Bridgestone Tire Co., Ltd. was established in 1931. Anticipating the future potential of tires for passenger cars and the international development of the business, founder Shojiro Ishibashi used an English translation of his surname for the name of the company. In May 1988, Bridgestone acquired The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company which transformed Bridgestone into one of the world's largest tire and rubber companies. In 2007, Bandag, Incorporated, a tire retreader based in the United States, was acquired. This allowed Bridgestone to provide truck and bus tire customers worldwide with leading technology and a total tire solution whether for new tires or retreading products and services.
Today Bridgestone is number one tire manufacturer in the world with Net Sales for 2010 over , 558 billion. The company delivers a wide range of tires to customers around the world. These include not only tires for passenger cars, light trucks, and trucks and buses, but also tires for aircraft, construction and mining vehicles, motorcycles, agricultural equipment, and industrial equipment. Bridgestone provides original equipment for basic car manufacturers: Volkswagen, Ford, BMW, Mercedes, General Motors, Peugeot, Toyota, Renault, etc. As of today for the corporation work over 139 thousand people in 183 plants, 5 technical centers and 11 proving grounds in 26 countries from Europe, Asia, the Middle East and other.
Bridgestone is committed to being a world leader in tire technology and in developing the most advanced tires and rubber products in the world and to always provide world class customer service. Among the company’s most precious values are: integrity and teamwork, creative pioneering and decisive action after thorough planning. More than just a series of abstract philosophical principles, Bridgestone’s CSR is put into practice. Based on this belief, the company has taken a two-pronged approach to CSR that includes company activities at the management level as well as employee activities at the individual level. The Bridgestone Group’s mission, based on the words of its founder, is: “Serving Society with Superior Quality.”
