Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) has introduced a state-of-the-art tire-molding system equipped with information communications technology (ICT) at its factory in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture. The tire-molding system has been in operation since February and uses Bridgestone’s own ICT and artificial intelligence (AI) features to heighten quality and productivity. Dubbed “Examation,” the system takes its name from the concepts “evolutional,” “attractive” and “automation.”...
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Bridgestone Acquires Speedy France in Move to Expand Overseas Business
Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) subsidiary Bridgestone Europe NV/SA (BSEMEA) announced on May 30, 2016, that it would acquire Speedy France SAS, a leading car retail service company. Recent years have seen a string of overseas acquisitions by Japanese rubber companies, mainly tire manufacturers. With demand unlikely to grow domestically, Japanese companies are increasingly looking to expand their overseas business through corporate...
Latest Fuel-efficient Tire Technologies – Bridgestone
Tire manufacturers across Japan are focused on making unique technological developments in the bid to differentiate themselves from one another. This includes their respective pursuits in the delivery of driving comfort and the fundamental structures in which they maintain their definitions of fuel-efficient tires through proprietary technologies. Bridgestone Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) has with its “Ultimate Eye” a proprietary testing technology...
Fuel-efficient Tire Manufacturers in Japan: Report (Part 1)
The Japanese tire labeling system for defining fuel-efficient tires began in January 2010 as a voluntary industry standard, covering rolling resistance and wet-grip performance. Thanks to the continuous marketing efforts of tire manufacturers, the penetration rate of fuel-efficient tires in line with the grading system has steadily grown. However, these same manufacturers are finding it increasingly difficult to differentiate their...
Rubber Industry Feels Impact of Kumamoto Earthquakes – Special Report
Rubber manufacturers in the Japanese prefectures of Kumamoto and Oita have been greatly affected by a recent string of earthquakes that have centered on Kumamoto Prefecture, beginning with a foreshock at 9.26 p.m. on April 14. Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) and NOK Corp. (TYO:7240) suspended operations at their respective manufacturing plants in Kumamoto Prefecture. Meanwhile, damage to locally based Tsuchiya Rubber...
Amid Limelight on China, Japanese Rubber Industry Quietly Continues Expansion Into Europe
The period since the 1960s has seen a spurt of overseas expansion from Japanese companies involved in the rubber industry. This expansion has followed through from moving into Korea and Southeast Asia, centering on Taiwan, in the 1970s to North America in the 1980s and, since 2000, through into China and the ASEAN region. Recently, momentum has been gaining also...