The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has published its report on corporate responsibility performance for 2021. It comments that the report, which summarises the progress made toward achieving the company’s short- and long-term sustainability goals, further demonstrates its commitment to ethical and sustainable processes, materials and programmes.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has officially opened its new manufacturing facility in Dudelange, Luxembourg, an operation it calls a “first of its kind” for the company. The inauguration on 5 May follows a US$77 million investment in industry 4.0 digital manufacturing processes at the site.
This week, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company achieved a further step towards its goal of fully replacing petroleum-derived oils by 2040. Selected products within the Goodyear Metro Miler range, a city transit tyre available to customers in North America, are now produced using a bio-based soybean oil compound that replaces a portion of the petroleum-based materials used.
The USA has classified natural rubber as a strategic raw material that serves as a critical ingredient in military, aircraft and truck tyres. The country currently relies on rubber imports for its tyre production but wishes to reduce this dependency, and government and military are thus working with private partners to accelerate commercialisation of natural rubber from dandelions. Goodyear Tire & Rubber will play a key role in achieving this goal.
At a ceremony held in Phoenix, Arizona this month, General Motors (GM) honoured 134 suppliers based in 16 countries. The vehicle manufacturer’s 2021 Supplier of the Year awardees included five tyre makers – Bridgestone Corporation, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Hankook Tire & Technology, Maxxis Tires and Michelin North America.
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) has appointed Steve McClellan of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company to its Board of Directors. Goodyear says McClellan is joining the board to bolster US-based association’s “leadership in policy advocacy, workforce solutions, legal action, operational excellence and news and insights.”
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has announced a goal of reaching net-zero value chain greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, aligned with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and its new Net-Zero Standard. The company also announced its commitment to achieve near-term science-based targets by 2030, and in 2022 will submit both targets to SBTi for independent validation.
Goodyear tyre factories in France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland and Turkey will soon adopt 100 per cent renewable energy in the first step of a multiple-phase plan to solely procure renewable energy in all Goodyear facilities across Europe, Middle East and Africa by the end of 2022. The tyre maker will review other locations, such as Goodyear in South Africa and Cooper Tire plants in Serbia and UK, in a second phase.
Goodyear Ventures has made another mobility-related investment, becoming one of several parties to inject capital into US-based electric vehicle charging provider AmpUp. This funding, which also includes capital from Foothill Ventures and TechNexus Venture Collaborative, comes less than a year after AmpUp’s initial seed raise.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has entered into a strategic collaboration with Plus (formerly Plus.ai), a global provider of self-driving truck technology, to provide optimised, autonomous trucking solutions. Goodyear brings a range of services to this collaboration, including connected tyres, and the partners will explore how Plus’s autonomous driving system can incorporate feedback from these tyres into Plus’s online, machine learning-based fuel optimisation, to further improve fuel economy.
It is, says Goodyear Tire & Rubber, an industry first – a local transportation authority in the USA is field-testing the non-pneumatic tyre and wheel assembly the tyre maker developed for autonomous urban vehicles. The lessons learned will contribute towards the further development of maintenance-free tyres.
More than a year after its counterpart for conventional saloons came to market, Goodyear is introducing the UltraGrip Performance+ SUV. This new tyre range covers the growing SUV and crossover market by offering consumers a “technology-packed winter tyre that increases the versatility and contributes to the safety of their vehicles.”
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has welcomed Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah to its Board of Directors. Mahendra-Rajah is senior vice president, finance and chief financial officer of Analog Devices, Inc.,
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has introduced a tyre intelligence solution for cargo van fleets. Called Goodyear SightLine, the solution will initially be available in Europe and North America, and later this year Goodyear will also offer it to original equipment customers and emerging fleet and mobility providers.
Goodyear has appointed Frank Titz to the role of managing director OE Truck EMEA, effective 1 April. Titz joined Goodyear in 1997 as manager sales & marketing Truck Tires for Germany. In the course of his career he has held various international sales and general management functions within the company and “brings with him a wealth of experience in the consumer and commercial business, including original equipment.”
