Tire technology: Bridgestone identifies keys to industry's future

AKRON—From Bridgestone Americas Inc.'s perspective, six agents of change will impact the future of the tire and rubber industry.

And the company takes those factors into account as it works to develop the tires of the future at its Americas Technical Center in Akron, according to Steven Charles, vice president of product development for Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations.

The change agents it has identified are advancements in technology; regulatory movements; the need for environmental sustainability; the pursuit of automated driving; shifts in global demographics; and changes in societal behaviors.

Of course, these changes may go at different paces, lead the tire maker on a different course or not develop to the extent projected, so the firm must cover a variety a bases when prioritizing research and development projects.

“There's never one complete direction, so you have to make sure you leverage a fair amount of them so you can be prepared should one go strong one way or another,” said Charles, who's based at the Akron technical center.

Among the agents of change, he explained how each may impact the future of tire development during a speech at the recent International Institute of Synthetic Rubber Producers annual meeting as well as in a follow-up interview.

For example, the shift in global demographics will see the middle class growing from an estimated 5 percent of world population in 2005 to 25 percent in 2030, with China alone adding 1 billion to the middle class. This means there will be a significant increase in the number of people able to own vehicles worldwide, he said.

The world also is getting older, with 800 million people currently greater than 60 years old. That number is forecast to reach 1 billion by 2024 and 2 billion by 2050. Charles said elderly drivers likely will favor comfort over speed, will want some degree of autonomous control and will buy vehicles intended for shorter journeys.

And the rise of millennials has led some of the changes in societal behaviors, according to the Bridgestone executive. As a group, they tend to drive significantly less than previous generations, are more likely to live in urban and walkable neighborhoods, and are more open to non-driving forms of transportation.

Of course, while Bridgestone is balancing all of these potential agents of change, it also continues to work on tires that meet the needs of today's car and vehicle market.

Charles said one of Bridgestone's biggest initiatives is to reduce the weight of its products, something that helps in several ways.

“That's a major focus, bringing on new materials and new reinforcements that we can leverage to reduce the mass of our products,” he said. “And that's good for society and sustainability, as well as the environment.”

He cited the Champion Fuel Fighter tire line that the firm introduced a couple of months back. It has significant weight reductions compared with past tires, and has features that will improve fuel economy.

With reduced weight and the need for improved recycling of tires, Charles said Bridgestone aims to have a fully sustainable and recyclable product in the future, with an ultimate goal to have its entire product line fully sustainable by 2050.

“The challenge is that the consumer expects it but doesn't want to pay any more for it,” he said. “One of the areas that we're focusing on is delivering that value proposition that the consumer expects moving forward.”

That conundrum is a bit of a microcosm the tire industry faces, with the general public not aware of all of the technology that goes into tires. “(Tires) are a pretty economical proposition, but it's still round and black,” he said.

One way to combat that is to make comparisons to the current line of tires, Charles said. “We have built a 100 percent sustainable product, so now we know how far we have to get. Now it's a matter of looking at raw material substitutions to be able to get there.”

One material with potential is soybean oil. He said Bridgestone already uses soybean oil in each of its ag tire products, and it is looking at bio oils as replacement for petroleum-based oils to be able to have its line be fully sustainable.

“Again, a lot of it is just a matter of getting those right raw materials,” Charles said. “Then you have to scale them to get the right cost structure and have the entire supply chain be able to support that.”

He cited a recent Smithers Rapra study that warned that the current raw material usage to manufacture tires is not sustainable beyond 2027. “It's not surprising that we're going to run out of petrochemicals, but the year surprised me a little bit. But whether you believe it's 2027 or 2030 or 2035, it's pretty clear that the focus needs to be moving in the right sustainable direction.”

And the answer may come from those who attended the IISRP annual meeting. “I would say 99 percent of them are using petro-based materials to make butadiene (and other elastomers),” he said.

“Whoever can build that better mousetrap to be able to make a bio butadiene is going to be very successful moving forward.”

With the need for car makers to meet rising corporate average fuel economy standards, rolling resistance continues to be a major area of R&D focus.

“There's still room there, but obviously when you get to a steel wheel in terms of its characteristics, that's as good as you're going to get,” Charles said. “We continue to move down, but there's going to be a point where there are diminishing returns. But the pressure on rolling resistance is higher than it's ever been at the OEM level from our side. Even though the price of oil is down—maybe half or less than it was—there has been no letup on rolling resistance demands.”

Bridgestone is using more computer modeling in its tire technology efforts, he said, with virtual development used in some fashion on each of the tires it develops.

One benefit has been shortening the time to bring a new tire to market. In the past the tech center staff would have to go through a number of cycles in which they would build a tire and then test it, repeating the process until they got it just right.

“Now we can model, build, test, go,” Charles said. “We've been able to bring products like the Champ Fuel Fighter to market in probably about half the time that we normally do by using some of the modeling characteristics, and getting it right the first time.”

This is particularly helpful when dealing with original equipment manufacturers, where tire makers typically have to go through three to five rounds of development before gaining approval. He said Bridgestone tries to balance its R&D efforts between both OEMs and the aftermarket.

“A lot of our technology that we have developed from our tool box actually goes into our OE tires, but it's more than just the OE demands and what we see,” he said. “It's what we see in the aftermarket as well. It's a combination.”

The tire and rubber product firm also wants to get ahead of what customers are seeking, according to Charles. “We don't want to be developing technology at the same time we're developing OE tires because you have to make sure they can be manufactured. So our mission is to fill our tool box with technology, so when the OEM asks for it, we can pull it out of the tool box and apply it, and it goes through our manufacturing process smoothly.

“If you can't manufacture it, don't design it.”

Bridgestone had made a large marketing push with its Driveguard line of extended mobility tires, putting together a national television ad campaign. Charles said the firm has a strong sense that the market is heading toward run-flat tires, especially when looking at the long-term trend toward autonomous vehicles.

“You're not quite sure where that's going to be with car sharing and ride sharing, and all of the mergers, but at the end of the day it's pretty clear that if there's autonomy coming,” he said, “that the tire has got to perform, or it's got to be able to signal somebody or some service center that it needs work.”

Charles said the challenge for run-flats always has been to match the ride quality and fuel economy of traditional tires, and the current Drive-guard line is getting very close. It's also good to see the technology starting to be accepted into the marketplace, as he understands it is meeting Bridgestone's expectations in terms of sales growth.

“It's a process,” he said. “You can't just put it in the market and expect people to buy it. You have to go out and tell people about it. No. 1, not so many people care so much about tires and technology. No. 2, you really need to provide the value proposition, and I think with our recent launch of our CUV/SUV minivan products in the Driveguard category, the soccer moms are really going to appreciate the products.”

One of the toughest jobs for the team at the Americas Technical Center—and the overall Bridgestone tire development team—is balancing the needs of projects that are needed to head to market quickly with those with a longer-term focus.

Several years ago the firm established a Governance Steering Committee that communicates regularly with each other. “So it's not just me approving projects or our basic research director approving projects,” Charles said. “We all get together around the table and we approve the projects together and make sure they bring value to the enterprise.

“And once or twice a year we "bucket' those projects into various parameters to make sure they move forward in the right proportion.”

When Bridgestone Americas decided to build its new tech center in Akron—the $100 million campus opened in 2012—there were several reasons why it placed it in the city that was the original home of Firestone, which Bridgestone purchased in 1988.

While heritage played a role, other factors weighed in Akron's favor. “From a technical point of view, clearly the talent pool is there,” Charles said, mentioning the University of Akron and its polymer and rubber center, as well as other resources available in the area. “We consider that as probably one of the main talent pools in the country, and that was one of the reasons we felt that was the right place to put it.”

Bridgestone also was worried about the attrition rate, as it was believed that 30-50 percent of those who worked at the former technical center in Akron—housed in one of the former Firestone tire facilities in the city—wouldn't move if the center relocated.

“There was a lot of concern to make sure that we kept our technical staff intact because you can't just go out and get a rubber technology group off the street,” Charles said. “You have to make sure you don't lose all that experience if possible.”