Goodyear’s Head Of Ops And Tech Helps Drive The Future Of Mobility

Forbes Leadership CIO Network Goodyear’s Head Of Ops And Tech Helps Drive The Future Of Mobility Peter High Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Following May 25, 2023, 10:21am EDT | Press play to listen to this article! Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Goodyear’s 90% Sustainable Material Tire Credit: Goodyear When one thinks of Goodyear, one might think about the classic Goodyear consumer tire, but this manufacturing company, which brings in roughly $20. 8 billion in annual revenue across multiple brands like Goodyear, Cooper and Kelly, numerous products and innovative services, is also one of the largest suppliers to the aerospace industry, mining vehicles and motorsport industries.

And while it may be a nearly 125-year-old institution, it is constantly modernizing and innovating under the guidance of Chris Helsel, the company’s Senior Vice President, Global Operations and Chief Technology Officer. Helsel oversees plant and facility safety, procurement of all raw materials, quality systems, manufacturing processes, equipment management and decisions around Goodyear’s investments within and beyond the company. “We have three regional business units: the Americas, Europe and Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific,” Helsel noted.

“Business unit leaders make the day-to-day decisions on how the region uses assets operationally. It’s my team’s job to make them successful through those capabilities and adherence to the right policies, procedures, equipment, etc. ” Beyond his operations responsibilities, Helsel’s role as CTO focuses on identifying new opportunities for innovation including technology and materials.

Goodyear’s approach to tire innovation leverages a number of trends that are on the rise. Helsel explained that there are multiple components to this strategy including autonomous driving, connected tires using the Internet of Things and drawing data through sensors, electric vehicles, and sustainability. “A lot of tire materials have petrochemicals at their base, so how are we thinking about totally new, renewable, recyclable materials?,” Helsel asked rhetorically.

“Earlier this year, we unveiled a 90% sustainable-material demonstration tire and we’re on track to develop a 100% sustainable-material tire by 2030, working closely with industry partners, suppliers and others to meet this goal. ” MORE FOR YOU Forget Apple Watch Huawei Watch Ultimate Beats Apple To Game Changing New Features DeSantis 2024 Announcement: Blasts Biden And ‘Elites’—But Not Trump—In Talk With Elon Musk ‘#DeSaster’: DeSantis Roasted Over Botched Twitter Campaign Launch—By Trump, Biden And Others Chris Helsel of Goodyear Credit: Goodyear Another innovation Goodyear is working on is the airless, or non-pneumatic, tire. This is a remarkable breakthrough considering that regular, pneumatic tires have been in existence for longer than Goodyear’s 125 years in business.

“In the design of the pneumatic tire, air is used to carry load and transmit forces,” said Helsel. “There aren’t too many materials that cost less than air and can carry an equivalent load. ” The non-pneumatic tire replaces air with a thermal plastic but presents challenges by way of cost and weight.

However, as autonomous vehicles become more mainstream, Goodyear sees a clear application for the non-pneumatic tire. By way of explanation, Helsel presented the scenario of a typical driver recognizing an issue with their tire and pulling safely to the shoulder of the road. When it comes to driverless vehicles, this scenario becomes increasingly challenging.

The airless tire helps ensure that this does not come to pass, making the non-pneumatic tire advantageous. Beyond tire innovations, Helsel has focused considerable attention on more sustainable practices across Goodyear. “We’ve been doing quite a bit to convert the energy, the electricity in our plants, to renewable sources,” he noted.

“We have also developed our own solar panel-type projects. What we have found is the payout on those projects from a financial standpoint are quite good, especially in the environment of rising energy. ” He noted that this is an example of doing well by doing good.

Other sustainable practices under consideration include using green sources of hydrogen to cure tires – the last stage of their creation – instead of steam and heat. “We’ve already been a leader in the use of soybean oil,” Helsel offered as yet another example. “Again, it’s not a do-good-only story.

When we use soybean oil, we’ve actually enhanced tire performance because what we find is that at very low temperatures, it keeps the tire rubber very pliable, which gives you that better traction performance for an all-season tire that has to perform at varying temperatures through all seasons of the year. ” To Helsel’s delight, these practices are better for the environment, but they also have the potential to be more cost-effective while enabling better product performance at the same time. Goodyear’s innovations don’t stop with consumer vehicles.

The company also has a major presence within the commercial sector – providing a wide range of tires and services for light, medium and heavy-duty fleets. In January, Goodyear announced major advancements surrounding Goodyear SightLine, the company’s global tire intelligence platform. In partnership with Gatik, an autonomous middle-mile delivery company, Goodyear announced that SightLine can accurately estimate tire-road friction potential, such as moisture from rain, snow or ice, and notify operators to further increase vehicle safety and efficiency.

This advancement is a great example of the groundbreaking innovations stemming from Goodyear’s recent efforts to think bigger about the future of mobility by partnering with and investing in startups and companies working towards that same goal through the creation of Goodyear Ventures. In 2020, Goodyear began this important sector of their business by announcing a hundred-million-dollar fund to be invested over 10 years into companies advancing mobility, particularly around the aforementioned trends in sustainability, fleets, autonomous, connected and electric. “The fund focuses on organizations that need additional funds to continue to scale and also fit strategically within strategic Goodyear’s roadmap,” said Helsel.

By way of example, he offered up key Goodyear partner and Goodyear Ventures portfolio company, the aforementioned Gatik. “Since we started working with Gatik, the company has grown considerably and in 2021 began working with Walmart,” Helsel said. “They’ve also announced Georgia Pacific as another client.

The Gatik fleets run between distribution centers in the stores at night, when the roads are emptier, and they’re doing routes that are very predictable, repeatable, with mostly right-hand turns wherever possible. ” Goodyear’s investments into the future of mobility and progress on tech-focused, sustainably-driven innovations, led by Helsel, provide a compelling case for the wisdom of combining technology and operations roles – a relatively uncommon practice within the industry – to promote advancement while also creating operating efficiencies. Peter High is President of Metis Strategy , a business and IT advisory firm.

He has written three bestselling books, including his latest Getting to Nimble . He also moderates the Technovation podcast series and speaks at conferences around the world. Follow him on Twitter @PeterAHigh .

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