Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company

Last updated

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
Company type Public
Industry Manufacturing
FoundedAugust 29, 1898;126 years ago (1898-08-29)
Akron, Ohio, U.S.
Founder Frank Seiberling
Headquarters
Akron, Ohio
,
U.S.
Number of locations
1,240 tire and auto service centers
57 facilities
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Mark Stewart (chairman, president, and CEO)
Products Tires
RevenueIncrease2.svg US$20.066 billion (2023)
Decrease2.svgUS$−948 Million (2023)
Decrease2.svgUS$−689 million (2023)
Total assets Decrease2.svgUS$21.582 billion (2023)
Total equity Decrease2.svgUS$4.668 billion (2023)
Number of employees
72,000 (2021 [1] )
Subsidiaries List of subsidiaries
Website goodyear.com
Footnotes /references
[2]

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is an American multinational tire manufacturer headquartered in Akron, Ohio. Goodyear manufactures tires for passenger vehicles, aviation, commercial trucks, military and police vehicles, motorcycles, RVs, race cars, and heavy off-road machinery. It also licenses the Goodyear brand to bicycle tire manufacturers, returning from a break in production between 1976 and 2015. [3] As of 2017, Goodyear is one of the top four tire manufacturers along with Bridgestone (Japan), Michelin (France), and Continental (Germany). [4]

Contents

Founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling, the company was named after American Charles Goodyear (1800–1860), inventor of vulcanized rubber. The first Goodyear tires became popular because they were easily detachable and required little maintenance. [5] Though Goodyear had been manufacturing airships and balloons since the early 1900s, the first Goodyear advertising blimp flew in 1925. Today, it is one of the most recognizable advertising icons in America. [6]

The company is the sole tire supplier for NASCAR series and the most successful tire supplier in Formula One history, with more starts, wins, and constructors' championships than any other tire supplier. [7] They pulled out of the sport after the 1998 season. Goodyear was the first global tire manufacturer to enter China when it invested in a tire manufacturing plant in Dalian in 1994. Goodyear was a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average between 1930 and 1999. [8] The company opened a new global headquarters building in Akron in 2013.

History

Goodyear factory buildings and old former headquarters complex Goodyearheadquartersandfactory.jpg
Goodyear factory buildings and old former headquarters complex
The original Goodyear headquarters in Akron. Goodyear hq akron foto by andy hemmer cincinnati.jpg
The original Goodyear headquarters in Akron.

Early history 1898–1926

The first Goodyear factory opened in Akron, Ohio, in 1898. The company originally manufactured bicycle and carriage tires, rubber horseshoe pads, and poker chips, and grew with the advent of the automobile. [9]

In 1901, Goodyear founder Frank Seiberling provided Henry Ford with racing tires. [10] In 1903, Goodyear president, chairman and CEO Paul Weeks Litchfield was granted a patent for the first tubeless automobile tire. [11] In 1910, the company purchased an existing rubber factory in Bowmanville, Ontario, in Canada, which expanded their manufacturing outside of the United States for the first time. [12]

In 1916, Litchfield found land in the Phoenix area suitable for growing long-staple cotton, which was needed to reinforce its rubber in tires. The 36,000 acres purchased were controlled by the Southwest Cotton Company, formed with Litchfield as president. (This included land that would develop into the towns of Goodyear and Litchfield Park.)

In 1924, Litchfield forged a joint venture with the German Luftschiffbau Zeppelin Company to form the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation. [13] From the late 1920s to 1940, the company worked with Goodyear to build two Zeppelins in the United States. The partnership continued even when Zeppelin was under Nazi control and only ended after World War II began. [14]

Expansion 1926–1970

Paul Litchfield, inventor of the tubeless car tire who promoted the Zeppelin partnership and later became Goodyear president and board chairman. PaulLitchfield.jpg
Paul Litchfield, inventor of the tubeless car tire who promoted the Zeppelin partnership and later became Goodyear president and board chairman.

On August 5, 1927, Goodyear had its initial public offering and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. [15]

By 1930, Goodyear had pioneered what would later become known as "tundra tires" for smaller aircraft—their so-called low inflation pressure "airwheel" aviation wheel-rim/tire sets were initially available in sizes up to 46 inches (117 cm) in diameter. [16]

Over the next few decades, Goodyear grew to become a multinational corporation. It acquired their rival Kelly-Springfield Tire in 1935. During World War II Goodyear manufactured F4U Corsair fighter planes for the U.S. Military. Goodyear ranked 30th among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts. [17] WWII forced the dissolution of the Goodyear-Zeppelin partnership in December 1940. By 1956 they owned and operated a nuclear processing plant in Ohio.

In 1944, Goodyear created a subsidiary in Mexico in a joint venture with Compañía Hulera, S.A. de C.V., Compañía Hulera Goodyear-Oxo, S.A. de C.V. or Goodyear-Oxo.

Radial tire transition

Goodyear is the only one of the five biggest tire firms among US tire manufacturers in 1970 to remain independent into the 21st century. Goodyear's success was partly due to the challenge posed by radial tire technology, and the varied responses. [18] At the time, the entire US tire industry produced the older bias-ply technology. Estimates to fit factories with new machinery and tools for making the new product were between $600 million and $900 million. This was a substantial amount in a low margin business with sales revenue in the low billions. [19] The US market was slowly shifting towards the radial tire, as had already been the case in Europe and Asia. In 1968, Consumer Reports , an influential American magazine, acknowledged the superiority of radial construction, which had been developed in 1946 by Michelin. [19] [20]

When Charles J. Pilliod Jr. became CEO in 1974, he faced a major investment decision regarding the radial tire, which today has a market share of nearly 100%. [21] Despite heavy criticism at the time, Pilliod invested heavily in new factories and tooling to build the radial tire. [22] Sam Gibara, who headed Goodyear from 1996 to 2003, has noted that without the action of Pilliod, Goodyear "wouldn't be around today." [22]

Sales for 1969 topped $3 billion. Five years later sales topped $5 billion and Goodyear operated in 34 countries. In 1978, the original Akron plant was converted into a Technical Center for research and design. By 1985, worldwide sales exceeded $10 billion.

Goodyear Aerospace, a holding that developed from the Goodyear Aircraft Company after World War II, designed a supercomputer for NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center in 1979, the MPP. The subsidiary was sold in 1987 to the Loral Corporation as a result of restructuring.

In 1987, Goodyear formed a business partnership with Canadian tire retailer Fountain Tire. [23]

Diversification and Goldsmith affair 1986

In the 1980s, incoming Goodyear CEO Robert E. Mercer argued that the tire and automobile-related businesses that formed the core of Goodyear to that date were slow growing and a handicap. He set a strategy "to get away from the cyclical nature of the automobile business through mergers or purchase of businesses unrelated to tires or vehicles." [24]

In 1983, Goodyear acquired the natural gas company Celeron Corporation in exchange for stock valued at more than $740 million. [24] It went on to invest heavily in gas exploration including the 1,200 mile crude oil "All American" pipeline from California to Texas. The project was initially estimated to cost $600 million [25] but ultimately cost almost $1 billion. [26]

In October 1986 British financier James Goldsmith in conjunction with the investment group Hanson purchased 11.5% of Goodyear's outstanding common stock. [27] This was viewed as a greenmail attack by some, and as shareholder activism by Goldsmith, who viewed the company's move into areas far removed from tire development production and sale as commercially ill-advised and wanted the company to divest, especially, its oil interests which he viewed as depressing the value of the company. [28]

On November 20, 1986, Goodyear acquired all of the stock held by Goldsmith's group (12,549,400 shares) at an above-market price of $49.50 per share. [29] Goodyear also made a tender offer for up to 40 million shares of its stock from other shareholders at $50 per share. The tender offer resulted in Goodyear buying 40,435,764 shares of stock in February 1987.

As a result of the stock buyback, Goodyear took a charge of $224.6 million associated with a massive restructuring plan. It sold its Goodyear Aerospace business to Loral Corporation for $588 million and its motor wheel business to Lemmerz Inc. for $175 million. [30] Two subsidiaries involved in agricultural products, real estate development, and a resort hotel in Arizona were sold for $220.1 million. The company also sold the Celeron gas and oil corporation. In 1998, the All American Pipeline, Celeron Gathering, and Celeron Trading and Transportation were sold, largely completing what Goldsmith's hostile takeover had suggested good management should do. In the years following 1987, the company invested in its tire business. President Tom Barrett succeeded Chairman Robert Mercer in 1989, and began a process of modernizing and expanding Goodyear plants in cities like Lawton, Oklahoma, Napanee, Canada, Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Scottsboro, Alabama. [31] In the 2000s, the move of business into low-wage countries, facilitated by GATT (which Goldsmith had warned government against, calling it "a policy to impoverish" [32] ), resulted in plants across North America being shuttered, for instance Cumberland, Maryland; New Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and Windsor, Vermont were closed.

1990 to present

Airless tire concept Goodyear, GIMS 2019, Le Grand-Saconnex (GIMS0042).jpg
Airless tire concept

The last major restructuring of the company took place in 1991. Goodyear hired Stanley Gault, former CEO of Rubbermaid, to expand the company into new markets. [33] The moves resulted in 12,000 employees being laid off. [34]

In 2005, Titan Tire purchased the farm tire business of Goodyear, and manufactures Goodyear agricultural tires under license. [35] This acquisition included the plant in Freeport, Illinois. [35]

In the summer of 2009, the company announced it would close its tire plant in the Philippines as part of a strategy to address uncompetitive manufacturing capacity globally by the end of the third quarter of that year. [36]

Goodyear announced plans to sell the assets of its Latin American off-road tire business to Titan Tire for $98.6 million, including the plant in São Paulo, Brazil and a licensing agreement that allows Titan to continue manufacturing under the Goodyear brand. This deal is similar to Titan's 2005 purchase of Goodyear's US farm tire assets. [37] [38]

In 2011, more than 70 years after the dissolution of the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation, it is announced that Goodyear will partner with Zeppelin again (the legacy company Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik) to build more zeppelins together. [39]

In 2018, Goodyear and Bridgestone announced the creation of TireHub, a joint wholesale distribution network across the United States. [40] At the same time, Goodyear also announced that it was ending its distribution relationship with American Tire Distributors, which is the largest tire wholesaler in the US. [41]

In 2018, Goodyear was ordered to pay $40.1 million to J. Walter Twidwell, who claimed he developed mesothelioma because of exposure to asbestos. After the trial, Goodyear asked the New York Supreme Court for a new trial. Goodyear attorney James Lynch said Goodyear did not receive proper consideration from the jury. Lynch said that the other side's attorneys engaged in character assassinations against expert witnesses. During closing remarks, the attorneys for Twidwell put up a slide with the heads of Goodyear's expert witnesses pasted onto "insulting caricatures." [42]

In December 2018, Goodyear ceased operations in Venezuela due a lack of materials and rising costs resulting from hyperinflation. [43]

In February 2021, Goodyear announced that it will acquire the Cooper Tire & Rubber Company for $2.5 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2021. [44] [45]

Timeline

Goodyear Tires advertisement, Syracuse Post-Standard, February 26, 1916 Goodyear 1916-0226.jpg
Goodyear Tires advertisement, Syracuse Post-Standard, February 26, 1916

Source: [31]

Corporate structure and leadership

Board of directors

[ when? ]

Former Board members include Shirley D. Peterson, William J. Contay, James C. Boland and Rodney O'Neal. Mark Stewart is the chief executive officer and president of the company (since 2024), succeeding Richard Kramer.

Subsidiaries

Controversies

Foreign relations with Indonesia in the 1960s

Following the military coup in Indonesia in 1965, the Indonesian president Suharto encouraged Goodyear to return and offered rubber resources and political prisoners as labor. In an NBC special aired in 1967, reporter Ted Yates aired footage showing former Communist rubber union workers escorted at gunpoint to the rubber plantation.

Bad as things are in Indonesia, one positive fact is known. Indonesia has a fabulous potential wealth in natural resources and the New Order [the fascist regime headed by pro-U.S. General Suharto] wants it exploited. So they are returning the private properties expropriated by Sukarno's regime. Goodyear's Sumatran rubber empire is an example. It was seized [by the rubber workers] in retaliation for U.S. aggression in Vietnam in 1965. The rubber workers union was Communist-run, so after the coup many of them were killed or imprisoned. Some of the survivors, you see them here, still work the rubber – but this time as prisoners, and at gunpoint. [56] [ irrelevant citation ]

Pay discrimination lawsuits

United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated,

Lilly Ledbetter was a supervisor at Goodyear Tire and Rubber's plant in Gadsden, Alabama, from 1979 until her retirement in 1998. For most of those years, she worked as an area manager, a position largely occupied by men. Initially, Ledbetter's salary was in line with the salaries of men performing substantially similar work. Over time, however, her pay slipped in comparison to the pay of male area managers with equal or less seniority. By the end of 1997, Ledbetter was the only woman working as an area manager and the pay discrepancy between Ledbetter and her 15 male counterparts was stark: Ledbetter was paid $3,727 per month; the lowest paid male area manager received $4,286 per month, the highest paid, $5,236. [57]

Lilly Ledbetter sued Goodyear claiming she was paid less than men doing the same work. She won the suit and was awarded $360,000, the jury deciding that Goodyear had clearly engaged in discrimination. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court. In Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. , 550 U.S. 618 (2007), Justice Alito held for the five-justice majority that employers are protected from lawsuits over race or gender pay discrimination if the claims are based on decisions made by the employer 180 days ago or more. The United States Congress overturned this decision by passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 which was the first bill signed into law by President Obama. [58]

This was a case of statutory rather than constitutional interpretation. The plaintiff in this case, Lilly Ledbetter, characterized her situation as one where "disparate pay is received during the statutory limitations period, but is the result of intentionally discriminatory pay decisions that occurred outside the limitations period." In rejecting Ledbetter's appeal, the Supreme Court said that "she could have, and should have, sued" when the pay decisions were made, instead of waiting beyond the 180-day statutory charging period.

Justice Ginsburg dissented from the opinion of the Court, [57] joined by Justices Stevens, Souter, and Breyer. She argued against applying the 180-day limit to pay discrimination, because discrimination often occurs in small increments over large periods of time. Furthermore, the pay information of fellow workers is typically confidential and unavailable for comparison. Ginsburg argued that pay discrimination is inherently different from adverse actions, such as termination. Adverse actions are obvious, but small pay discrepancy is often difficult to recognize until more than 180 days of the pay change. Ginsburg argued that the broad remedial purpose of the statute was incompatible with the Court's "cramped" interpretation. Her dissent asserted that the employer had been, "Knowingly carrying past pay discrimination forward" during the 180-day charging period, and therefore could be held liable.

Environmental record

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst identified Goodyear as the 19th-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States, with roughly 4.16 million lbs of toxins released into the air annually. Major pollutants included sulfuric acid, cobalt compounds, and chlorine. [59] The Center for Public Integrity reports that Goodyear has been named as a potentially responsible party in at least 54 of the nation's Superfund toxic waste sites.[ citation needed ] On February 8, 2008, Goodyear announced the launch of an environmentally friendly tire produced using a cornstarch-based material. The Goodyear Eagle LS2000 partially replaces the traditional carbon black and silica with filler materials derived from corn starch thanks to "BioTRED compounding technology". The new technology increases the tires "flexibility and resistance to energy loss", which extend the tires life-span and lessen the impact on the environment. [60] Similarly, Goodyear announced on April 22, 2008, that it had joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's SmartWay Transport Partnership. The transport partnership is an attempt between the truck transportation industry and the EPA to reduce air pollution and greenhouse emissions as well as increase energy efficiency. The SmartWay partnership's tractors and trailers will use Goodyear's Fuel Max linehaul tires that increase fuel efficiency while reducing emissions. According to Goodyear and EPA officials "the fuel-efficient line-haul tires deliver up to 4% improved truck fuel economy, and when used with other SmartWay-qualified components, each 18- wheel tractor and trailer used in long-haul can produce savings of up to 4,000 gallons per year, or more than $11,000 annually." [61]

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act charges

On February 24, 2015, Goodyear agreed to pay more than $16 million to settle Foreign Corrupt Practices Act "FCPA" charges that two of its African subsidiaries allegedly paid $3.2 million in bribes that generated $14,122,535 in illicit profits. [62] The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission "SEC" FCPA charges involved Goodyear subsidiaries in Kenya and Angola for allegedly paying bribes to government and private-sector workers in exchange for sales in each country. [63] According to the SEC because "Goodyear did not prevent or detect these improper payments because it failed to implement adequate FCPA compliance controls at its subsidiaries" and, for the Kenyan subsidiary, "because it failed to conduct adequate due diligence" prior to its acquisition. It was not alleged that Goodyear had any involvement with or knowledge of its subsidiaries' improper conduct. [64]

Internal training and discrimination

On August 18, 2020, WIBW, a local CBS-affiliate television station, reported that an internal PowerPoint slide on political attire from a Topeka, Kansas, training seminar was circulating on social media. [65] The leaked slide depicted a "zero tolerance" policy towards some political movements. [66] President Donald Trump called for a boycott of Goodyear tires the following day, as Trump campaign attire such as MAGA hats were among the banned products. [67] Goodyear responded via Twitter, stating "the visual in question was not created or distributed by Goodyear corporate, nor was it part of a diversity training class". [68] Following release of the audio that went with the slide, [69] Goodyear admitted the slide was used at its Topeka factory. [70]

Tire blowouts

Defective tires are suspected to be the cause of multiple truck accidents and fatal injuries that occurred in France, Spain and other European countries in the 2010s, according to an investigation published in the French daily Le Monde in March 2024. [71] According to the journalists, although Goodyear was aware of the problems, it did not recognize them. While the company quietly withdrew defective tires from the market and offered indemnities to the family of victims, it did not initially recognize the tires were defective and did not implement the European Union rapid alert system for unsafe consumer products, called Rapex. [72]

Goodyear products

Automotive

Wrangler DuraTrac Goodyear Off Road Tire Crandon 2012.jpg
Wrangler DuraTrac
Goodyear NASCAR Tires and Wheels Nascarphx16.jpg
Goodyear NASCAR Tires and Wheels

Commercial

Goodyear Tire Company mechanic shop in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. Goodyear Goodlettsville TN USA.JPG
Goodyear Tire Company mechanic shop in Goodlettsville, Tennessee.
Goodyear Tire shop in Markham, Ontario CasMarkhamTireStore2.jpg
Goodyear Tire shop in Markham, Ontario
2004-06 Ford F-150 Goodyear. '04-'06 Ford F-150 Goodyear Extended Cab.jpg
2004-06 Ford F-150 Goodyear.

Non-tire industrial

Goodyear trailer at a NASCAR Nationwide Series race GoodyearTrailerMilwaukeeMile.jpg
Goodyear trailer at a NASCAR Nationwide Series race

Veyance Technologies was purchased by ContiTech and no longer has the rights to Goodyear's licenses. [73]

Goodyear-branded wiper blades are made under license by Saver Automotive, in Ohio. The wipers were never under the Veyance umbrella.

Goodyear also produces the rubber for Lacoste tennis shoes, the AG-LT 21 and AG-LT 21 Ultra.

Manufacturing and development facilities

LocationDOT plant code [74] [75] !! Division and Product or activity [76] [77]
Akron, Ohio, United StatesMB/1MBThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. - Global headquarters, North America headquarters, Goodyear Dunlop Tires North America headquarters, innovation center, racing tires, chemicals, tire proving grounds, airship operations
Bayport, Texas, United StatesGoodyear Chemical - Chemicals
Beaumont, Texas, United StatesGoodyear Tire & Rubber Co. - Synthetic Rubber
Clarksdale, Mississippi, United StatesThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. - Bladders, Mixed Stock, Compounding
Danville, Virginia, United StatesMC/1MCThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. - Aircraft tires, commercial tires
Fayetteville, North Carolina, United StatesPJ/1PJThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. - Passenger car tires
Findlay, Ohio, United StatesUP/1UPCooper Tire & Rubber Co. - Consumer Tires, Technical Center, Tire Molds
Gadsden, Alabama, United StatesMD/1MDThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. - Passenger car tires
Hebron, Ohio, United StatesP1/1P1The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. - Development Center [78]
Houston, Texas, United StatesThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. - Synthetic Rubber
Kingman, Arizona, United StatesThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. - Aircraft Tire Retreading
Lawton, Oklahoma, United StatesM6/1M6The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. - Consumer tires
Niagara Falls, New York, United StatesGoodyear Chemical - Chemicals
Pompano Beach, Florida, United StatesThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. - Airship Operations
San Angelo, Texas, United StatesThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. - Tire Proving Grounds
San Francisco, California, United StatesThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. - Innovation Lab
Social Circle, Georgia, United StatesThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. - Tread Rubber
Statesville, North Carolina, United StatesThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. - Tire Molds
Stockbridge, Georgia, United StatesThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. - Aircraft Tire Retreading
Texarkana, Arkansas, United StatesUT/1UTCooper Tire & Rubber Co. - Consumer Tires
Topeka, Kansas, United StatesMJ/1MJThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. - Commercial tires, OTR tires
Tupelo, Mississippi, United StatesU9/1U9Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. - Consumer Tires
São Paulo, BrazilMX/1MXCompanhia Goodyear Do Brazil - Latin America headquarters, aircraft tires, aircraft tire retreading
Americana, São Paulo, BrazilY1/1Y1Companhia Goodyear Do Brazil - Tire proving grounds, consumer tires, commercial tires, OTR tires
Napanee, Ontario, Canada4B/14BGoodyear Canada, Inc. - Passenger car tires
North Bay, Ontario, CanadaGoodyear Canada, Inc. Off The Road -Construction and Mining
Medicine Hat, Alberta, CanadaPC/1PCThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Of Canada Ltd - Consumer tires
Valleyfield, Quebec, Canada- Mixing center
Santiago, ChileM7/1M7Goodyear De Chile, S.A.I.C. - Consumer tires
Shahekou District, China7L/17LThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. -
Pulandian, Dalian, ChinaTC/1TCGoodyear Dalian Tire Company Ltd. - Consumer tires, commercial tires
Cali, ColombiaMY/1MYGoodyear De Colombia, S.A. - Commercial tires, OTR tires
Wolverhampton, United KingdomNB/1NBThe Goodyear Tyre & Rubber Co. - THE GOODYEAR TYRE & Rubber Co.
Amiens, FranceNC/1NCGoodyear France S.A. - Consumer tires (Closed) [79]
Montluçon, FranceDK/1DKDunlop France S.A. - Motorcycle and scooter tires, passenger car tires
Riom, France- Truck tire retreading
Philippsburg, GermanyND/1NDDeutsche Goodyear GmbH - Warehouse
Fulda, Germany- Passenger car tires
Hanau, GermanyDM/1DMDunlop GmbH - Passenger car tires and race tires
Riesa, Germany- Passenger car tires
Fürstenwalde, Germany- Passenger car tires
Wittlich, Germany- Truck tires and truck tire retreading
Grand Duchy Of LuxembourgKM/1KMThe Lee Tire & Rubber Co.(Goodyear S.A. Colmar-Berg) - Goodyear Innovation center Luxembourg (GIC*L), regional calendering center, commercial tires, OTR tires, tire proving grounds, tire molds, tire plant
Grand Duchy Of LuxembourgNJ/1NJGoodyear S.A. -
Waluj, India1W/11WGoodyear India Ltd -
Gurgaon, IndiaNK/1NKGoodyear India Ltd. -
Bogor, IndonesiaNL/1NLThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Ltd. -
Dudelange, LuxembourgL1/1L1Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations SA - Passenger car tires
Selangor, MalaysiaT8/1T8Goodyear Malaysia Berhad -
San Luis Potosí, MexicoPL/1PLGoodyear - SLP, S de R.L. de C.V. - Consumer tires
Tilburg, Netherlands- Aircraft tire retreading
Lima, PeruNT/1NTCompania Goodyear Del Peru - Consumer tires, commercial tires
Dębica, Poland- Passenger Car Tires, Truck Tires
Kranj, Slovenia- Passenger car tires and truck tires
Uitenhage, South AfricaNW/1NWThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (S.A.) (Pty) Ltd. - Consumer tires, commercial tires, agricultural tires, OTR tires
Bangkok, ThailandNY/1NYGoodyear (Thailand) Ltd. - Consumer tires, aircraft tires, aircraft retreading
Adapazarı, TurkeyCO/C01Goodyear Lastikleri TAS - Consumer tires
İzmit, TurkeyPA/1PAGoodyear Lastikleri TAS - Commercial tires
Valencia, VenezuelaPB/1PBCA Goodyear De Venezuela -

Goodyear blimp "Spirit of America"

In August 2015, Goodyear Airship Operations announced the retirement of the "Spirit of America" blimp. This GZ-20A model airship, based in Carson, California, was part of a transition to a more high-tech fleet of airships.

Retirement and transition

The "Spirit of America," christened on September 5, 2002, was retired after 13 years of service. Its retirement was part of Goodyear's initiative to introduce a new generation of NT Zeppelin model airships. A series of final events marked the blimp's retirement, including coverage of the ESPYS, Crossfit Games, and the Special Olympics World Games LA 2015 Opening Ceremony. The blimp's final voyage was a 29-day West Coast Tour culminating in its decommissioning in mid-August 2015.

Goodyear organized a public retirement celebration on August 7 and 8, 2015, offering a last opportunity for the community to view the blimp up close. The "Spirit of Innovation," the "Spirit of America's" twin ship, was set to replace it in the Los Angeles market by late September 2015.

Operational achievements

During its operational years, "Spirit of America" conducted 8,005 flights, carrying 30,280 passengers for a total of 13,436 flight hours. The blimp was named as a tribute to American patriotism following September 11, 2001. It appeared at numerous events, including the Rose Parade and Academy Awards, and was featured in television shows. In 2011, it was rebranded for the premiere of "Cars 2." [80]

See also

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Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH is a German aircraft manufacturing company. It is perhaps best known for its leading role in the design and manufacture of rigid airships, commonly referred to as Zeppelins due to the company's prominence. The name 'Luftschiffbau' is a German word meaning building of airships.

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Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. is a global tire and rubber company based in Japan. It is part of the Sumitomo Group. The company makes a wide range of rubber based products, including automobile tires, golf balls and tennis balls. Sumitomo tire brands include Dunlop, Falken and Ohtsu. Sumitomo also manufactures and sells the sport equipments under the Dunlop Sport brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goodyear Aerospace</span> Defunct subsidiary of Goodyear (1924-87)

Goodyear Aerospace Corporation (GAC) was the aerospace and defense subsidiary of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. The company was originally operated as a division within Goodyear as the Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation, part of a joint project with Luftschiffbau Zeppelin, leading to the development of rigid airships in the United States. As part of the failing relationship between the US and Germany in the era prior to World War II, the division was spun off as Goodyear Aircraft Company in 1939. The company opened a new factory in Arizona in 1941 which produced subassemblies, including subcontracted airframe construction and the design of the Goodyear F2G Corsair and Goodyear Duck.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goodyear Airdock</span> United States historic place

The Goodyear Airdock is a construction and storage airship hangar in Akron, Ohio. At its completion in 1929, it was the largest building in the world without interior supports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Seiberling</span> American innovator and entrepreneur

Franklin Augustus "Frank" Seiberling, also known as F.A. Seiberling, was an American innovator and entrepreneur best known for co-founding the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in 1898 and the Seiberling Rubber Company in 1921. He also built Stan Hywet Hall, a Tudor Revival mansion, now a National Historic Landmark and historic house museum in Akron, Ohio.

The K-1 was an experimental blimp designed by the United States Navy in 1929. The K-1 was not the prototype of the later K-class blimps.

Airship hangars are large specialized buildings that are used for sheltering airships during construction, maintenance and storage. Rigid airships always needed to be based in airship hangars because weathering was a serious risk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goodyear GZ-20</span> Type of aircraft

The Goodyear GZ-20/20A was a class of non-rigid airship or blimp introduced in 1969 by The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in the United States as its signature promotional aircraft, the Goodyear Blimp. The design is based on the previous Goodyear GZ-19 class. The GZ-20 featured a larger envelope to carry the "Super-Skytacular" advertising night sign and more powerful engines. The GZ-20s were the mainstay of Goodyear's airship operations until 2017, when they were replaced with the new Zeppelin NT semi-rigid airship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul W. Litchfield</span> American businessman and Chairman of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company

Paul W. Litchfield was an American inventor, industrialist, and author. He served as President, Chairman, and the first CEO of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and the founder of the town of Litchfield Park, Arizona and the city of Goodyear, Arizona. Among his many accomplishments as chairman was the establishment of a research and development department that produced the first practical airplane tire, long-haul conveyor belts, hydraulic disc brakes for airplanes, the first pneumatic truck tire, and a bullet-sealing fuel tank for military airplanes. Litchfield was also the author of books on air power, trucks, employee relations, and business.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wingfoot Lake Airship Hangar</span> Blimp hangar

The Wingfoot Lake Airship Hangar in Suffield, Ohio, is the main hangar used by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company for construction and maintenance of their fleet of blimps.

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