Bridgestone Americas announced on Thursday, Oct. 29, the opening of a new Bandag Training Center on its Akron campus, a $3 million investment that will train hundreds of commercial tire dealer and fleet professionals each year on tire retreading, the company said in a release distributed by PR Newswire.
The nearly 15,000-square-foot center sits inside the company’s tire test lab, next to the Bridgestone Americas Advanced Tire Production Center, according to Bridgestone. It contains a complete retread facility with production-scale manufacturing equipment and stations for each of the ten retreading steps, along with a classroom and a Bandag history walk.
“Bandag retreads have been a staple solution in the commercial tire industry for more than half a century,” Brian Douglas, vice president for Retread North America, told PR Newswire. “With the addition of this second training center, Bridgestone aims to strengthen its support for dealers and fleets, matching the value they get from retreads on the road.”
The Akron center is the second designated Bandag Training Center in the Bridgestone network, joining the established Bandag Learning Center in Muscatine, Iowa, the company said. Bridgestone said the dual locations will expand access to training and technical resources as demand grows from fleets and dealers.
When the Akron center is not hosting classes, Bridgestone plans to use it as an additional site for tire-retreading innovation, the release said. Teams in Muscatine, Akron and Nashville will test new products there and introduce new manufacturing equipment and processes.
Bandag has provided tire-retreading solutions since 1957 and, over its 65-year history, has diverted more than 300 million tires from landfills by extending their service lives through retreading, according to Bridgestone. The company operates three pre-cured tread rubber manufacturing facilities, a retread equipment manufacturing facility and a mold manufacturing plant in the United States.
For Akron, the opening adds a hands-on training destination to a campus that already anchors Bridgestone’s U.S. tire testing and advanced production work. The company said the center will host seminars and tailored classes of all sizes for dealer and fleet teammates learning about the performance, sustainability and financial benefits of retreaded tires.