Goodyear wants to be more open with suppliers

ERJ staff report (DS)

Akron, Ohio -- Goodyear's two innovation centres in Akron, Ohio and Colmar Berg, Luxembourg are becoming more open with innovative suppliers than previously, said Jean-Claude Kihn, Goodyear's chief technology officer.

Last April, a series of international suppliers including DuPont, Sumitomo Chemical, ExxonMobil, Bekaert and Rhodia. received the message from Goodyear, "participate with Goodyear in the pursuit of innovations and achieve success, together." Kihn said, "Our message to them was simple: our goal is innovation leadership. We can try to achieve it separately, or we can succeed as a team, multiplying the shared benefit of our combined R&D efforts.”

Mark Purtilar, Goodyear's chief procurement officer said, “The post-event feedback clearly demonstrates their overwhelming support of our initiative,” he said. “They recognized the fact that this is a totally unique approach in our industry.”

Since the April meetings, said Goodyear, these suppliers have proposed nearly 200 initiatives in the areas of acquisition cost, materials management, conversion cost and new product development that can have a direct, positive impact on Goodyear's product innovations. These initiatives will serve to enhance Goodyear's overall R&D expenditures, but more importantly, they will significantly enhance the company's supply chain.

Goodyear and the supplier companies will facilitate the application of new innovations into new tire products while protecting each other's intellectual property through a series of new, or enhanced technical and commercial agreements. “We want to ensure that the commercialization of any innovation occurs at the appropriate stage of a product's development,” Kihn said. “And we also want to make sure that there are sufficient incentives provided to our suppliers so that they concentrate on the most marketable innovations.”

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Press release from Goodyear