News - 2013

Tokyo (October 11, 2013)-Bridgestone Corporation held its fourth annual Bridgestone Group & Global Total Quality Management (TQM) Conference on September 26, in Nashville, Tenn., U.S.

The theme for this year's conference was "Standards are Our Guiding Principle. Actively Implementing KAIZEN Thorough 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 a tradition that began in 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. It was the first time the conference has been held outside of Japan.

This conference was attended by over 270 Bridgestone employees from around the world, including Japan, the United States, Mexico, Spain, China, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Indonesia and Turkey. A total of 16 improvement activities across various functions, such as production, sales and service were presented, and the activities were judged according to how well on-site needs were addressed. Four TQM Awards and Four Awards of Impression were handed out at the conference to employees whose improvement activities were deemed to be superior.