single product line.
Goodyear has launched an information campaign about winter road safety aimed at commercial vehicle owners and fleets. The manufacturer says it has identified a common misconception, with many commercial vehicle operators assuming that winter tyres are only suitable for snow and ice. Of course, readers of Tyrepress.com will be well aware that winter tyres are developed not only for extreme weather conditions; they also perform better than other tyres at temperatures below 7°C, because of optimised designs and softer, high-silica compounds that don’t harden like regular driving compounds.
The US Federal Aviation Administration has issued an airworthiness directive concerning certain Goodyear aviation tyres manufactured in Brazil. The directive takes effect 13 September 2012 and relates to Brazilian-produced size H29x9.0-15 new tyres as fitted to vehicles including (but not limited to) Bombardier Model CL-600-2B19 aircraft. Retreaded tyres are not covered by the directive.
ATS Euromaster will supply a full range of car, van, 4×4, truck and agricultural tyres, from premium to budget fitments, to every public sector organisation across the UK for the next four years, following the completion of a comprehensive tender process. The multi-brand supply deal will include the nation’s fire engines, ambulances, prison vehicles and local authorities. To enable this, ATS-E was awarded supplier status to public sector organisations across the UK on the Government Procurement Service framework agreement RM955.
Goodyear Dunlop has reportedly sold the commercial tyre component of its Beaurepaires fast fit network in New Zealand. Fairfax News NZ shares that the commercial tyre service centres in the country’s North Island have been acquired by Carters Tyres, and by Tyre General and General Tyres in the South Island. The Beaurepaires retail operation will remain in Goodyear Dunlop’s hands.
Agricultural customers in the US had the chance to get up close to Titan Tire and Alliance Tire Group’s latest offerings at the Farm Progress 2012 Show in Iowa this week, reports Tire Review. New on the scene from ATG are the Galaxy Muddy Buddy, the Alliance 354 Radial R1-W in increased flexion size IF380/90R46, and the Alliance 354 in increased flexion size IF480/80R50; Titan displayed the Goodyear IF Ultra Sprayer and the Goodyear IF DT830.
In addition to its research into guayule and Russian dandelion-sourced rubber, Bridgestone has looked into the potential applications of soybean oil in tyre manufacture. The company’s American operation has now unveiled a concept tyre it says contains more than ten per cent soybean oil. Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations displayed the Firestone branded 800/70R38 Radial Deep Tread 23 agricultural tyre at the Farm Progress 2012 Show in Boone, Iowa, and says soybean oil may be present in its production agricultural tyres as early as next year.
Goodyear Dunlop has won four new lots in the Government Procurement Service RM955 supply and fit of tyres framework agreement. The first of these lots is for the sole supply and fitment of Goodyear and Dunlop tyres to UK Police Forces, while the others deal with wider public sector interests. The contracts will cover cars, trucks and motorcycles.
The US edition of CIO magazine, a publication aimed at senior IT executives, has named Goodyear Tire & Rubber one of its 2012 CIO 100 winners. Upon receiving the accolade, Goodyear vice-president and chief information officer Jim McKinnon said “winning the CIO 100 award is tremendous recognition for the success of our multi-year project, which has aligned all of the company’s operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa on a common business platform.”
Goodyear Tire & Rubber’s directors have declared a quarterly dividend of 73.44 cents per share of mandatory convertible preferred stock. The dividend is payable 1 October 2012 to shareholders of record on 14 September 2012. The payout represents an annual rate of $2.9375 per share.
On 23 August Polish chemical manufacturer Synthos SA informed the Warsaw Stock Exchange it has signed a supply deal with Goodyear Tire & Rubber. The agreement is valid until 31 December 2012 and covers the supply of solution styrene butadiene rubber and emulsion styrene butadiene rubber. The contract is valued at approximately PLN 3.74 billion (£709 million); the price to be paid is based upon a formula that takes into account the market price of raw materials.
In its 2011 Annual Report, Goodyear India Limited shares that it intends to phase out production of cross-ply medium commercial truck tyres and transfer the freed-up capacity to the manufacture of agricultural tyres. “In the farm segment, growing levels of farm mechanisation and subsequent growth in all agriculture related industries should provide your company with attractive growth prospects,” stated the Annual Report, adding that the majority of agricultural products currently sold by Goodyear Indian are cross-ply construction.
Goodyear Dunlop brand Sava wants to raise its profile with 18 to 34 year old drivers. To help achieve this aim, US comedians Kenny Santucci und Ben Rameaka have been engaged as Sava brand ambassadors. It is hoped the pair will add weight to the newly-launched brand claim that “Sava drivers have more fun.”
A formal opening ceremony for Goodyear Tire & Rubber’s Pulandian plant in China was held on 15 August. Around 700 guests attended the celebration, including government officials and president of Goodyear’s Asia Pacific business, Dan Smytka. During a speech, company chairman and CEO Richard Kramer declared the factory’s commissioning to be of “extraordinary significance” to Goodyear.
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