IAA, here we come!

Bridgestone is one of the tyre companies that will be present at IAA this month in Hannover. Together with Webfleet, it will showcase its diverse portfolio of premium tyres, tyre-centric technologies, and advanced mobility solutions designed to improve efficiency, sustainability, and convenience for fleets.

We asked Jan-Maarten de Vries, CEO of Bridgestone Mobility Solutions, and Mark Tejedor, vice president Commercial Business Unit (OE and Commercial Replacement) at Bridgestone EMIA, to shed light on the company’s stand and its future direction, and specifically its focus on sustainability.

What does Bridgestone stand for and what should every IAA visitor know about the company?

Jan-Maarten de Vries: Bridgestone is a global leader in tyres and sustainable mobility solutions. For the first time under the Bridgestone umbrella, we’re at IAA 2022 together with Webfleet, Europe’s number one fleet management solution, to showcase our newly-integrated tyre and fleet management solution, Fleetcare. As a business, we offer a diverse portfolio of premium tyres, tyre-centric technologies, and advanced mobility solutions.

Mark Tejedor: Bridgestone’s three core offerings are supported by our business’s key strengths. These are our expansive retail network – the biggest of any tyre manufacturer in the EMIA region (Europe, Russia, Middle East, India, and Africa); the loyal customers with whom we maintain a unique relationship; the three behaviours of ownership, courage, and agility that we value above all else; and our corporate philosophy, “The Bridgestone Essence”, which is rooted in our mission of “Serving Society with Superior Quality”.

At Bridgestone, sustainability is ever-present in our decision-making and a key management principle. We’re committed to being a sustainable solutions company today, tomorrow, and toward the future, on our never-ending mission to identify and solve the issues that matter. With a long history of innovation and transformation within our sector, we are mobility pioneers shaping a sustainable future of mobility.

What is the company’s most important project for 2022/23?

Tejedor: Bridgestone has launched Fleetcare, a new and unique integrated tyre and fleet management solution, which enhances convenience, sustainability, and efficiency for our fleet customers to help them fast forward their business.

An evolution of Bridgestone’s Total Tyre Care, Fleetcare combines Bridgestone’s best-in-class tyre range and customised tyre management solutions with Webfleet, Europe’s number one telematics solution for fleets. With Fleetcare, fleet owners now have the opportunity to reduce their total cost of ownership thanks to a complete package from a single mobility partner.

Fleets demand maximum efficiency, convenience, and sustainability as they enter the future of mobility. Bridgestone’s portfolio of solutions is rapidly evolving to meet these demands and create new social and customer value.

Bridgestone’s new integrated tyre and fleet management solution, Fleetcare, provides a host of benefits to fleet customers, including total cost of ownership reduction, maximised customer satisfaction, time saving, and regulatory compliance, as well as increased sustainability, safety, and security.

Fleetcare also delivers unique business benefits through IoT and data-driven insights and services. It is developed for managers of commercial fleets who are looking for a comprehensive and modular solutions package that adds cost control and automation into their daily work, enabling better decision-making.

Available now, Fleetcare revolutionises the fleet market by offering both tyre and fleet management solutions with integrated and connected data and reporting – available under one agreement and delivered by one single partner. Thanks to the use of combined tyre and vehicle data, Fleetcare provides smarter and more predictive maintenance solutions, resulting in optimised performance and increased convenience.

In addition, with our advanced tyre solutions we are providing enablers that make a big difference to customers by turning tyre data into meaningful insights around tyre pressure, temperature, wear, load, and other vital performance parameters.

Fleetcare is a dynamic initiative that will continue growing as we keep adding more content and solutions to our portfolio.

The newly designed IAA Transportation is a platform and meeting place for transport and logistics companies from all over the world. What makes the trade show so appealing to you?

De Vries: The IAA presents a fantastic opportunity for us to communicate our commitment toward sustainability – showing our efficient mobility solutions and refreshed brand identity as well as our vision for the future of mobility. We will demonstrate our commitment to making our business more efficient and sustainable for our customers through our portfolio of tyres, tyre-centric technologies, and advanced mobility solutions, to show fleets why Bridgestone is the leading partner of choice for them.

What can visitors to your stand particularly look forward to?

Tejedor: IAA visitors – be they fleets, OEMs, or leaders in technology – will find the latest tyre innovations, advanced tyre solutions, and integrated fleet solutions at the Bridgestone booth.

We want to show customers how we are shaping a sustainable future of mobility. We’ll demonstrate why Bridgestone is the right partner to help fleets effectively navigate both the complex demands of their operations and the many possible mobility solutions a fleet can deploy on their growth journey, through new solutions like Fleetcare.

De Vries: We can’t wait to attend IAA 2022 and demonstrate how we’re evolving our business and offering for the benefit of our customers and partners, learn from other technology leaders, and explore innovation opportunities. We’re excited to build new, exciting partnerships – and reinforce existing ones – with OEMs and other key players in the transport industry.

The coming years will be dominated by transformation. Where will the transport and logistics industry be in 2030, and what milestones do you want to have achieved by then?

De Vries: Bridgestone Mobility Solutions is Bridgestone EMIA’s business unit focused on developing and launching data-driven fleet, tyre, and mobility solutions, as well as accelerating the company’s digital transformation. We’re on a mission to move the world towards a sustainable future using data-driven mobility solutions. This includes helping our customers and partners improve their fleet and mobility performance by providing actionable and data-driven insights, which enable them to take advantage of new opportunities arising from the connected world.

A key part of our vision for an enhanced future of mobility for fleets is a single digital interface that seamlessly connects fleets to the service networks they require. We’re currently building towards this one-stop shop of the future.

Tejedor: As a business with deep-rooted values in sustainability, Bridgestone’s future plans and ambitions are focused on our key long-term environmental objectives. Everything we’re working on both now and in the future is building to 2050. By then, we will have achieved carbon neutrality across our entire value chain and product lifecycle. We will be working with 100% sustainable materials and existing in harmony with nature.

In addition to these longer-term goals, we are also working towards medium-term environmental targets known as “Milestone 2030”. By 2030 we will have reduced the total CO₂ emissions from our operations by 50% from a 2011 baseline (a goal we have already achieved across our European operations) in line with the Paris Agreement, increased the global ratio of recycled and renewable materials in our tyres to 40%, and executed our Water Stewardship Plan at our manufacturing facilities in water-stressed areas.