The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is an American multinational tire manufacturing company. It has locations in twenty-three countries, with its main headquarters with Innovations Centers in Akron, Ohio and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg. The company has more than 72,000 employees and fifty-seven manufacturing facilities. It has made several acquisitions and has expanded to include a venture arm, Goodyear Ventures.

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company was founded by Frank Seiberling in 1898. It is named after Charles Goodyear, who discovered the rubber vulcanization process several decades earlier. The company initially used rubber to sell products such as carriage tires, bicycle tires, and horseshoe pads. In 1899, automobile tires were added to the company's product line. The winged foot icon that the company still uses was first introduced in advertisements in the early 1900s. Around the same time, the company teamed up with Henry Ford to provide tires for the Model T automobile.

Goodyear Blimp

The company continued to expand both nationally and globally. In the 1920s, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company started designing and manufacturing blimps, eventually winning contracts to work with the United States Navy. When World War II broke out, the company started making fighter planes. As decades passed, the company continued to develop its tires to keep up with the technology of the time, including making race car tires and tires for NASA missions. The company has produced over three billion tires since its inception and today is one of the largest tire companies in the world.

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has a variety of brands and products to offer. Its consumer tire brands include Fulda and Dunlop Tires. It makes specialty tires for multiple industries such as aviation, commercial trucks, and racing tires. The company has other offerings, including its auto service center, blimp manufacturing, a learning center, and Goodyear merchandise.