Bridgestone Americas has opened a new Bandag Training Center on its Akron campus, a $3 million investment that will teach commercial tire dealers and fleets how retreaded tires perform — and how they save money and keep tires out of landfills. The company announced the opening in a release carried by Traction News, saying the center will host hundreds of industry professionals each year for seminars and tailored classes of all sizes.
The nearly 15,000-square-foot center sits inside Bridgestone’s tire test lab, next to the company’s Advanced Tire Production Center in Akron, according to the announcement. Inside is a complete retread facility with production-scale manufacturing equipment and stations for each of the ten retreading steps, along with a classroom and a Bandag history walk tracing the brand’s role in the industry.
“Bandag retreads have been a staple solution in the commercial tire industry for more than half a century,” Brian Douglas, Bridgestone’s vice president for Retread North America, said in the company’s announcement, as reported by Traction News. “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,” he said in the announcement…