24MBP Business Shaping Scenario: Create Good Tires

FeatureGlobal CTO Message: Bringing ENLITEN to the Next Stage with Technology
Innovation and R&D and Manufacturing Transformation

Bridgestone E8 Commitment

EnergyEcology

Efficiency

Extension

EmotionBridgestone’s Technology Innovation
Bridgestone is taking on the challenge of continuously
creating new value by fusing digital power with strong realcapability such as extensive experience & knowledge,know-how, data of tires that we have gained from staying

Masato Banno

close to customers on-site over 90 years of our history.

Senior Vice President andExecutive Officer
Global CTO / Monozukuri

Especially in our premium tire business as core business,
Bridgestone is promoting technology innovation based on
three axes of “master”—“mastering rubber”, “masteringroad contact”, and “mastering manufacturing”—with the

Bridgestone’s DNA of “Genbutsu-Genba (respect for being

evolution of ENLITEN technology at its core. Whileon-site)” and “being attentive and supportive of customer

leveraging new technology from internal and externalproblems.”

co-creation, we amplify the generated value and expand
its value to solutions business as growth business orMastering Rubber

exploratory business. By doing so, we aim to become acompany that keeps providing social value and customer

Bridgestone’s strengths in seeing, analyzing, and managing

value as a sustainable solutions company, which is ourrubber lead to the development of innovative materials tovision.

realize thinner and lighter. First of all, we are evolving our“seeing” technology so that the structure of rubber andIn Pursuit of “Thinner, Lighter, and Rounder”—“Ultimate Customization”

molecular can be observed more clearly, by utilizing
collaborations with external partners. Furthermore, we will
enhance our “analyzing” technology and rapidly identify

By creating tires “thinner, lighter, and rounder”, we canmolecular structure of polymer complexes by accumulated

expand the performance spider chart. Creating themextensive knowledge about tires and rubber over our“thinner and lighter” enhances environmental

history, enhancement of introduction of state-of-the-art

performance including resource productivity and higher

digital technology in material informatics, which we haverolling resistance, while creating tires “rounder” improves

been leveraging for a long time, and material analysis

driving performance such as handling stability and ride

combined with unique simulation technology, thereby

comfort. ENLITEN, which Bridgestone positions as a new

linking it to “managing” technology. Evolution of thesepremium, not only responds to diverse needs and wants ofseeing, analyzing, and managing technologies leads todiverse markets and customers, but also provides new

more agile development of higher-performance rubber.

value and improves the performance spider chart bypolymers, fillers, resins, and chemicals, but we also

this is a base technology for product design that sharpens

developed robust, high strength network rubbers byedge in performances that further inspires them. However,making full use of compounding technologies and

if we simply create tires thinner and lighter, tires generally

processing techniques to maximize the potential of eachbecome weak, fragile, and easily distorted, which leads to

raw material mentioned above, thus achieving significant

reducing their performance. ENLITEN technology pursues

improvement in wear performance for products such as“ultimate customization” that can be tailored to eachTURANZA EV. Furthermore, we are making efforts tomarket and customer, by assembling more robust anddevelop a double network rubber that combines twoflexible materials accurately, which will resolve

different rubber networks, one for robustness and anothercontraventions and expand the performance spider chart.

for flexibility, in a single rubber structure by evolving ourWe will continue to evolve ENLITEN technology to the next

“managing” technology. We will complete development ofstage by further advancing our three technologicalthis double network during the 24MBP, and plan tofoundations—mastering rubber, mastering road contact,

implement it into new products in the 27MBP.

and mastering manufacturing—while keeping in mind of50

In the 21MBP, we not only evolved raw materials such as

pursuing “thinner, lighter, and rounder”. In other words,

Mastering Road Contact

Smart. By fusing ENLITEN, a base technology for productdesign and BCMA, a base technology for manufacturing andLeveraging Bridgestone’s unrivaled knowledge of theR&D, we aim to achieve both ultimate customization andworld’s roads, we have further evolved Bridgestone’s uniquebusiness cost reduction. This will create social value andtire development technology “ULTIMATE EYE”, born from ourcustomer value, leading to reinforce earning power andexperience in F1®, enabling to visualize ground contact

create corporate value.

conditions on a variety of road surfaces. Furthermore, by
combining our original tire simulation with vehicle
simulations, we have optimized the tension distribution ofply cords, which serve as the framework material for tires,

From Circuit to Street
Mobile Laboratory—Refining ENLITEN Technology
Using Sustainable Global Motorsports

to achieve uniform ground contact with thinner and lighter
tires. This technology is incorporated in the REGNO GR-X III

For Bridgestone, motorsports are our origin as alaunched in Japan in February 2024. We will keep evolving

tire manufacturer as well as a “mobile laboratory”. Throughour simulation technology toward mastering road contact

the development of motorsports tires that face extreme

by fusing of strong real and digital.

conditions, we have refined diverse technologies
becoming a foundation of our technology innovations ofMastering Manufacturing

today. Moving forward, we will leverage sustainable global
motorsports to promptly demonstrate the next stage of

The tire production process consists of two parts: a front-ENLITEN technology and to reflect it to the development ofend process of mixing rubber, then preparing andtires for the markets. Most recently, we are driving

processing it into components of the desired dimensions,

technology development to supply motorsports tires

and a back-end process of assembling the processed

equipped with next-generation ENLITEN technology forcomponents into the shape of a tire, vulcanizing it, andthe 2025 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge (BWSC).

inspecting the finished product. To create tires thinner,lighter, and rounder, high-precision preparation, processing,and assembly are required at each process. As such, theLeading to Drive Sustainability /Accelerating Technology Innovation

evolution of our manufacturing technology is essential.
By utilizing the sensing technology and big data that were

We are also taking on the challenge of leading to drive

developed through our AI-implemented tire building

sustainability across the entire value chain of motorsports

system, “EXAMATION” which has been in practical use sincetires as a “mobile laboratory.” By applying our technologies

2016, and linking the data from the front-end and back-end

of “seeing,” “analyzing,” and “managing” rubber, which

processes, all components of a single tire can be precisely

support development of the innovative materials asassembled. This autonomous control technology in thesementioned above, Bridgestone is promoting diversification

processes enables us to create tires that are thinner, lighter,of resources and development of sustainable materials

and rounder, leading to improved product uniformity. Thisutilizing recycled and renewable materials. For example,

autonomous control technology has already beenin the NTT INDYCAR® SERIES in 2022-2023, we introduced

introduced at our plants. We also plan to introduce it at 20

tires made with natural rubber derived from guayule tofactories globally during the 24MBP period to drive the shiftsome races. In the 2023 BWSC, we supplied tires thatto Smart.

achieved recycled & renewable material ratio to be 63%.
Looking ahead to the future, Bridgestone will accelerate

BCMA Supports “Ultimate Customization”
by ENLITEN

the development of sustainable tire technology, whileleading to build a carbon-neutral production structurefrom motorsports tires through co-creation with partners.

The starting point for value creation in BCMA is on-site R&D

Furthermore, we will take on the challenge of evolving

and manufacturing. We evolve R&D and manufacturing to

Bridgestone’s technology innovation at an even fasterthe next stage by approaching the essential issues of R&D andpace, from R&D and manufacturing for motorsports tires

manufacturing at Genbutsu-Genba (being on-site), improving

as a starting point.

productivity, and further promoting the shift to Green &Bridgestone 3.0 Journey 2024 Integrated Report51