headquarters Archives - Page 16 of 26 - Tyrepress

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City May Buy Old Firestone HQ

The city of Akron may buy Bridgestone Americas’ current R&D center for $5 million is the company cannot sell the properties. The tyre company plans to try to sell the three buildings in question on the open market. Failing that, it may consider selling them to Akron, according to news reports.

Bridgestone Americas, with aid from state and local governments, is building a new technical center in Akron. The new $100-million project would replace the nearly 100-year-old main building on South Main St., which once served as the world headquarters and primary tire plant for Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. (Tire Review/Akron)

26th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin North America Celebrates Headquarters Anniversary

Michelin North America yesterday celebrated the 20th anniversary of its North American headquarters in Greenville, South Carolina. “Michelin is proud to celebrate two successful decades of our North American headquarters in Greenville,” said Dick Wilkerson, MNA chairman and president. “Many of the employees who moved into this building 20 years ago are here today to celebrate this significant event.”

Michelin relocated its North American operations in 1985 from Lake Success, New York to Greenville. Two years later, MNA broke ground for its current 265,700-square-foot corporate headquarters building, with construction completed in November 1988. In 1995, Michelin built an additional 54,000-square-foot building adjacent to its headquarters. Today, MNA employs 1,750 employees at its headquarters complex. (Tire Review/Akron)

20th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

State Funds to Help Goodyear Headquarters Project

Goodyear’s global headquarters project will receive US$2 million in funding from the state of Ohio, the state’s government revealed on November 13. The grant is part of a $46 million ”Job Ready Sites” programme funding available through the Ohio Department of Development. The funding is intended to help with utilities and transportation infrastructure at commercial sites throughout the state.

According to the Ohio state government, the grant will go towards the construction of a new headquarters building and research and development centre for Goodyear Tire & Rubber in Akron. The headquarters is part of a $900 million redevelopment plan.

18th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Awarded $2 Million for HQ, Research Centre

Goodyear’s headquarters project has been earmarked for $2 million state funding, as part of a programme introduced by the Ohio Department of Development. The grant is awarded on the understanding that the site will be “Job Ready.” The aim of the project is to provide help in setting up infrastructural aspects of employers’ new sites, allowing workers to begin sooner.

Goodyear’s $2 million, Akron-based news sources report, will help to finance the new headquarters and research and development centre in Akron. The company is part of a $900 million redevelopment of the existing Goodyear facilities and East Akron in general.

14th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

The Slowest Race in Town Visits Michelin

Michelin invited participants in this year’s MPG Marathon to “Fill up With Air” at a specially prepared pit-stop at the company’s Campbell Road UK headquarters. This year 39 cars and 9 vans are taking part in what must be the only race where going slow helps you win. The two-day event sees the whole spectrum of car and light commercial vehicles follow a 411 mile course with one simple object – use as little fuel as possible.

Drivers come from a range of backgrounds including: fleet companies, the motor industry and the media. According to company representatives, roughly a third of cars were sporting Michelin tyres a fact that the company hopes will help communicate the message that good tyres and the right tyre pressures have a great impact on fuel economy.

To this end Team Michelin has entered two cars of its own into the competition. Tyres & Accessories witnessed the arrival, second from last, of the company’s Peugeot 308 entrant. Fitted with 195/65 R15 Michelin Energy Saver tyres, the team Michelin car was said to be doing well. The results won’t be released until tomorrow, however, Michelin’s Pegeot 308 was achieving fuel consumption of roughly 78 miles-per-gallon when it reached Stoke (12 mpg better than what the car’s handbook quotes for a combined cycle).

At the other end of the spectrum, the Corvette Z06 Coupe T&A saw roll into the Campbell Road car park was hypermiling its way to a normal level of fuel consumption. With a handbook mpg of 19.2 miles per gallon, the drivers of this 7-litres 505 BHP V8 managed to squeeze 26.9 mpg at the Stoke pit-stop.

Michelin also unveiled its new “Fill Up With Air” van, which has been purchased in preparation for the company’s 2009 pressure-check campaign.

8th October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Schaeffler to Apply for Antitrust Clearance

Following renewed talks with the EU Commission, the Schaeffler Group expects to submit the final draft of its antitrust clearance application (relating to its Continental AG purchase) during the course of the next week. The statement from Schaeffler’s Herzogenaurach headquarters could be seen as the company’s answer to reports that investors are concerned about the speed of Schaeffler’s application to the EU. 48 hours earlier the Financial Times reported hedge funds associated with Schaeffler’s takeover of Continental are “becoming increasingly nervous about the potential 12 billion (£9.4 billion) deal closing.”

Schaeffler’s statement says the group believes it is in the best interests of both company to achieve “a rapid conclusion of the process by preparing the notification in the best possible manner.” Explaining the delay of the group’s submission to the EU, the statement added: “…the EU Commission asked Schaeffler to specify the worldwide potential relations between products in neighbouring markets and corroborate this statement with financial figures. Since corresponding information is not centrally available at Continental AG, the compilation of such information is a time-consuming procedure.

8th October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear to Close Headquarters Medical Clinic

Bad news is familiar territory for tyre industry workers in the US these days, and, keeping true to this pattern, at the start of October Goodyear employees received a cheer letter outlining the closure of the company’s medical centre at its corporate headquarters in Akron, Ohio. The centre will close its doors for the last time late in the year.

The Goodyear Family Medical Center had been providing primary-care services to employees and retirees at the site since 1989, with workers and retirees paying lower co-payments by using the practice.

2nd October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Hercules Tire Appoints Gawthrop to Global Supply Chain Role

Dave Gawthrop has been appointed to the position of senior vice president of Global Supply Chain at Hercules Tire & Rubber. In this role Gawthrop will be responsible for the company’s worldwide supply chain operations, including sourcing all Hercules brands, associate brands and other brands from domestic and international suppliers, as well as oversight of all company purchasing and logistics on a functional basis.

1st October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Point-S and Team Collaborate in Fleet Joint Venture

Over the weekend two of Germany’s largest independent dealer cooperatives, point S and Team, negotiated the terms of a joint venture that will see the two companies cooperate in the local fleet business. A letter of intent relating to what one might call the “team S” joint venture was signed this morning (Monday 29 September 2008) and will take effect 1 January 2009. The 50:50 joint venture will cover the area of fleet, large-scale sales and key account business. The negotiations were led by Juergen Pischinger and Peter Lüdorf and sought to synergise the benefits of Team’s strength in the commercial vehicle tyre business and point-S’s in passenger car tyres.

Between them the two cooperatives run over 1,100 service stations across Germany and thus have broad market coverage. Details of the name and headquarters of the new joint venture and personnel consequences are not yet clear, however layoffs are not planned. Instead the company hopes to operate a European-wide service in the future.

29th September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Wheel Producer BBS to Relocate Facility

Some time in the next few years – by 2011 at the latest, aluminium wheel producer BBS International will close its factory and headquarters in Schiltach, Germany (the “S” in the name BBS). In its place, corporate owner, Belgium’s Punch International will invest 25 million euros in the second BBS plant, in Herbolzheim, southwest Germany.

1st September 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Schaeffler, Unions Sign Joint Statement Regarding Conti Employees

The Schaeffler Group and the German trade unions IG Metall and IG BCE signed on August 22 a joint statement regarding guarantees for protecting the interests of employees. Both sides have now therefore complied what the Schaeffler Group refers to as ‘one of the most significant points of the investment agreement between Continental AG and Schaeffler KG’.

“We have always stressed that we wanted to achieve good results in the interests of Continental AG’s employees in order to dispel the anxieties and fears of the workforce”, explained Kurt Mirlach, executive vice president of Human Resources at the Schaeffler Group. These agreements are valid for an unlimited period and cannot be terminated before 2014.

26th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Lanxess to Move Group Headquarters

Specialty chemicals company Lanxess AG plans to move its headquarters from Leverkusen to Cologne, Germany, with the relocation process to be completed by 2011. Lanxess reports it will now begin discussions with the city of Cologne to identify possible sites.

“Lanxess is today a well-positioned and globally successful enterprise,” explained Axel C. Heitmann, chairman of the Lanxess Board of Management. “If we are to continue efficiently steering and supporting our growth course in the future, we need a Group headquarters building that provides us with optimal conditions.

18th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

UK Batteries Launches Online Ordering System

UK Batteries has launched an online ordering service. As well as browsing the online product catalogue and ordering stock for delivery, the new system means customers can also access a real time invoicing facility and a product fitment guide.

After receiving a bespoke username and password from staff at the company’s Manchester headquarters, customers can log onto the www.ukbatteries.co.uk or www.platinumbatteries.com websites and access their own personal ordering portal.

15th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Appoints New Internal Audit VP

Goodyear has announced the appointment of Richard Pegher to the position of vice president of internal audit. Pegher’s appointment, effective August 1, sees him reporting functionally to the audit committee of the company’s Board of Directors and administratively to executive vice president and CFO Mark Schmitz. In this role, based at the company’s Akron, Ohio headquarters, Pegher will implement audit programs and evaluate risk exposures relating to the company’s governance, operations, financial reporting and information systems.

24th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Schaeffler Offers Continental Olive Branch

As temperatures in the largest takeover in Europe this year rise, Schaeffer Group has welcomed comments from Continental AG’s works committee. Writing to Schaeffler Group owner, Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler, the committee said staff did not like the methods used by Schaeffler to gain a strategic stake in their company: “We have the impression that an investor has slipped in the back door to make a hostile takeover and dismantle the Continental group.”

Schaeffler offered an olive branch inviting the representatives to enter talks in return following earlier withering remarks about the ball-bearing maker’s trustworthiness from Conti supervisory board member, Thorsten Reese. “We simply have no trust [in them],” Reese, who speaks for the company’s middle managers told the DPA agency, adding: “They can promise us heaven and earth.”

“We stand by our commitments,” Schaeffler responded in a statement. “Continental should remain as a whole, including…the tyre business, as an independent, listed company with headquarters in Hanover,” said Dr. Juergen M. Geißinger, CEO of the Schaeffler Group. Schaeffler’s statement comes 12 hours before supervisory board members will meet in Hannover.

22nd July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors