Bridgestone has opened a new Bandag Training Center on its Akron, Ohio, campus, a facility representing a $3 million investment. The center is intended to educate teammates of commercial tire dealers and fleets about the performance, sustainability and financial benefits of retreaded tires.
The new center sits inside the company's tire test lab, next to the Bridgestone Americas Advanced Tire Production Center (ATPC), and occupies nearly 15,000 square feet. It is the second designated Bandag Training Center in the Bridgestone network, joining the established Bandag Learning Center in Muscatine, Iowa.
Production-scale equipment and a classroom
The Akron site features a complete retread facility, including production-scale manufacturing equipment and stations for each of the ten retreading steps, along with a classroom and the Bandag history walk. According to Bridgestone, the facility aims to host hundreds of industry professionals each year, providing seminars and tailored classes of all sizes.
Company rationale for a second site
"Bandag retreads have been a staple solution in the commercial tire industry for more than half a century," said Brian Douglas, Vice President, Retread North America. "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."
Bridgestone said the retread training delivered by Bandag is highly valued by customers, both fleets and dealers. The company said the dual locations strengthen its ability to meet growing demand by expanding access to training and technical resources, and that both facilities will serve as cornerstone assets for teammates and customers, advancing education, innovation and industry expertise across the tire retreading segment.
Innovation work alongside classes
When the Akron center is not hosting classes, Bridgestone plans to use it as an additional site for tire-retreading innovations. With support from teams in Muscatine, Akron and Nashville, the company said it will test new products and introduce new manufacturing equipment and processes to further advance the segment.
Bandag background
Bandag has been a provider of tire-retreading solutions since 1957 and describes its work as advancing sustainable mobility practices. The company said it currently operates three pre-cured tread rubber manufacturing facilities, a retread equipment manufacturing facility and a mold manufacturing plant in the United States to support all of North America. Over its 65-year history, Bandag has diverted more than 300 million tires from landfills by extending their service lives through retreading, according to Bridgestone.
The Akron center's training stations are built around the same production-scale equipment used in retreading, and the company said the site will support both instruction and product testing under one roof.