TIRE COMPANY
OCTOBER 22, 2021
Overview Of Bridgestone Company
A brief overview of Bridgestone company, the biggest tire manufacturer in the world that produce high quality tire worlwide.
Bridgestone Corporation is a Japanese auto and truck parts manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi in Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name “Bridgestone” was taken from the name of the founder, Ishibasi (Ishi = stone, Bashi = bridge).
Currently in 2021, Bridgestone/Firestone is the largest manufacturers of tires in the world with number of employee around 143.616 in 2017. Other manufacturers are Michelin (France), Goodyear (United States), MRF (India), Continental (Germany) and Pirelli (Italy).
Their revenue in 2016 was 3.337 trillion Yen with net income reaching 265.55 billion Yen. While the total assets was 3.716 trillion Yen in 2016 and operating income around 449.5 billion Yen according to Wikipedia.
The first Bridgestone tire was produced on April 9, 1930 by the Japanese Tabi Socks Tire Division and one year later on March 1, 1931, Ishibasi made the Tire Division independent and established the Bridgestone Tire Co. Ltd.
The company tried to manufacture motorcycles as well. In 1958, the first 50cc Bridgestone motorcycles was released but their main income however, was from supplying tires for other motorbike makers such as Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha. Later Bridgestone decided to discontinue motorcycle manufacturing and continue producing tires.
In 1951, Bridgestone was the first company in Japan to sell rayon cord tires. In 1953, their sales surpassed ten billion yen making them the umber one tire manufacturer in Japan. The new Tokyo plant was opened in 1960 to meet increasing demand.
The 1960’s for Bridgestone was an era of overseas expansion. Bridgestone first overseas plant was opened in Singapore in 1965 then in Thailand in 1969. The establishment of Bridgestone America in the United States happened in 1967 which also act as the representative sales branch.
In 1976, they started production in Indonesia and Iran and also invested in Taiwan. Their Super Filler Radial was sold in 1978, followed by the high performance Potenza (Italian for “power”) radial tire in 1979.
Shojiro Ishibashi died on September 11, 1976. The company changed the name from Bridgestone Tire Co. Ltd to Bridgestone Corporation in 1984. In 1988, Bridgestone purchased an American tire company named Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio.
As of 1 April 2011, Bridgestone has 47 tire plants, 29 tire-related plants, 19 raw materials plants, 89 diversified product plants, 4 technical centers, and 11 proving grounds worldwide. Some major plants are located in Europe, America, Asia/Oceania and Middle East/Africa.
In the automotive sport, Bridgestone has supplied tires in Formula One since 1997. Special cooperation with Scuderia Ferrari team and Michael Schumacher went very well during this period. From 2008 to 2010, Bridgestone was the sole tire supplier to the FIA Formula One World Championship due to Michelin chose to end their Formula One tire program at the end of the 2006 season.
On November 2, 2009, Bridgestone announced they would not be renewing their contract to supply tires to Formula One teams after 2010. Pirelli then served as the sole supplier for tires in the 2011 season.
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