Tokyo (September 19, 2012)-Bridgestone Corporation held its third annual Bridgestone Global Total Quality Management (TQM) Conference on Friday, September 14, at the company's Global Manufacturing Education Center (G-MEC) building in Kodaira City, Tokyo.

The slogan for this year's event was "Standards are Our Guiding Principle. Throughout the conference, Bridgestone actively implemented KAIZEN, which is Japanese for improvement or change for the better, through the Genbutsu-Genba Concept." (Genbutsu-Genba, or Decision-Making Based on Verified, On-Site Observations, is one of the four foundations of The Bridgestone Essence, the company's corporate philosophy)

Continuing the tradition from 2010, this year's conference was held with the goal of furthering improvement activities throughout the global Bridgestone Group. Examples of improvement activities from various Bridgestone Group companies were shared, allowing attendees from around the world to learn from the efforts and accomplishments of fellow employees.

This event was attended by over 300 Bridgestone employees from around the world, including Japan, the United States, Mexico, Spain, China, South Africa, Indonesia and Thailand. A total of 15 improvement activities across various functions, such as production, sales and service were presented. The activities were judged according to how well on-site needs were addressed. Four TQM Awards and two Awards of Impression were handed out at the conference to employees whose improvement activities were deemed to be superior.

The Bridgestone Group will continue to promote quality improvement activities, such as the Bridgestone Global TQM Conference, in accordance with its "Customer First" philosophy of providing superior quality throughout its supply chain.

<The Third Bridgestone Global TQM Conference Commemorative Photo>

<Burgos Plant's Presentation>

<Masaaki Tsuya, CEO, fifth from left, Kazuhisa Nishigai COO, sixth from right with Burgos Plant Presenters>