News - 2018

“Bridgestone Group Awards 2018” Awards Ceremony

- Bridgestone Group Awards Socially Responsible Projects -

2018/04/13

Tokyo (April 13, 2018)--Bridgestone Corporation today announced that "Bridgestone Group Awards 2018" awards ceremony was held on March 28, 2018.

The Bridgestone Group Awards are a recognition program open to all organizations and employees of the Bridgestone Group. The Awards were created with the purpose of increasing employee awareness of corporate activities based on the Bridgestone Corporate Philosophy, fostering a sense of unity among Group employees and recognizing accomplishments. This recognition is the highest level of awards within Bridgestone Group and plays an important role in working toward achieving the Group's ultimate goal of becoming a truly global company and "Dan-Totsu" (Japanese term for the absolute and clear leader) in all aspects of our businesses.

Based on its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) commitment "Our Way to Serve", the awards fall into five categories: "Achievement", "Mobility", "People", "Environment" and "Management Fundamentals". Bridgestone's global executive committee members selected applications from all global business units to determine this year's winners. As a result, among all the various activities conducted by organizations and employees of the Group, seven activities were selected for recognition this year.

The Bridgestone Group considers the Bridgestone Group Awards as an important management tool. Amid significant change in our operating environment, innovation and continuous improvement is essential in order to secure a competitive advantage and create value for both the customers and society. By recognizing outstanding activities through the awards and sharing examples of best practices, the company believes they can achieve further improvements across the entire Group.

The activities selected for recognition are as follows.

Achievement: Two Winners

Name	Launch of Global CSR commitment "Our Way to Serve"
Recipients	Bridgestone Corporation Bridgestone Americas, Inc. Bridgestone Europe NV/SA Bridgestone Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.
Overview	This activity entails launch of the new global CSR commitment. The Group launched its global CSR commitment "Our Way to Serve", which serves as a guide for all Group employees. This commitment was developed by a project team comprised of members from around the world that formulated the initial concept for the global CSR commitment as well as a communication plan for its deployment. "Our Way to Serve" was successfully launched in March 2017.

Name	"Fueling our Future" - Recruitment with new digitally-enabled tools
Recipients	Bridgestone Europe NV/SA
Overview	This program entailed the development of a new recruitment and on-boarding approach for Bridgestone Europe's Technical Center (TCE). In order to drive growth and innovation, TCE needed to create a pipeline of technical talent to enhance its product development and digital solutions capabilities. Through using a combination of digital tools as well as process improvements, TCE was able to attract a globally diverse group of engineering talent while reducing the overall time to hire.

Mobility: One Winner

Name	Collaborative development of global digital solution platform
Recipients	Bridgestone Corporation Bridgestone Tire Japan Co., Ltd. Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC Bridgestone Europe NV/SA Bridgestone Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.
Overview	This activity entails Groupwide effort to develop and deploy global digital tools in Fleet solution in order to contribute Fleet customers in safer operations, higher economic benefits and lower environmental impacts. "Toolbox", one of the digital tools, manages basic customer information as well as their tires' information. "Toolbox" has been already deployed more than 80 countries worldwide. Linked with other digital tools ("BASys" and "Tiretamics"), "Toolbox" enables to provide greater customer value while developing tires that better reflect customer needs.

People: Two Winners

Name	Developing Community Trust with integrated Growth
Recipients	Bridgestone India Private Ltd. (BSID)
Overview	This activity recognizes BSID's effort in building a sustainable relationship with local community in Pune, India, where its tire plant is located. BSID developed community trust through the construction of schools, provision of health checks, road safety classes and other activities.

Name	Social Caravan: serving people and communities
Recipients	Bridgestone Argentina S.A.I.C. (BSAR)
Overview	This activity entails BSAR's Social Caravan project. BSAR has worked together with its stakeholders including employees and business partners to deliver truckloads of donated supplies to rural schools that are lack of resources. Since the launch of this project in 2010, the Social Caravan have delivered supplies to more than 2,300 students at 45 schools.

Environment: One Winner

Name	Development of Conveyor Belt materials with Zero Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)
Recipients	Bridgestone Mining Solutions Australia Pty. Ltd.
Overview	This activity entails the development of conveyor belt splicing materials* that do not use Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC). These products have provided customers with easier and safer working environment compared to similar existing materials, in addition to contributing to reducing environmental footprint with zero VOC. * Materials used for connecting conveyor belts

Management Fundamentals: One Winner

Name	Innovative mixing technologies for next generation tread compounds with superior performances
Recipients	Bridgestone Europe NV/SA Bridgestone Corporation
Overview	This activity recognizes the development of an innovative mixing technology that enables to control nano-scale polymer composites. This technology can be used to produce high-quality tread materials that contribute to longer wear life, higher fuel efficiency, and superior wet grip performance in tires. New products employing such tread materials have earned much praise from media and independent parties and have thus helped bolstered sales in European operations.

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.