A company with over 100 years of history, net sales of $19billion and covering 6 continents, this is no fairytale story. This is the impressive track history of Goodyear & Dunlop. But how did one of the largest tyre manufacturers begin?
Goodyear and Dunlop…a strong force.
Before we begin with looking at the history of Goodyear and Dunlop together, the story begins with Dunlops founder; John Boyd Dunlop in 1888. Mr Dunlop was watching his son riding his three-wheeled tricycle, and noticed that his little boy was not going very fast nor did not seem very comfortable. In an attempt to provide his son with a smoother ride and better handling Dunlop took the tricycle, wrapped its wheels in thin rubber sheets, glued them together and inflated them with a football pump. That way he developed the first air cushioning system in history, and laid the foundation for the first pneumatic tyre. Less than a year later Dunlops tyre made racing debut history, and he soon patented his idea in order to develop his venture into the commercial market.
The founding entrepreneurial spirit of Dunlop became its core ethos as the company quickly outgrew its first Dublin base. In just 20 short years Dunlop had bases as far as Japan to Malaya, growing as a company who both sold and manufactured worldwide. Dunlops supremacy lasted well into the 1960s, but it wasn’t until 1999 that Sumitomo and The Goodyear Tyre & Rubber Company decided on a global alliance, becoming the world’s biggest tyre producer.
Goodyears beginnings came too from humble roots when Frank Seiberling purchased the company’s first plant using money he borrowed from a brother-in-law. The rubber and cotton had to be transported from halfway around the world, to a landlocked town that had only limited rail transportation. Seiberling named the company after the courageous pioneer Charles Goodyear, the discoverer of vulcanization.
With just 13 works, after a first month in business sales amounted to $8,246. The grew rapidly to become the largest rubber company by 1926. Since then, Goodyear has maintained its strong foundation, breaking boundaries to allow the industry to move forward with innovative concepts and designs.
Together Goodyear and Dunlop are one of the world’s largest tyre manufacturers, with over 69,000 associates worldwide, presence on 6 continents and net sales of $19 billion.