The History of Goodyear Tires
The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company had only 13 employees in 1898 when it first began to produce bicycle and carriage tires. In the first month, Goodyear Tires did a little over $8,000 in business. The company came up with its famous winged-foot logo in the early part of the 20th century. A hundred years later, Goodyear Tires does $20 billion worth of business each year, supplying cars, trucks, race cars, planes and heavy machinery with tires. It is the third largest tire producer in the world.
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Significance
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In 1898, Frank Seiberling of Akron, Ohio borrowed $3,500 from his brother-in-law Lucius Miles for a down payment on an abandoned factory in Akron. Seiberling then founded the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, naming his business venture after Charles Goodyear, who had discovered how to vulcanize rubber to make it harder, more durable and resistant to chemicals. The first president of the company was David Hill, who had purchased $30,000 of the business's initial stock.
Size
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While Goodyear Tires had originally concentrated on bike and carriage tires, it quickly began to make automobile tires as that new invention caught on. By 1901, Goodyear had begun to use its now-famous winged-foot logo in advertisements. Business was so good that a new factory, much larger than the first, was built in 1902 and by 1905 the company employed 300 people. It came up with the first detachable tire in 1906, started a night shift to meet demand in 1907 and designed an all-weather tire in 1908 as they further expanded the factory.
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Effects
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By 1911, Goodyear Tires was operating around the clock, with a plant in Canada. It was also making tires for airplanes and in 1914 every car in the Indianapolis 500 race used Goodyear tires. The eight-hour work day with paid vacations was adopted that year, and sales branches were opened all over the world. The slogan "More people ride on Goodyear tires than on any other kind" came into being as Goodyear became the world's largest tire producer in 1916. Sales hit $100 million annually in 1917 but a depression after World War I caused sales to slump, and Sieberling resigned his position in the company. Goodyear continued to expand and by the 1930s was still a pioneer in tire design and production methods.
Time Frame
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The Goodyear blimp was first used for advertising purposes in 1925, as Goodyear Tires had begun making zeppelins the previous year. During World War II, Goodyear had government contracts to produce fighter planes and other war-related products. After the war, the company continued its global expansion, and by 1950 Goodyear Tires made its 500-millionth tire. The next year it reached one billion in sales, and the Korean War resulted in more defense contracts. By the 1960s, Goodyear had plants all over the world and the billionth tire was produced in 1963. In 1972, Goodyear did four million dollars in business, ten billion in 1984 and survived a takeover attempt in 1986. Goodyear was ranked 16th among companies with the best of reputations by Forbes Magazine in 2008, building on the foundation laid by Frank Sieberling more than a century before.
Identification
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One of the most easily identified logos in all of business--the winged foot of Goodyear Tire--came about because Frank Seiberling had a statue of the god Mercury in his home. The messenger of the Gods had winged sandals and Seiberling felt that the speed this represented would make a good advertising tool. The original Goodyear logo had the words Good and Year on either side of a much larger foot with a winged sandal, unlike the modern logo.
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