Goodyear Technical Center, Akron, Ohio

Goodyear's Akron, Ohio Technical Center, completed in 1983, is one of two technical centers the company operates in the U.S. and Europe. The second is in Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg. A third center, in Kobe, Japan, is operated under a joint venture agreement with Sumitomo Rubber Industries. Additionally, the Dunlop tech center in Hanau, Germany, reports to the head of the Luxembourg operation.

All are devoted to advancing the science and technology of tires and to applying this knowledge to new products for the company's hundreds of tire markets. They also symbolize Goodyear's commitment to apply high technology to what once was a smokestack industry and to use this technology to maintain Goodyear's leadership in tires.

The Akron Technical Center's nearly 1,500 engineers, scientists, technicians and other specialists look far into the future to create new tire concepts for a wide variety of vehicles on six continents. Goodyear makes tires for autos and trucks; industrial, construction, agricultural and earthmover vehicles; aircraft; and for racing vehicles of all types.

To envision and create these tires of the future, tech center associates work in an environment that encourages innovative thought. The structure itself, with its extensive use of glass, symbolizes the light of new ideas. The front wall of the five-story building is almost solid glass and the large lobby is covered by a three-story pitched glass roof.

The architectural highlight inside the center is a quarter-acre, glass-topped atrium that rises in the center of the building through the fourth and fifth floors, providing space and light to the two intersected floors. Tech Center professionals are encouraged to hold meetings in the atrium, which can accommodate up to 30 small groups of people. These meeting areas supplement numerous project and conference rooms on each floor.

Also supporting the creative atmosphere are a number of original works of art, including sculpture, oil paintings and montages, many of which reflect transportation themes.

All engineers and technical support personnel have a computer terminal connecting the operator to Goodyear's global organization. In fact, the ratio of computers to professionals is nearly 1.5:1, far more than in most industrial, business or engineering environments. Each terminal can interface with Goodyear's technical and corporate terminals worldwide, including those in Luxembourg and Japan; at Goodyear's San Angelo, Texas, and Mireval, France, tire proving grounds; at Goodyear's tire subsidiary Kelly-Springfield in Cumberland, Md.; and at Goodyear tire plants and other facilities around the world.

Other technology employed in the development of tires and materials includes a variety of computer hardware and software, from mainframes to microprocessors, CAD/AM, finite element and engineering tread analysis, computer modeling, holography, statistical process control and bar code and magnetic card systems.

Goodyear’s tire R&D is directed at both the original equipment and replacement tire markets. The company works with hundreds of manufacturers of all types of vehicles. There are two tire R&D groups: Tire Technology and Tire Science and Materials. Creating a new tire or improving an existing one is a complex process that requires an understanding of numerous fields of science and engineering, including: polymer science; physics; inorganic, organic and textile chemistry; mathematics; computer science; engineering science and mechanics; industrial design; and mechanical, electrical, chemical, metallurgical, automotive, structural, civil, and industrial engineering.

The center has 700,000 square feet of floor space. Its exterior is brick, glass and aluminum. Floors 4 and 5 are occupied by tire R&D engineers, scientists and technical specialists. Prototype (experimental) tires and all Goodyear race tires are manufactured on the first three floors.

The building’s architecture is a blend of past, present and future. The original brick building now housing the facility was built in 1916 as a tire plant. From 1916 until 1978 it manufactured tires. Brick and the original building’s 12-story clock tower remain as dominant features, but now they are joined by the liberal use of wide panes of glass lined by aluminum and by a futuristic, stainless steel fountain in front of the building.

Close by on Seiberling Street is an 82-acre test track used for ride, handling and traction testing. It has 12 different test areas for instant evaluation of prototype tires produced in the technical center. Also nearby are engineering technology and tire testing laboratories that serve the tech center.

The overall tech center project included the revitalization of a 300-acre area near Goodyear's corporate headquarters.

The banks of a three-quarter-mile stretch of the Little Cuyahoga River that winds through company property were landscaped and a number of World War I-era factory buildings were razed. The project also beautified a two-mile-long stretch of east Akron that surrounds corporate headquarters, the research center and the technical center.