The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Business Report FY ended Dec. 2019
Financial Overview |
(in million USD) |
| FY ended Dec. 31, 2019 | FY ended Dec. 31, 2018 | Rate of change (%) |
Factors | |
| Overall | ||||
| Net Sales | 14,745 | 15,475 | (4.7) | 1) |
| Operating Income | 945 | 1,274 | （25.8) | 2) |
Factor
1) Net Sales
-The Company’s net sales for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 decreased by 4.7% over the previous year to EUR 14,745 million. Net sales decreased in 2019 primarily due to unfavorable foreign currency translation, primarily in EMEA, lower volume, primarily in EMEA, and lower sales in other tire-related businesses, primarily due to a decrease in third-party sales of chemical products in Americas, partially offset by improvements in price and product mix, primarily in EMEA and Americas.
2) Operating Income
-In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, the Company’s operating income decreased by 25.8% over the previous year to USD 945 million. The decrease in segment operating income was primarily due to the impact of higher raw material costs, primarily in Americas and EMEA, lower volume, primarily in EMEA, and so on. These decreases more than offset improvements in price and product mix, primarily in Americas and EMEA.
Contracts
-The Company is expanding its ongoing work with autonomous or driverless vehicles, which includes being named the exclusive tire supplier for the Olli, the brand name of an eight-passenger autonomous shuttle from Arizona-based Local Motors. Adding the vehicle to its testing fleet allows the Company to use it for advanced mobility evaluation at various locations, including the University of Michigan’s Mcity Test Facility, the public-private research and development site with about 16 acres of roads and traffic infrastructure. The test work with autonomous vehicles allows the Company to study the operation and maintenance areas that need to be addressed when there is no driver at the controls. Additionally, in Luxembourg, at one of its two global innovation centers, the Company is outfitting three autonomous shuttles operated by bus company Sales-Lentz, which shuttles up to 14 passengers per ride on a variety of local routes. On the three shuttles, Goodyear tires are equipped with sensors to collect operational data in the real-world application, which its engineers and data scientists can use to map predictive maintenance and other performance benefits. (From a press release on February 14, 2019)
Awards
-The Company has been recognized as an excellent original equipment tire supplier by Ford Motor Company and General Motor Co., Ltd. (GM). The recognitions are proof of the company’s excellent quality, cost, performance, and customer service. It received GM’s annual best supplier award for the second straight year. (From an article in the Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun on June 20, 2019)
R&D Expenditure |
(in million USD) |
| FY ended Dec. 31, 2019 | FY ended Dec. 31, 2018 | FY ended Dec. 31, 2017 | |
| Overall | 430 | 424 | 406 |
R&D Facilities
-The Company has innovation centers located in Akron, Ohio, U.S., and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg, as well as research and development centers in Hebron, Ohio, U.S., Hanau, Germany, and Pulandian, china. The Company also has seven tire proving grounds.
R&D Activity
-The Company announced a new pilot program with Envoy Technologies, a provider of shared on-demand, community-based electric vehicles (EVs). The pilot, which launched early in 2019, is testing services aimed at minimizing operational downtime for vehicle fleets. Its unique predictive tire servicing solution for connected fleets is being used to forecast and automatically schedule needed tire maintenance and replacement. To do this, the Company gathers secure, anonymized data from Envoy’s connected vehicles and uses it to predict and schedule service needs. It then utilizes its network of outlets and mobile vans to provide service to the vehicles. Envoy Technologies, a Culver City-based provider of turnkey electric vehicle car-sharing services, offers vehicles where people live, work and stay. (From a press release on March 21, 2019)
Capital Expenditure |
(in million USD) |
| FY ended Dec. 31, 2019 | FY ended Dec. 31, 2018 | FY ended Dec. 31, 2017 | |
| Americas | 369 | 406 | 525 |
| Europe, Middle East and Africa | 227 | 180 | 159 |
| Asia Pacific | 141 | 188 | 164 |
| Corporate | 33 | 37 | 33 |
| Total | 770 | 811 | 881 |
Investments outside U.S.
<Thailand>
-Reported on December 17, 2019, SET-listed tire maker Goodyear Thailand plans to expand production capacity for tires for passenger cars and aircraft in Pathum Thani, taking advantage of new opportunities in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) as the corridor promotes the automotive and aviation sectors as S-curve industries. The company unveiled that it is in talks with car and aircraft companies to supply tires under new purchase contracts. However, Thailand's automotive industry is expected to stay flat in 2020 from negative factors such as a bearish global economy and weak purchasing power. The company said tire market will face many difficulties in 2020, so Goodyear will run sales promotions and campaigns to beef up revenue, adding that the local market has sales of 10 million tires a year. Goodyear Thailand's Pathum Thani facility with 1,000 employees also ships tires to Asia, the Middle East, Oceania and South Africa. (From an article of Bangkok Post on December 17, 2019)
<U.S.>
-The Company committed itself to a multiyear agreement to invest at least USD 180 million for the upgrade and addition of manufacturing equipment at its Fayetteville tire plant in North Carolina. Based on its commitment, the North Carolina Economic Investment Committee (EIC) approved a grant of USD 3 million per year for ten years in return for the capital improvements and job retention at the site. (North Carolina Department of Commerce release on July 9, 2019)