L'usine Harvey Firestone (document en anglais)

Harvey Firestone

Career - Contribution

Harvey Firestone was an American industrialist, born in 1868 in Ohio (Columbiana). He started his career as a bookkeeper for a coal company in Ohio. In 1890, the Columbus Buggy Company hired him as a salesman. But five years later, the firm closed and Firestone was left unemployed.

Being fired, he started to think about a new idea for tires. He wanted to replace the steel-rim tyres of buggies by some rubber tyres. He thought it would be much more comfortable. He was a great visionary, betting on the revolution of automobile. His company was named Firestone-Victore Tire Company, but changed a few years later to become Firestone Rubber Tire Company. The business started in 1900 in Akron (Ohio) with only a dozen employees, and was an immediate success despite an initial invest of only $20 000.

The rubber came from others companies, as Firestone didn’t have adequate competences to produce it by its own. On its first year of operation, Firestone grossed more than $100 000.

In 1903, Firestone decided that his company had the potential to manufacture its own rubber, providing premium quality rubber. But it is only in 1904 that the real success came, when Harvey Firestone started to engineered car. Two years later, Henry Ford, a close friend of Harvey Firestone, chose Firestone tires to equip his Ford T. Firestone hired new workers, increasing the number of employee up to 130. The company manufactured more than 28 000 tires and sales reached one million dollars. By 1910, tire production exceeded one million.

Its growth was double digits for more than ten years. Firestone opened factories in England, in Canada… The company started to make some radio advertisement with an emission called the Voice of Firestone or in sport events; Firestone produced some tires for racecars.

Firestone created a rubber plantation in Liberia (West Africa) to supply the increasing demand. With high quality products and a vigorous selling program, Firestone became the industry leader. Harvey Firestone energy and creativeness were real assets for the company development.

During World War I Firestone was asked by the government to manufacture artillery shells, aluminium kegs for food transport and others rubberized military products.

Harvey Firestone remained president of Firestone until1932 when he retired from the operation management becoming the chairman of the board of directors. Firestone sales exceeded 100 millions in 1938.

Throughout the years Firestone has considerably changed, producing plastic helmet for the US Army, cruise missile… In 1979, the company was collapsing. All the activities excepted tires were spun off. In 1998, Bridgestone acquired Firestone for 2.6 billion dollars. Today Firestone is present on every market, from off-road tires to agricultural tires.

Achievement

Harvey Firestone is considered today as a great visionary for betting on the automobile industry before its expansion in the early 1900’s. He is also seen as a great inventor (dismountable rim or spare tire, balloon tires) and a great manager, having founded a company that survived two World Wars and the Great Depression.

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