News - 2016

Bridgestone Manufacturing Facilities Receive General Motors Company 2015 Supplier Quality Excellence Award

2016/09/09

Tokyo (September 9, 2016) - Bridgestone Corporation (Bridgestone) today announced that its Tosu and Hikone tire manufacturing plants received the General Motors Company (GM) 2015 Supplier Quality Excellence Award. Among all of GM's suppliers around the world, this honorable award recognizes production plants and facilities that meet a stringent set of quality performance criteria determined by GM, including product quality, certification of GM required quality management system. This is the first time the Bridgestone Tosu and Hikone plants have received this award.

The awards ceremony was held August 18 at the Bridgestone Tosu plant with many prominent members of the company in attendance, including Osamu Iwakuni, Plant Manager, Tosu Plant, Atsushi Morita, Manager, Quality Assurance Section, Hikone Plant, and Nobuyuki Tamura, Director, Global Original Equipment Management・Business Model Development Division. The award plaque was presented by Supplier Quality Engineering, Global Supplier Quality & Development, General Motors Japan Limited.

"At Bridgestone, our mission is to serve society with superior quality, and we are truly honored to receive this prestigious award," said Iwakuni. "This award is a testament to our great relationship with GM, and the teammates at our Tosu and Hikone plants who are committed to meeting the needs of our customers first and foremost."

A scene from the award ceremony
(From the second person on the left in the front row) Yasushi Hamada GM Group Manager, Osamu Iwakuni, Tosu Plant manager, Atsushi Morita, Quality assurance manager, Hikone Plant, Nobuyuki Tamura, Director, Global Original Equipment Management・Business Model Development Division

Award plaque

Globally, the following Bridgestone Group plants also received 2015 Supplier Quality Excellence Award so far: Wilson Plant, USA; Poznań Plant, Poland; Bethune Plant, France; Burgos Plant, Spain; and Santo André Plant, Brazil.

[Overview of Tosu Plant]

1.Location	:Tosu, Saga
2. Representative	: Osamu Iwakuni
3. Start of operation	: July 1970
4. Number of employees	: 609 (total of full-time and contract employees as of the end of December 2015)
5. Plant site	: 187,000 square meters
6. Products	: Radial tires for passenger vehicles and small trucks
7. Production capacity	: 20,750 tires per day (as of the end of December 2015)

[Overview of Hikone Plant]

1. Location	: Hikone, Shiga
2. Representative	: Kazuaki Inoue
3. Start of operation	: March 1968
4. Number of employees	: 1,476 (total of full-time and contract employees as of the end of December 2015)
5. Plant site	: 656,000 square meters
6. Products	: Radial tires for passenger vehicles and small trucks
7. Production capacity	: 52,350 tires per day (as of the end of December 2015)

About Bridgestone Corporation:
Bridgestone Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo, is the world’s largest tire and rubber company. In addition to tires for use in a wide variety of applications, it also manufactures a broad range of diversified products, which include industrial rubber and chemical products and sporting goods. Its products are sold in over 150 nations and territories around the world.