GCR Tire Centers are complete tire products stores located all over North America. There are as many as two hundred locations in the United States and Canada all strategically placed to provide products and services wherever our customers need them. We have commercial locations, retail stores, tire recapping facilities, and a wheel manufacturing plant. We offer a large variety of products from the worlds leading manufacturers including Bridgestone, Firestone, Dayton, and many others as well. Our inventories include passenger, light, medium, large trucks, forestry, heavy equipment, off road, earthmover tires, farm tires, rubber tracks and wheels.
No matter what application requires tire products you can be assured we have it. We provide 24 hour, 7 days a week service for trucks and equipment. We are prepared to service our customer's total tire related needs wherever and whenever they occur, both night and day.
Bridgestone Americas' corporate family (BSA) traces its roots to the establishment of The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company in August 1900. It was then that 31-year-old Harvey S. Firestone (1868-1938) started tire production with 12 employees in Akron, Ohio.
On the other side of the globe in 1931, Shojiro Ishibashi (1885-1976) created Bridgestone Tire Company Ltd. (later renamed Bridgestone Corporation). He fashioned the company name by reversing the English translation of his own: “Ishibashi,” which literally means “stone bridge” in Japanese.
Bridgestone Corporation purchased Firestone in 1988 for $2.6 billion, transforming the companies' combined operations into the world's largest tire and rubber company. The operations in the Americas were renamed Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. (BFS) and became the largest subsidiary of Bridgestone. As part of its integration with Bridgestone's existing U.S. operations, Bridgestone/Firestone moved its headquarters from Akron to Nashville in 1992.
In an effort to enhance its core business units and to address its customers' needs and wants, the company today does business in the Americas under a holding company structure in which Bridgestone Americas, Inc. (BSAM) owns several operating units and subsidiaries.
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Today, Bridgestone Americas consists of an international family of enterprises with 52 production facilities and more than 50,000 employees throughout the Americas.
A Technological Leader
The Bridgestone family of companies, which include Bridgestone Americas, is a world leader in tire and related technologies. The collective entities utilize the tri-polar research and development centers in Tokyo, Akron and Rome to produce advanced tire technologies for products that meet consumers' needs. This continuing investment in research and development has resulted in new products incorporating the latest technology, like winter tire, better fuel economy and Run-Flat technology, for better, safer products. In addition, Bridgestone Americas operates world-class proving grounds in Ft. Stockton, Texas; São Pedro, Brazil; and Acuña, Mexico.
In many cases, the race track is the company's test center. Bridgestone companies' participation in Formula One and IndyCar Series racing benefits their technology as well. From the race track, to the interstate, to the street where people live, the knowledge gained in developing their race tires makes everyone a winner.
Quality Products
Tires are the largest part of Bridgestone Americas' business, accounting for approximately 70 percent of annual revenues. BATO develops, manufactures and markets tires for almost every kind of vehicle. In fact, the company sells more than 8,000 different types and sizes of tires — from a 13-foot-tall giant radial for earthmoving equipment to a kart tire that stands only 10 inches high.
In addition to tires, BSA is also engaged in retreading operations throughout the Western Hemisphere, and is recognized internationally for producing a variety of quality products, including building and industrial materials, natural rubber, and industrial fibers and textiles.
Today, all Bridgestone Americas facilities are certified to internationally recognized environmental system requirements; new facilities are certified within two years of construction or acquisition. All facilities work every day to continuously enhance their operations, resulting in continuous enhancements to the products they manufacture.
Community Involvement
Bridgestone Americas is committed to being a good corporate citizen nationally, regionally and especially in the communities where BSA has manufacturing plants, sales facilities, retail locations and offices.
Giving back to the community is the foundation upon which Bridgestone Americas was built. Since 1952, the Bridgestone Americas Trust Fund has contributed millions annually in support of causes that champion children's issues, education, diversity, and the environment and conservation. This annual, multi-million dollar effort has provided innumerable benefits. Bridgestone Americas adheres to the Bridgestone Way, the global Bridgestone group's corporate philosophy to build not just better products, but better communities.
Guided by its One Team, One Planet message, Bridgestone Americas is dedicated to achieving a positive environmental impact in all of the communities it calls home. This commitment includes efforts such as developing tires with improved fuel economy; manufacturing products and providing services in an environmentally responsible way; and establishing wildlife habitat and education programs; among many other initiatives.
In addition, Bridgestone Americas continues to look for opportunities to educate all drivers, especially new drivers, about driving safety. Its comprehensive driver safety education programs include initiatives such as Teens Drive Smart, Safety Scholars, Mario Andretti's Real Information On Safety, Driver's Edge, Car Care Academies and tiresafety.com.
For more information, please visit www.BridgestoneAmericas.com .
Corporate Headquarters
Bridgestone Americas, Inc.
535 Marriott Drive
Nashville, TN 37214
Phone: 615-937-1000
Fax: 615-937-3621
http://www.bridgestone-firestone.com
Dell Computer Corporation
www. dell .com 1 Dell Pkwy
Nashville, TN 37217-2827
(615) 361-4214
Corporate headquarters and information and corporate housing by Alexis Inn.
Manufactures personal computers Desktop computers, Personal computers, Tablet computers, Mainframe console or dumb terminals, Wearable computing devices, Mainframe computers, Ultra mobile personal computer, Computer servers , High end computer servers, Notebook computers, Personal digital assistant PDAs or organizers, Point of sale POS terminal, Thin client computers, Computers.
Dell Computers became an important corporate employer in Middle Tennessee when it announced in May 1999 that it would expand operations from its central Texas base to the Nashville area. In August 1999 the company opened its Eastgate manufacturing facility, a 260,000-square-foot factory for the production of desktop computers, in Lebanon. A little more than a year later, in September 2000, the company officially opened a main campus at a site near the Nashville airport on Murfreesboro Road.
Dell's modern industrial campus generated controversy in the city because of the number of government inducements used to lure the company to Nashville, the millions spent on infrastructure, and tax breaks granted by the local government. It also led to the destruction of one of the original buildings of the Tennessee Lunatic Asylum, a Gothic Revival landmark designed by Nashville architect Adolphus Heiman. State and city officials, along with the business community, strongly supported Dell's move to the region, wanting to position Nashville and Tennessee in the mainstream of high-tech business development. As the Nashville Business Journal of April 14, 2000, opined: "The Nashville region's future lies in high tech." In February 2001 the corporation announced its first layoffs at its Texas operations, but spared Nashville and Lebanon of the job cuts. At that time, the company employed 3,300 in Middle Tennessee. Then, in May 2001, came news that the next round of job cutbacks would impact the new Tennessee facilities.
Carroll Van West, Middle Tennessee State University
See Also: INDUSTRY; NASHVILLE; WILSON COUNTY
