Bridgestone

Bridgestone Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells tires and rubber products. It operates through two segments, Tires and Diversified Products. The company offers tires and tire tubes for passenger cars, trucks, buses, construction and mining vehicles, industrial machinery, agricultural machinery, aircraft, motorcycles, scooters, etc.; automotive parts; retreading materials and services; automotive maintenance and repair services; tire raw materials; and other tire-related products. It also provides vehicle parts, polyurethane foam and related products, electronic precision parts, industrial materials-related products, civil engineering and construction materials and equipment, and others; commercial roofing materials and other materials; golf balls, golf clubs, and other sporting goods; bicycles, bicycle-related goods, and others, as well as finance and other services. In addition, the company offers maintenance, IT/sensing technology, and other solutions for the mining, fleet, and agricultural sectors. It has operations in Japan, the United States, China, the Asia Pacific, Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Africa, Oceania, and internationally. The company was founded in 1931 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

The history of Bridgestone America dates back to the two separate companies that merged to form Bridgestone Tire company. The first one is Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, that was founded in August 1900 by Harvey Firestone and was headquartered in Akron, Ohio. The second one is the Bridgestone Tire Company, Ltd., founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi in Japan. The first Bridgestone tire was produced on 9 April 1930, by the Japanese "Tabi" Socks Tire Division . One year later on 1 March 1931, the founder, Shojiro Ishibashi, made the "Tabi" Socks Tire Division independent and established the Bridgestone Tire Co., Ltd. in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture. "Bridgestone" was named after the name of the founder, Shojiro Ishibashi .Foregoing dependence on European and North American technology, the Bridgestone Tire Co., Ltd. set its eyes on manufacturing tires based largely on Japanese technology. The fledgling company experienced many difficulties in the areas of technology, production, and sales in the early days. Eventually, improvements were achieved in quality and manufacturing processes which led to the business rapidly expanding in domestic and overseas markets.

Wartime regulations were in effect throughout Japan during World War II, and tires also came under the jurisdiction of these regulations. This resulted in nearly all of the company's output being used to satisfy military demand. 1945 saw the end of armed conflict, but the company was devastated by the war. The Tokyo headquarters was destroyed during an aerial bombing raid, and all overseas assets were lost. The plants in Kurume and Yokohama escaped unscathed, and production was able to resume immediately after the war ended. Brushing aside the problems caused by a labour union strike that lasted for forty-six days, the foundations of the company were further reinforced after this.

After the war the company started making bicycles, with the Bridgestone Cycle Company being formed in 1949. From 1952 the first complete powered bicycles were produced, with a 26cc engine. In 1958 the first 50cc Bridgestone motorcycles were manufactured, but the company's main income was from supplying tires to its rival motorcycle makers such as Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha and it was later decided to cease motorcycle manufacturing.

In 1951, Bridgestone was the first company in Japan to begin selling rayon cord tires, and a five-year project to modernize production facilities was started. This year also saw another Bridgestone building opened in Ky?bashi, Tokyo, which contained the Bridgestone Museum. Sales surpassed ten billion yen in 1953, placing Bridgestone at the top of the tire industry in Japan, and celebrations were held to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the company's foundation in Kurume.

The sale of nylon tires was started in 1959, and work forged ahead with the construction of the new Tokyo plant, which was opened in 1960, in order to cope with the fast-expanding market for motorization.

The company issued stock shares and was listed on the stock exchange in 1961. A new system of administration was ushered in by Shojiro Ishibashi as the chairman, and Kanichiro Ishibashi as the president. As part of the transition across to administrative reform, the Deming Plan in honor of W. Edwards Deming, which involves overall quality control activities, was adopted, and the company was awarded the prestigious Deming Prize in 1968. Also, additions were built onto the Tokyo plant in 1962 to house the new Technical Centre, and a progressive system of research and development was established. On the product front, 1967 saw the sale of the company's first ever radial tire, the RD10.

Bridgestone's first overseas plant since the end of the war was opened in Singapore in 1965, and production was also commenced in Thailand in 1969. The 1960s for Bridgestone was an era of overseas expansion that also included the establishment of Bridgestone America in the United States in 1967 to act as Bridgestone's USA representative sales branch.

At the start of the period of Japan's economic stagnation, brought about by the first oil shock, the company was placing even more emphasis on establishing its own technology for the manufacture of radial tires, and it was also at this time that further domestic plants were constructed and fitted out. Its Super Filler Radial was placed on the market in 1978, and in 1979 the company introduced the high-performance POTENZA radial tire, from an Italian word for power.The company was actively engaged in overseas expansion activities at this time. In addition to starting up production in Indonesia and Iran in 1976, it also invested in a Taiwan tire manufacturer and purchased a tire plant and a plant for diversified products in Australia in 1980. The founder, Shojiro Ishibashi, died on 11 September 1976.

On 1 March 1981, the company celebrated its 50th anniversary. At the same time, the company initiated activities to strengthen its home base that supported overseas expansion strategy with the aim of being ranked as one of the world's top three manufacturers of rubber products. New production facilities were also established in Thailand, India, Poland, China, the United States and other countries. The company changed the name from Bridgestone Tire Co., Ltd. to Bridgestone Corporation in 1984.

In 1988, Bridgestone purchased the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio. Placing considerable financial and personnel resources into rebuilding Firestone after the purchase, Bridgestone achieved surplus annual profits for the year 1992 with BFE and again in 1993 with BFS . The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company and Bridgestone Tire Company Ltd. USA were amalgamated in 1990 and became "Bridgestone Firestone North American Holdings Ltd". The North American subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation is now named Bridgestone Americas, Inc. The tire division is Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC. Bridgestone Americas opened a $100 million technical center in Akron in 2012.

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