IT boils down to having a good name—Goodyear Philippines Inc. has close to a hundred years’ experience in support of this statement.

Starting its business in the country in 1919, the Akron, Ohio-headquartered Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is one of those multinational companies that have maintained operations in the Philippines through thick and thin. In 1956 Goodyear began manufacturing operations in the country, with its first product—a 6.00-16 6PR tire developed for the jeepney—rolling out on June 9, 1956.

Such a long history of operating in the country has given Goodyear Philippines a unique advantage over its competitors.

“We’ve been here now producing tires for 51 years,” Goodyear Philippines Inc. president and managing director David J. Morin told BusinessMirror in an interview.

“We know the road conditions better than anybody else. We know the requirements with respect to the construction of the tires better than anybody else. With that comes a certain competency with respect to the quality of the tire.”

These modest words underlie a basic rule that the company follows—that is, new products that the tire company rolls out should be better than the last one.

“If you want to continue to differentiate yourself from the competition, one of the ways to do that, of course, is with a different product. You want to continue to develop the next generation of products. That’s what the consumer is looking for,” said Morin.

“Consumers are not looking for yesterday’s technology. Consumers are looking for tomorrow’s technology. To the degree you can deliver that, at a reasonable price, you create real value for the consumer.”

In the Philippines, Goodyear manufactures tires for passenger vehicles, pickups, vans and 4x4s; trucks; farm equipment; and graders (a grader is a piece of heavy equipment used to level a road surface to a certain gradient).

GOODYEAR has consistently been the top tire brand in the Philippines and in the world.

A survey undertaken by TNS—a UK-based market intelligence group that provides custom research and analysis, political and social polling, media measurement services—last year showed that Goodyear ranked the highest among tire makers in Asia and the Americas in the public’s perception of corporate social responsibility. The annual TNS survey showed that companies that rate highly on safety and environment are the same ones perceived as trustworthy.

“In terms of values, a real focus for us in the Philippines, are three vectors of safety,” said Morin.

These vectors, according to the Goodyear executive, are driver and road safety, environmental safety and workplace safety.

Morin said that Goodyear has chosen to focus on driver safety in the country through its “Bayani ng Kalsada” program, which sought out the heroes among Filipino motorists who exemplify the best among Filipino drivers, no matter how ironic that may sound given the common perception of Filipino drivers as being unmindful of traffic rules and courtesy.

“We have partnered with local government agencies, the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board, as well as local businesses to look for the heroes of the road. There’s a lot of discussion out there about the lack of discipline, nobody caring for someone else’s safety. But what we found is that there are actually every day local heroes whom nobody ever hears about,” said Morin.

Among those cited last year as a “bayani ng kalsada” is Angeles City-based off-road driver and mechanic Hilario Mendiola, who saved a young man trapped inside his vehicle that was crashed by a concrete beam.

The Goodyear project also recognized drivers of public-utility vehicles who returned sums of money inadvertently left by passengers in their vehicles.

“We thought it incumbent upon us to focus on the good things that people do every day, and not so much on the negative,” said Morin.

The company also conducts driver training and workshops, utilizing their nationwide distribution network of over a hundred outlets, which include TyrePro, Servitek and Hi-Performance Centers.

Goodyear Philippines has its own wastewater facility in its Las Pińas plant. It also counts the number of days the plant has had no physically disabling accident within its premises—when BusinessMirror interviewed Morin late July, it was close to 520 since the last accident. For every hundred days of no accident within the facility, Goodyear plants a tree within its property.              

GOODYEAR Philippines not only makes tires for the local market. Domestic sales of its products actually account for 45 percent to 50 percent of its total receipts. The rest is exported to other Goodyear regions, among them North America, Latin America, Caribbean and Europe.

Driving the production at Goodyear are innovation and technology, and knowledge of local cultures.

“From Goodyear’s perspective, innovation and technology are really what put us in the forefront of the industry. We continue as a company globally to make significant investments in that regard. We are one of the leaders with regards to investments annually,” said Morin.

“To the degree that we keep investing in innovation, we bring new products to the market. The introduction of new products is the reason why people look at us with trust.”

Last month, in the US, Goodyear received US Environmental Protection Agency certification for commercial tires that improved truck fuel efficiency by 4 percent, resulting in savings of up to 4,000 gallons of fuel a year per truck.

Closer to home, Goodyear’s Eagle F1 and Excellence brand tires have been cited by motoring publications as best suited for wet weather.

Goodyear’s performance in the Philippines has been boosted by its long history in the country, and the knowledge of the market it has given the company.

“It’s incumbent for any company to really get to know their customer, and what the customer needs,” said Morin.

“It is an element in our success, and the success of the brand. We hold what the customer holds, the values that they want in a product—safety and quality. That is what we try to deliver.”

Aside from market knowledge, Goodyear has achieved loyalty in the very communities it serves through the employment opportunities it has created in the places from where it operates.

“We actually have in some cases three generations of families working here. That’s a testament of the integration of Goodyear into the local community. It extends beyond mere employment,” said Morin.

EVEN as Goodyear Philippines has become a part of the Philippine scenery, Morin is looking beyond its shores. “The Philippines provides Goodyear a very good platform for taking care of the local market, and for domestic sales. I would want that in the future, we would be able to expand our facility to satisfy more of the export market,” said Morin.

“To do that, we need to remain competitive. This is what we work on every day.”

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Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company: Second-Quarter Highlights

§          Record second-quarter tire business sales of $4.9 billion, up 4 percent from last year offsetting softer conditions in several key markets with a richer product mix.  

§          The company’s three emerging markets tire businesses, which increased sales 15 percent over 2006.

§          Improved pricing and product mix of approximately $155 million in the second quarter of 2007 more than offset increased raw material costs of approximately $55 million.

§          Goodyear had second-quarter net income of $56 million, compared to $2 million last year.

§          Goodyear’s Asia-Pacific tire sales of $428 million were a record for any quarter and 14-percent higher than the 2006 period primarily due to improved pricing and product mix and a favorable impact from currency translation of approximately $37 million.

Goodyear is one of the world’s largest tire companies. It manufactures tires, engineered rubber products and chemicals in more than 90 facilities in 28 countries around the world. Goodyear employs more than 75,000 people worldwide.

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Aerial ambassadors 

For 80 years, Goodyear blimps have adorned the skies as very visible corporate symbols of the tire and rubber company that began operations in 1898.

Today, these graceful giants travel more than 100,000 miles across the United States per year as Goodyear’s “Aerial Ambassadors.”

The blimp tradition began in 1925 when Goodyear built its first helium-filled public relations airship, the Pilgrim. The tire company painted its name on the side and began barnstorming the United States. 

Over the years, Goodyear built more than 300 airships, more than any other company in the world. 

During World War II many of the Goodyear-built airships provided the US Navy with a unique aerial surveillance capability. Often used as convoy escorts, the blimps were able to look down on the ocean surface and spot a rising submarine and radio its position to the convoy’s surface ships. 

Today, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. no longer mass-produces airships. In the United States it operates three well-recognized blimps: the Spirit of Goodyear, based in Akron, Ohio; the Spirit of America, based in Carson, California; and the Spirit of Innovation, in Pompano Beach, Florida. From www.goodyearblimp.com

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